Two's company

What a week! A week that's kept me away from my blog and from most of yours too. A week when we had glimpses of Spring and a day when it was definitely Spring. A week in which I spent the day that was Spring indoors teaching ragwork to a group of children. Although I didn't feel the warmth of the sun on my face, the bright and cheery colours that these children chose for their work more than made up for it.




I have done workshops for children before and am always amazed at how unphased they are when it comes to using colour. The brighter the better, the more of it the better too. No caution here, complete abandon when it comes to the box of coloured fabrics. Handfuls were grabbed and played with and ragged and slowly (very slowly) beautiful squares of vibrant patterned ragged pieces appeared.


(vintage threads in my Etsy shop)

There's nothing like those faces of concentration inches away from their work, playing with the colours and relaxing as they get the hang of it. In fact they relaxed so much that the noise level grew alongside their artwork and my mad dash home at the end of it was interrupted by a much needed stop at the supermarket for a packet of yumyums which I devoured in the car park!!



We also had some colour coming into our home. A few weeks ago one of M's oldest friends came to stay. He now lives in France and as a 'thank you' sent me this beautiful vintage advertising card for orange flower water.



Aren't the colours zingy and zappy, it really brought some much needed cheer to a dull morning when I opened it up. So kind, unexpected and thoughtful of him.



Then at the weekend, this lovely little bag of promise arrived for me. The very talented Niki read in my last post that I really wanted to fill up my borders with beautiful flowers this summer.. Well, lo and behold, a beautifully packaged fabric bag full of hollyhock seeds from her own garden. Thank you Niki! So my task over the next few weeks is to watch over these babies and protect them from all the creepy crawlies and paws that are also interested in them- a mammoth job in our garden.



So I have been spoilt, rushed off my feet, tired, a bit of a whirling dervish this past week, but spoilt with gifts from afar. Many thanks too to all the lovely people who have been buying my lavender sachets, I am so pleased that you like them, lots of lovely friendly supportive emails coming my way this week from you, thank you! I'm sorry I haven't been round to all your blogs lately, I'm hoping that I won't be so busy in a week or so - I know for a fact Mr Roses will be pleased to hear that, as my air of distraction is testing even his patience at the moment - I popped into town on Saturday morning and apparently left the front door wide open behind me, Mr Roses fortunately found the cats hatching their great escape plan just in time.



And before I forget, like last year when I got the date wrong, it's time for a celebration. The Ragged Roses are two tomorrow (Tuesday). Two years ago on a very warm sunny Spring afternoon I sat hesitatingly in front of the keyboard and, with Mr Roses egging me on, I pressed the publish button and ever since you've kept me company. Thank you.



As I have been such a greedy guts in the old pressie department this week, perhaps I should share something with you ... How about a birthday giveaway? In the absence of jelly and custard (although I hope that you dear Mrs Custard will be taking part- I can't have a party without you), there has to be some presents. After all, what kind of a two year old party is it without friends and presents? I'll put all comments in a party bag and choose a winner next week. Thank you for keeping me company.

... how does your garden grow ...

Well you wouldn't know it if you looked out of the window today, but on Saturday we had sunshine, glorious, warm, Spring sun! It felt so good to be walking around with less layers on and feeling the heat of the sun on our faces. For the first time in ages I braved the garden and went outside for a good rummage. Yes, that's me in the photo above wafting gently around the place in my silk crinoline admiring the hollyhocks and flower covered archway ...



Actually that's a rather pretty cushion cover I found at a car boot last weekend. Determined to find something, I resorted to delving deep into dirty boxes and was rewarded with this pretty little thing, which was rust stained and smelly but responded well to some TLC. Not bad for 50p! Not only looking lovely now on an old chair but it goes remarkably well with an old apron that I caught Miss Blossom wearing the other day ...



she too has obviously got her mind on Spring and the flowers in her garden.



