bonjour mes amies

 Well that was one hot month!

Bear with me as I readjust my head!

loving and leaving you....

...but only for a month!!

Au revoir mes amies xx

 

* nail polish hot and spicy Rimmel

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