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

have a little patience

Gardening is a waiting game

and boy have we waited this year.

The current plant that has me pacing

is the iris in the first picture.

This is my first foray into bearded iris's

The one pictured is supposed to be

Iris Germanica ~ pale blue

somehow I think I have something different.

Wanna sit it out with me?

ps.
My heart flutters when favourite gardeners say selfsown on television x
pps.
forgot to tell you that I have bought two new roses
a lilac climber called veilchenblau
and an old shrub rose called rosa mundi

*geranium ballerina
rosa souvenir du docteur jamain
aquilegia selfsown

wordless wednesday