Flowers and more flowers

The light in London is so good for photography and the flowers are so plentiful and affordable.  I spent a lot of time putting flowers on windowsills and taking their picture.

Little M decided that one of her Sylvanian Family members should also pose for a photo.

 

I never thought I would see daffodils and hydrangeas together.  In Australia, their flowering is separated by months.  It seems that in London, anything is possible.

This beautiful pot of bulbs was insanely (by Australian standards) cheap to buy and provided weeks of pleasure.

 I prepared this post some time ago, but family events have taken precedence over blogging of late so these spring flowers are somewhat out of season now. I thought they were still worth sharing.

Chelsea Physic garden

I find it truly incredible that this little garden in the heart of Chelsea, has been around since 1686.

The snowdrops were blooming in the Chelsea Physic Garden while I was in London so a visit was called for.  

I did know that there are many varieties of snowdrops, what I didn't know was how different they are.

When it is not going by its botanical name, this one is called "Grumpy".  Not hard to see why!

Simply beautiful.

Playtime

I love nothing better than arranging flowers in a vase.  Well, that might be a slight overstatement, but it certainly does give me a lot of pleasure.  So when the time came to make the final block of my China Shop quilt, I knew it was going to be just like playtime.  After fussy-cutting the largest fabric flowers I could find in my stash I played for ages placing  them in their vase until I was happy with the arrangement.  

When I was satisfied (although I could have kept playing for hours) I dabbed a little bit of glue behind each flower to keep it in place and then started to free motion stitch them down.  I have never done raw edge appliqué before, mainly because being the neat freak I am, I can never get my head around all those frayed edges and loose threads.

The latest issue of Homespun magazine has all the instructions for putting this huge quilt together. After almost 12 months work,  I am really hoping it all comes together without any problems.

 

There is one thing I will say for this quilt, it has forced me to try many new techniques which I might otherwise not have attempted.

More spring prettiness

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could enjoy spring flowers all year round.  The flowers last so much longer when they are not faced with searing heat and long hot dry days, no matter I hard I try to keep the water up to them.  Many of these flowers will be finished  in the next few weeks so I am making the most of them.

 

I love the little pinwheels of the Chinese star jasmine.  I had never noticed their similarity to a pinwheel before.  It is amazing what you notice when you look through the lens of a camera.

And now for my favourite - baby roses.  How beautiful are these.  When I saw them in the garden, (and this is going to sound incredibly wet and soppy) they brought tears to my eyes.

Sigh!!!!!

The roses are back!

I know that every gardener says it, but spring really has to be my favourite time of the year.  The roses are back and, both inside and outside, they are spreading their beautiful perfume everywhere.

I seem to be picking fresh blooms almost every day, mixing them with other flowers, and popping them on every available surface so that I can enjoy them in every room of the house.

In my humble opinion, the rose really is the queen of flowers.