We have roses everywhere and if they are not ours they are tumbling over the fences from our neighbours on both sides, these lovely frothy frilly ones from Paddy and huge red ones on the other side from Don. So the bees are all over them and the noise is lovely.
We are so lucky with the roses here, our garden is full of colour with roses of every colour, lavender in eight different varieties ( I just love them so have bought six different kinds now and already had Hidcot and the French stuff), calendular, petunias, dahlias, salvias, so many but still now enough to fill it all out. The borders still look sparse but, doing this on a budget, I am just going to have to take lots of cuttings and get seeds etc from people who are willing to give me some. We went out walking before lunch today and I got lots of California poppy seeds; they grow like weeds here but are so pretty. The stock, cosmos daisies and cornflowers are coming along nicely though and should self seed all over the place.
Summer is here now so it is just so nice to get out and enjoy it and forget how cold it gets here in the Winter.
I have also been busy doing some patchwork and had fun doing some Victorian crazy patchwork that I haven't done since I made Kacey a floor quilt when she was born. Deb sent me a photo of it which gave me the inspiration to have another go. I love reds and bought this material in Bournemouth in the summer as well as using some old bits of material I had saved from dresses Mum made for Kathy and Becky when they were little (the one with the red cherries on is one of them so it is about 30 years old!) I also used some of the fancy stitching that I never even try out on the sewing machine to do the stitching so that was nice to do. I now have four similar patches so just have to think how I am going to put it all together.
I also had a go at one I am making for Phoebe and have nearly completed the patchwork now and on Becky's suggestion, I will take it home with me next time I go and quilt it in the evenings so I don't have to take a bulky quilt on the airplane. These squares again are from old dress material from the girls, some that Julie gave me and some I already had plus the red one is a Maori design to give it an NZ twist! The purple one is from Hawaii.
Next week is our last full week of business for the year. Our landlords are still trying to get us to go down one floor and trade from there but it would be hard financially and time wise for us as we would have to be open more hours and also employ staff to help and we just can't do that. They just want the pull the brand has to get people into the building but can't give us any help to attract them in so unless they can come up with a better solution, we shall stay where we are thank you very much!!
Left - Home grown flowers in my pretty vase again, love this vase from Julie. Kathy said this week that she was watching Kirstie Allsop on TV and her great series about craft stuff in the home which I used to love and says she is getting like me, having lots of homely stuff around etc. Kathy makes the most gorgeous jewellery. That is such a nice compliment Kathy and I just think it makes a home more of a 'home'. My girls have always done lots of beautiful cross stitch etc. to add to their walls which looks so nice, it gives your house a hug if you have made something yourself (even if some of it ends up on your mothers walls too, thank you Kathy!xx)
And on that note, I had to have a lazy start to today and stayed in bed reading with breakfast in bed too - thank you Derek x - just so that I could finish my book from the library. Put this on your reading list as it is such a good book, beautifully written and her first novel. Well done!
I picked it up because of her name (we have a Tunnicliffe in our family as found on Ancestry.com) so it kind of drew me to it and am so glad it did. Makes you cry and laugh and enjoy another country too. I am using the lavender as a book mark and being on the bedside table, it is supposed to make you sleep better. I am, so maybe it does!
TTFN all of you, take care and BIG pre-Christmas hugs xxx