Saturday Night at 1000 Markets - 3/21/09

With the arrival of Spring, and Easter just around the corner, I thought my first spring garden photos, plus a bit of whimsy and rabbits were in order for the 1000 Markets shopping post this week. I love sweet little rabbits (unless they're eating my garden plants) and I was thrilled when I saw this great garden bench at our local salvage store a couple of years ago.

You can see what a messy gardener I am, too. I never clean up the previous year's garden until spring so the birds have goodies to eat all winter.
Isn't that a lovely reason to not do the fall 'cleanup' chores? My little tulip patch is getting ready to bloom, though, so it's time to get busy now!

It's also time to start dreaming of my wonderful fragrant Rugosa rose blooms - my sweet Moje Hammarburg is off to a great start already. Check out those thorns, too. (but I love her anyway)

Now, on to the spring shopping....

I fell in love with the whimsical art in the Blue Dog Rose shop the instant I saw it. I love the delightful creatures peeking out everywhere in her paintings. In my little dream world, this is how things would be - all the different creatures (including us, ha ha) living together in perfect harmony. My favorite painting is her Crossing the Lake limited edition print. I can just see a child's room decorated in this theme - or better yet, my studio wall! Her rabbits remind me of the rabbit in the wonderful story of The Velveteen Rabbit, recently mentioned in Nicola's last blog post.

Another painting that caught my eye is the Mushrooms and a Nap limited edition print. This one reminds me of my introduction to wild mushrooms on one of our family vacations near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The family in the cabin next door to ours happened to be mushroom experts, and they took us on a mushroom hunt in the woods. We dined that evening on sauteed mushrooms that made me a mushroom lover for the rest of my life. One of these days I'm going to get someone to take me out hunting for the delectable Morels that everyone loves so much. Tennessee has wonderful wild plants, including great morels, so I'm hoping to find some one of these days.


Or, how about a dozen fabulously decorated Spring Mix cookies from Cake Box Cookies? I have been dreaming of some cookies from this shop ever since they first opened their 1000 Markets storefront. Not only are they beautiful, but their customers say they taste great, too, with just the right amount of soft and sweet, plus a hint of lemon. YUM!

If you're still dreaming of last year's garden, here is a perfect necklace for you from Bluhealer's shop. Called "Dreaming of Before" it is a beautiful glass vessel pendant, adorned with pansies and rosebuds. In fact, she has several other pansy pieces in her "Winter Garden" collection, and every one of them is gorgeous!

Not only does Bluhealer do lovely glasswork, she also has beautiful enamel work as well. (I am dying to try enamel myself!). These lovely "Summer Fields" earrings whisper of the warmth that is yet to come with lovely clover green enamel on 18 gauge copper adorned with dainty flower murrini.

So, that is all for now, as my own garden is calling my name. I must go out commence my new year of gardening.......see you all later!