the rose bowl

 A few years ago I inherited this old rose bowl

and have been trying to fill it ever since.

I have resisted picking them until now.

 After the heavens open yesterday I was greeted this morning

with a number of droopy and broken roses.
 Main rose Gertrude Jekyll, New Dawn and Young Lycidius.

 So I had a play.

It's not actually full

but you get the idea.

I made the yearly pilgrimage to Mottisfont Abbey

to see the roses.

I was on the look out for a pale pink/blush rose,

and was rather taken by this moss rose

Jeanne de Monfort.

I quite like the mossy rose buds.

After substantial research

I have a list of possible candidates

Roses

Wildeve

Brother Cadfael

Wisley 2008

Gentle Hermione

I'd love to know if anyone has any of these

or could recommend a rain resistant rose?
Have a rosy weekend!

 

the snowday quilt reveal

   I made a pouff~ee quilt!

That's all I was thinking when taking my photographs this morning.

Sunshine, a camera and a pouff~ee quilt

can be a tricky combination

when trying to take pretty pictures.

See my first ever hold up picture below.

(I call this a pouff~ee quilt because the (john lewis) wadding 

is thicker than the usual heirloom I normally use.)

Before you are dazzled by my over indulgent snaps

I should let you know that this quilt 

was hand pieced 

with vintage sheets

and is unbelievably soft...

Okay go!

You may remember the beginnings of this quilt 

back in January...back when we had snow!

Thankfully the weather is a little better today

but only just!!

I actually finished hand quilting this quilt last month,

it was put aside as I couldn't decide on the binding.

I originally considered a yellow stripe...

but couldn't get the idea of

 yellow snow

out of my mind!

So with the up most of laziness

I struck upon an idea

to bind

 by way of rolling the backing and stitching it down to the front.

Its the second time I've used this technique,

and whilst its a little unorthodox,

 binding a epp quilt can be tricky

especially if you have points that you don't want to chop off.

This way you have control of the binding edge.

It's completely hand pieced

using the English paper piecing method.

and measures 50" x 42"

not huge..but a nice throw size.

I'm so glad you stuck around

for the reveal.

An epp quilt evolves over time...

I like the slower pace

one which I shall be following from now on.

My goal for this year is to finish up my wips (works in progress)

and begin a BIG rose star quilt.

I have a plan

I'm looking forward to sharing it with you xx

label day

This can only mean one thing right?

At long last I have a finished 2013 quilt to share...

oh but not yet!

Come back Wednesday,

hopefully I won't leave you wordless xx
Click here for the snowday quilt progress.

geraniums or pelargoniums

geraniums

biokovo, tiny monster, ann folkard

pat, splish splash, ballerina

terre franche, pink cinereum, spinners

After I counted the roses I began to wonder

just how many geraniums I have.

Well it seems I have totted up 12 species

though have many more clumps.

I couldn't be without geraniums

they are great space fillers

that said they can become a bit unruly.

Don't be fooled by a geranium with a name like tiny monster!

My favourite at the minute would be 

the terre franche bottom left 

(local plant lady purchase)

I just love the heart shaped petals!

pelargoniums

It has come to my attention that there is still confusion

between geraniums and pelargoniums.

Pelargoniums and geraniums both belong to the Geraniaceae family,

which is where the confusion began.

For a great explanation click here.

Here in the UK

geraniums are hardy, whereas pelargoniums are not

end of discussion!

wordless

blooming june

 young lycidius, gertrude jekyll, souvenir du docteur jamain

(roses appear much richer in person)

2013 has not been a flaming June

however things are catching up

after a non existent spring.

I have eleven roses in my garden

four of which are blooming now.

 Every year I write a list 'plants of interest'

and 'plants most definitely wanted'

I do usually prefer to grow my own

but when it comes to roses

that's a bit tricky.

I have two new roses 

rosa mundi and

the above is the first bloom ever in my garden of

rosa veilchenblau

which has been on the latter list forever...

Its a rambler which I have planted behind the pond.

It has clusters of small purple flowers

and smells divine,

some say it's an orange fragrance

I think it smells like a delicate perfume.

