Hooray! Finally my Tretchikoff has a home! Have a look, doesn't she look lovely!

Chinese Girl Yellow Jacket. Tretchikoff. 1950.

 I received her for my birthday four years ago and she hasn't had a proper home till now. It's not a great pic because the sun really streams through that window but I am thrilled with how wonderful she looks against the Harlequin wallpaper. What do you think?

While I am at it here's another view of our t.v. room... 

A closer look at the print above the buffet

Martiques.

This print hung on the wall in my husband's Grandparents home for as long as he can remember. When Lucy Violet (his Nan) died (she was ninety eight!) it came to us.

We know it's a bit like the Tretchikoff and probably hung in hundreds of lounge rooms around the world but we can't read the artist's name and would love to know who he was. Please drop me a line if you can help.

Our t.v. room was like the "black hole of Calcutta" when we bought this house...rising damp, a huge hole in the floor where previous owners had ripped out the fireplace, it really was horrible! It's a big achievement for us to see it like this, nearly finished-only the curtains to go now (I've chosen the fabric-just need to get them made up)

Before I show you the rest of my weekend treasures I'm going to make you hugely jealous! I just can't resist telling you that I found the cow-hide you see in the pics on THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!  Can you believe that someone would put that out on the verge for council clean-up? You should have seen me slam on the brakes when I drove past and saw it sitting there!!!

The buffet is also a freebie - my husband came home one night with it tied to the roof of our car! I am always amazed at the things people throw out, aren't you?

Here are the other things I found on the weekend...

Paint by Numbers. I would never have the patience for this!

Another (very scary) religious picture...Hansel and Gretel meet??? This would've given me nightmares as a child. But then thankfully I found this and I felt better...

1970's Prayer book.

  

We also found this sketch in an op-shop, my husband really liked it and it was only two dollars



 I can't read the artist's name, but on the back it says framed in Tokoroa which is in central New Zealand on the North Island (not far from Rotarua) if anyone from N.Z. can explain its significance I would appreciate it.

Now something sweet and pretty...

And a pretty tea towel to end too

Pink, grey and yellow, how lovely. Look at that vase and those flowers! Gorgeous!  

If I gave my posts titles I would probably call this one something daggy like Flower Power or maybe even Everything's Coming Up Roses because today it's all about flowers. I have been collecting flower paintings since I was fourteen (so I've got a few!!!) Yesterday we rescued my pretty pictures from their dusty home for the past year, The Shed (Everything we own is in The Shed!) and decided to "French Hang" them in our bedroom... well I think that's what it's called...ours are probably more of an Australian hang! Although it remains a work in progress here's one corner

and a better look.

And here's the painting that started it all...

Very old. Very beautiful. Painted on tin.

Now have a look at these...

R.M.T. 1907

R.M.T. 1903

And some blurry detail.  Sorry.

There's more...

A present from my husband. No artist's details but the back is stamped Winsor and Newton's No 2 Quality Prepared Canvas, Rathbone Place, London, W.

Vida Gibson.

`Some are more contemporary, but just as lovely...

Pene Beston.

P. Surian.

Texture and such vibrant colours too. This painting is slightly crazy!

Love this one. Signed but sadly illegible.

For the crafty among you, there are some tapestries on the wall too, but I seem to remember saying something like "less is more" yesterday (Ha!) so I'll only show you one, my favourite...

So many pics. Thanks for looking. Which one did you like best? And I know the detail photos are clumsy but I just couldn't leave them out!

And now for something different. I'm going to buck the floral trend with today's tea towel...

A L-o-n-g Drive! I know I've done it!

Our backyard is turning into a concrete jungle!
We found another nine pots to add to our collection at a great garage sale on Sunday (if it was up to me we would have twice as many, but two trips back and forth on a Sunday morning was enough and those suckers are heavy!)
The garage sale was at the loveliest 70's house-the wallpaper inside was amazing! (If I bought the house that wallpaper would NOT be coming down!) It was in such original condition and must have been pretty cutting-edge for it's time. The old lady told me that they'd had 41 happy years living there and you could tell.

Anyway even though there was some good stuff inside I made a bee-line for the garden because I just knew there would be some concrete pots out there and as I've already said there was! Here are pictures (very boring if you're not obsessed with concrete pots like me...)

Too boring if I show you all of them! I love the texture, the peeling paint, the patterns...I even love the old bore stains! Some people say "they'll look great with a coat of paint" but I would never paint them.

These also came home with us

five dollars! Almost impossible to find in Perth and usually expensive. We have two now. Yay!

I'll end today with something sweet...

Belmont Swap Meet.

Here (as promised) are photos of some of the treasures I bought yesterday

And here are some snaps of treasure I found at the Salvo's in Midland on Friday.

Don't you love the Humphrey B Bear cushion(two dollars fifty!) My sister had one when she was little and I couldn't resist! He looks especially cute sitting next to my Queensland cushion from Penelope Durston and my lovely,lovely cocky cushion from Bonnie and Neil (bought from the equally lovely Storia in Guildford)

Lastly one more snap of a few of my concrete pots just because I love them so much!