Christmas Under the Tatted Roof

Well it's leading up to that time of the year where we all start thinking about Christmas, Last year I wrote some post on "Inspiring Christmas Table Setting" you can read about them Here and Here well this was one that I never had time to post about as the crazy season, well was crazy busy.

And not to mention I no longer live at this house as we have moved to a different location. Now what inspired me to do this Under the Tatted Roof Christmas setting you ask, well after a long weekend of garage sales and lots left over, most of it what you see was just sitting around the back door here, loving the colour palette I got to work setting it up.

some modern chair had some coffee bean sacks pulled over them.

twine tie off the silver ware, crystal wine glass get a simple coloured bead, each one has a different colour so guests don't get there glasses mixed up.

A bench seat with white cloud pillows to relax after a Christmas lunch, An old rustic ladder that holds some handmade Christmas ornaments, some rustic wire baskets to collect unwanted Christmas wrapping paper. 

 Sheer curtains hang to screen, a large wreath hangs from an old rust iron frame, once was attach to a fly screen door, Jewel Spray Silver Disc Ornaments lay on vintage lace and pine cones that can be purchased Here     



Cream vintage plates with gold trim, vintage pure white napkins and a white Christmas gift tag for each guest, A White Christmas House sits in pine cones in a rust old freezer basket, Dancing Reindeer around the pine cones, White Christmas House and Frosted Reindeer can be purchased Here and Here  



an old vintage cream and gold chandelier and white chippy pantry door are decorated with holly,



a simple tag, of thoughts to you,

A large white dove makes its nest in the pine needles, while a handmade snow ball and vintage music Christmas tree hands from a ladder, the table center graces a milk white bowl that house a white Christmas barn and baubles, holly and vintage glass ware.

just a simple way to decorate for Christmas with just a few things around your home and garden.

enjoy!

Kirstie.

Adeline Country Cottage goes to Time Worn Style Mountain Studio 2 the Final Part...

A few months back I visited my dear friend Alicia of Time Worn Style Mountain Studio, upon driving through her lynchgate with only just enough room for my car to fit, I was thinking how beautiful is this! it was like driving into a secret garden.

Weeks had gone by with many mornings waking from a beautiful dream,
dreams of this lynchgate that I couldn't get out of my mind of what
and how I'd like to decorate it with a table setting for that lazy summer afternoon luncheon.

So I thought the only way I'm going to stop these dreams is to contact Alicia, and tell her about my dreams
about her lynchgate, and of course to ask her if I can come up one day to set it all up and have a styling shoot,
and for Alicia to assist me in the styling, to my surprise Alicia loved the idea.

This is where it began Adeline Country Cottage goes to 

Time Worn Style Mountain Studio...

We had played around with a few stylings that I had in mind, this is exactly what I envisioned...
A place hidden away under the lynchgate, a place where you feel taken away from the busy life one leads, a place to share with friends on a lazy summer afternoon lunch, with delishes food,
fine wine, great company with laughter echoing through the garden...your mind wonders! lets bring you back!

I love traveling around to opp-shops, antique stores and online to find that perfect piece, with a love of all things blue, pale pink, white, cream, silver, gold, silver grey timbers, crystal class, dried pink roses, vintage tins and of course chandeliers. I also like mixing old with the new,
so with styling this setting came very easy, a place where I dream to be.

I love layers of white vintage table cloths, the freshness and the feel of luxury, I think Rachel Ashwell once said "like old hankies'...vintage table clothes can be found in many places garage sales, opp shop (thrifty stores) antique stores etc, I don't pay anything over $25 for a large size,

I have thought about buying new french linens, but there is nothing nicer then an old soft well worn table cloth, that you can pick up around the corner from home that doesn't cost to much, thats if your on a tight budget of course, dont you agree?

The vintage cream plates with the tatted gold rims can be found for a few dollars per plate, you can be lucky to pick up a set, but in my case it was one at a time and at different places and of different sizes,

here I have used 2 napkins, vintage white and pink, you can never have to many napkins at the table, the thought behind this is the large white one for your lap and the smaller pink one for those little bits of food around the mouth can be wiped away...as I laugh!

vintage napkins can be sourced everywhere, the white napkins here a set of twelve where $15 and the pink 99c each, I have used a very sheer vintage ribbon to hold the napikins together and placed the fine silver cutlery inside, 

now silver cutlery sets can set you back quite a bit but with a little resourcing you can be very lucky to find them at a good price, the set I have used here for a place setting of 12 that came in the box for $50 great find if you ask me,

The clear crystal wine glasses I find most familys have, weather there handed down or given as a wedding present or buy them, they are dim a dozen in thirfty stores couple of dollars I've seen them for, and who said they all had to match as long as they all have the same size.