I cannot wait for the fence to be smothered in roses!

The next three plants will always appear in any garden of mine,

they are what I call good do~ers.

Above is the lovely alchemilla mollis

which will throw itself about the garden.

 Geraniums~ I have a fair number

(that's another post)

This one was £1.50 from the 'plantlady'

up the road.

And allium christophii.

I love alliums.
A garden's not a garden without alliums!

How does your garden bloom?

Quilting On The Go ~ blog tour

 Hey readers

most of you will know that I love epp

(English paper piecing)

and that I am not one for courting sponsors and the like...

However when I was asked by Jessica from Life Under Quilts

if I would like to have one of my quilts in a book about epp.

well who wouldn't jump at the chance right?

Roll on a year and here we are on the blog hop tour for

 Quilting on the Go.

Whats more

two lucky readers will get to own their own copy

by entering giveaways hosted by Lesley @  Stitch Literate

and Lucy @ Charm about You

(see below for dates)

For me it's all about the top of page 48!

For you it's a fabulous book 

with EVERYTHING you need to help you learn

or further your epp skills.

I met Jess after she invited me to join her diamond epp flickr group,

I was at the tail end of my summer of love quilt

(what no pictures)

so was glad to meet likewise quilters.

I didn't even know that what I was doing was called epp!

 So what do you get?

140 pages of awesomeness!

So many inspiring ideas
with great fabric combos.

Really clear photos and step by step instructions on 

getting started

creating a travelling sewing kit

quilting methods

binding

fussy cutting

fabric ideas

making labels

etc...

Oh and let me not forget the projects!

I rarely see book projects that I want to make,

so when I received my copy 

I was surprised how I

fell in love with epp all over again

thanks to Jess's ten stunning projects

from the ever popular hexagon cushion,

to her signature memory quilt.

One of my favs is this cute pincushion.

  You may think that I might give a biased opinion

but I really do think the book is a triumph.

If you've fallen in love like I have click a button

and find more awesome reviews

overseas readers

UK readers below

you may find the book in the UK has a different cover.

The lovely people at paperpieces

 are offering readers 20% off their entire shopping cart,

 no minimum purchase, with the code UNDER20 throughout the entire book tour.

What better way to get you started

than with the hard work cut out!!

 So here are the dates for what looks like a very 

exciting blog hop.

This was my first blog hop so

I'm feeling quite chuffed to be part 

of such a great ensemble!

June 11    Lesly at Stitch Literate           http://pickledish.blogspot.com

June 12    Clare at Selfsewn                  http://selfsewn.blogspot.com/

June 13    Christina at A Few Scraps      http://afewscraps.blogspot.com/

June 14    Victoria @ Bumblebeans        http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/

June 15    Amanda Jean at Crazymomquilts   http://www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

June 16    Laura at Quokka Quilts                http://quokkaquilts.blogspot.com/

June 17    Lucy at Charm About You            http://www.charmaboutyou.com/

June 18    Katy at I'm A Ginger Monkey          http://www.imagingermonkey.blogspot.com/

June 19    Ara Jane at What Ara Jane Loves        http://whatarajaneloves.blogspot.com/

June 20    Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio Blog          http://www.pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/

June 21    Jessica at Life Under Quilts                http://lifeunderquilts.blogspot.com/

I hope you felt my love for 'Quilting on the go'

Don't forget to enter the giveaways!!

* please note that my rose star tutorial

doesn't feature in the book,

but is available here on my blog.

iris and june

 Well we didn't have to wait too long.

Thank goodness for the sun,

it could easily have been a damp squib of a flower.

So what do you think?

 I have to say I was a tiny bit underwhelmed that it wasn't very showy
(compared to cultivars)

but to be truthful I placed it next to the pond

where I'm creating a wilder look..

so natural is good.

I think this may be the start of a new love affair..

I can hear you say what with Mr frog?

haha very funny!

On writing this post 

seeing the photos en-masse

I cant help thinking they remind me 

of a certain painting by a certain Vincent...

*Iris Germanica

sunshine sewing saturday