Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Brighten up the day

We have had a fair bit of cool, wet weather lately which with the anti-climatic feel after a concert and a bit of a head cold has been getting me a little down. The rain has made the garden lush and the cool temperature has prolonged the bulbs. Trillium are Ontario, Canada's Provincial flower and a stylized bloom can be found on all sorts of official Ontario documents. While the plant is protected in many parts of North America it is only protected in provincial parks and conservation areas in Ontario. The plant is very sensitive to being picked or transplanted so we leave the one under our lilac tree well alone.


When I went back to take another picture, the white petals (bracts actually) had started to turn a mauvy pink. We have a large, irregular lot with quite a bit more garden than is the norm for suburbia. Despite having so much space devoted to flower beds, I tend to leave the blooms in the garden. There are beds along one side of the house that contain the herb garden and the beginnings of a cut flower garden but when I see the plants flowering I find it really difficult to pick them for the house. I do, however, pick all the violets and johnny jump-ups (miniature violas)that grow through the lawn before it is mowed and display them in little cream jugs that I like to collect.

Pretty aprons have the ability to brighten my day. For everyday I tend to wear a bib fronted apron but I find more lovely half aprons when thrifting than full ones. This lilac one is perfect for spring and I have had it hanging in my kitchen since just before Easter. The trim of a striped fabric is pieced and perfectly mitred at the centre front point. The tie is also pieced with both solid and striped fabric with the striped fabric in the last half of the ties and showing as the tails if tied in a bow. On each side of the body of the apron there is are gathered panels which add to the grace of this apron. This little number manages to be flirty while still possessing elegance.


Here is another hand-made apron than has lovely details with the most striking being its composition of panels and the solid pink under panel contrasting with the print of the upper panels. The pocket is bound with the same pink bias binding the panels of the apron. Tie One On is a great resource for all things apron-y including links to vintage aprons on flickr. The Apronista was my first blog source of all things apron and introduced me to some of the great books. Apron•ology is a great publication which I have been enjoying that features newly created aprons and is available in a giveaway at Julia's blog.


My garden has many of these Lily of the Valley so I had no problem bringing a few blooms into the house to enjoy the heady scent. After enjoying the the Trillium, aprons, and Lily of the Valley, my day has definitely brightened up and it looks like the weather will improve later in the week.

3 comments:

Jennifer Rose said...

I had always thought that trilliums were protected everywhere. growing up I was always told not to pick them anywhere as I could get in trouble. bunch of liers :p
I do miss seeing them in Ontario, but had only seen the white variety before a few weeks ago. I never knew they came in other colours :)

Fine Hand said...

We had one lonely trillium but it seems to have disappeared..I like the pink shade..hope you feel better soon!

gardener-b said...

Love the blue striped apron. It's very tailored looking...just my style. After a cold, wet spring, we are currently experiencing a week long heatwave.