Dotted around the table are some odd glass jars to add tea lights in, well there nothing really special, just find some that works for you for a couple of cents,

The blue drinking glass are a reproduction, now these glasses Alicia was so happy to assist me with, they have the cut of a crystal glass and had been put into a dish washer and lost some of it's blue, they look like they have the vintage fadeness, but you know I think it adds to the appeal of the table setting, Oh and did I mention Alicia gave them to me as a gift...I love them!

the tall blue water bottle can be found in kmart for $1.99, the small vintage bottle dotted around the table are an easy find,
prices range between $2 to $12, they come in different shades from clear to a tint of blue.

The two gorgeous blue hobnail vases, they are the most vibrant Greek sea blue with a white rim around the top very had to find, if you see them grab them, they are worth alot of money, lets just say anything under $100 is a bargin, the two here where under that price.

I love fresh flowers, but didn't want to much here after all your in this beautiful secret garden that provides such natural beauty,
I went with some dried pink roses, placed here and there, and an old silver grey bucket that housed some blue hydrangeas,

A sweet little table crystal drop candelabra, and blue chairs found in one of Alicia's junket runs.

I love the idea of hanging my milk white chandelier, and liked the idea of having a white picture frame hanging, but I wanted something different so we hung both of them,
the whiteness of the frame and the chandelier as the vocal and brought the outdoor room all together, the vintage frame cost $50 and had nothing but a slap of white under coat paint,

the milk white chandelier was my bargain of the century cost me $5 yep your reading right $5 dollars, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time!

Well I'll let you scroll and view the rest of images

I had such a wonderful time with Alicia, thank you so much Alicia for opening your home and garden for me to for fill my dream...And thank you to Sonia for publishing this photo shoot in

Creating Vintage Charm magazine and putting Adeline Country Cottage on the front cover.

Kirstie.

Petal Pusher

Since my family and I moved into the rental house in February it has been a mad rush to put everything in its place to make us feel at home and comfortable and not to mention for me getting back to work creating, blogging, face booking, website and just networking in general, it has been quite hard to keep up on everything that goes on, but the one thing I have loved is looking out the kitchen window into the sun room that has large windows that lets the winter sun flood in the morning,

which allows me to view the whole back yard, I have been waiting for the Camellia tree down the back to flower, as it started to bud I often wondered what colour flowers it was going to bring, and now it's here 

so much so that the Camellia tree is so full of flowers it has dropped a blanket of petals all around it, it looks so beautiful

I decided to lean my old pink bike against the tree,  

as I stand taking these images I couldn't help thinking or wishing the petals wouldn't brown up and weather away, it looks so beautiful,   

I just love being inspired by nature and happy I was able to capture this moment.

Kirstie.

My Nanna Mackenzie Veggie Soup

As I was a child we would visit my nanna and pop on the weekends and stay for lunch or dinner, Nanna would always start with a bowl of her homemade soup before having a main meal, I remember thinking as a child how much I hated this soup and didn't want to eat it, but was always told if we didn't eat it we would get nothing else...lol...so slowly spoon by spoon with much disgust I would finish it, after all what child likes eating there veggies, I know I didn't, lets just say when mum and dad would leave the table I would go throw my peas down the toilet, until one day the tank over flowed and yep you guessed it pea's and everything else flooded at the back door boy did it stink!...oops sorry about that dad sheepishly, love you!! so then I started to sneak out side and throw my veggies over the back fence, then go back inside and sit at the table tapping my knife and folk just to pretend I had eaten everything off my plate and ask if I could leave the table...hmmm yeah I did get caught there too, our neighbour asked my father to stop throwing our food scraps over onto his garden...lol...sorry dad!!! anyway getting back to it, so my mother learnt how to make my Nanna's soup and started making it at home for us all the time, all I could think was blurk! blurk! blurk! I guess over the years I learnt to love it, when ever I was sick I wanted this soup as I knew it was going to make me well again, now I make this soup all the time through winter and my girls have learnt to love it too, and when ever there sick guess what soup they ask for me to make? yep Nanna Mackenzie's Soup...I thought Id share this recipe with you, just remember the more grated veggies you add the better it tastes...
   
1 tbl spoon barley }
1/2 cup green split peas } all washed and drained
1/2 cup yellow split peas }
1 hand full of Lima beans (soaked over night, to remove shell)
1 hand full of chopped leek
2 hand fulls chopped celery
3 large grated carrots
2 large grated parsnips
1/4 of a pumpkin grated
3 bay leaves
salt & pepper

Added all ingredients into a pressure cooker added water to just see come through the veggies, then follow your pressure cooker instructions.

If you don't have pressure cooker, soak barley, both split peas over night including Lima beans in separate bowl so you can remove the shell, if you like add some stock for extra taste (pictured in image 6 to the right), next day add all ingredients into a large pot and bring to the boil for 20mins then turn down to the lowest setting and simmer for and hour or until barley, split peas and Lima beans are soft to eat. making sure you do give it a stir in between...then serve!

This soup can also be freezed once cooled down, perfect for that icy cold day.

Hope you enjoy making my Nanna Mackenzie's Veggie soup as much as it tastes...happy Soup Ladle!

Kirstie