How I would love my garden to be full of these cottage garden flowers all Summer long. Not just the lovely display that lasts for a couple of weeks and then limps sadly through till September.



A garden full of interest the whole summer long is my aim in life! Not that easy with the squirrels eating all the bulbs, the slugs and snails munching on the foliage and two cats who love to lie on top of the most promising plants, just when they're coming into bloom.



Still. I mustn't give up hope. I guess the key is planning (and money!). Any seedlings I grow seem to disappear overnight and I am going to have to try and beg, borrow but not steal some new plants this year. I have in my mind exactly what I want to fill the gaps, drifts of foxgloves, hollyhocks and poppies all blooming nonstop!



I love looking through old gardening books for photos and pictures, the cover of this little book is gorgeous. I have not just been reading gardening books and walking oh so elegantly around my garden in my crinoline surveying the slowly awakening borders - I have been busy making these:



Lovely lavender sachets made from cotton printed with images from some much treasured vintage French seed packets. Not only have I found the urge to sew again, I have really, really been enjoying myself. I don't know if it's just seeing the beautiful graphics on the packets transformed into sachets, the pretty flowers on one side and the charming old growing instructions in French on the other, or the feeling of optimism that they produce, Spring is on its way!


Trays full of them have been produced. some have been sent to some shops and some are in my Etsy shop if you'd like to have a look. The equivalent of a potting shed full of summer promise. So until my make believe garden is full of those hollyhocks and I tire of wearing my bonnet and crinoline, at least I have the gorgeous scent of lavender wafting gently over me each time I walk into the room - nearly as good as my imaginary Mary Mary quite contrary garden, but not quite...

Colour me a picture

Can it really be nearly the end of the week? Half term almost over? I'n sure days over half terms are at least two hours shorter than any other day of the year ... We've been having a good week, a gentle week trying to find some colour despite the grey skies. My lovely M gave me this beautiful pink posy (perhaps too big for a posy) of flowers for Valentines Day. Roses, tulips and ranunculus, some of my favourite flowers in my favourite colour...



We had a lovely day at home us Roses. Mr Roses disappeared into the kitchen late afternoon, leaving us girl roses in front of the TV watching I Capture the Castle (again, but really oh so perfect for Valentines Day) and passing round a huge bowl of chocolates that Big Sister had bought for us to share. Once again Big Sister and I blubbed our way through it whilst Little Sister rolled her eyes and did her best to comfort us. Meanwhile in the kitchen M had rustled up an almighty feast for us all including heart shaped mashed potatoes for the girls ... I waddled back to the TV afterwards to watch Edge of Love with him. Not perhaps the perfect pairing of films. more a heads and tails of love, but I enjoyed them both.



The days this week have been grey and overcast. On Tuesday we went for our walk.



The skies may have been miserable but there were tantalising glimpses of sunshine. Us three girls climbed up and down our favourite paths along the Downs and through the woods.



Six years apart in age, it does me good to see my daughters united sometimes like this, walking hand in hand, if not shoulder to shoulder, laughing and giggling, who'd have thought that only an hour earlier they were screeching at each other at home?



We are all together so rarely these days and I know as the girls grow up those days will dwindle even more and I am learning to treasure these times as much as possible - screeching apart.



Yesterday we decided on a whim to go to London. To see some colour. Another grey day but there's always colour to be found in London. This florist stall sits at the end of a street that I remember coming to when I had just left school. I'd just been given my first reading list for University and I'd come here to buy my French text books, feeling oh so excited and grown up. Just seeing all these beautiful flowers brought all those memories back.



Big sister has had lots of art work to do recently. I remembered how wonderful a visit I made to the National Gallery was when I was her age with my school. So we decided to go there and pop in first of all to National Portrait Gallery. I'm glad we did. So many wonderful portraits, photographs etc. A great collection of photos from Vanity Fair too. We looked at the more modern portraits from the last century or so, fantastic! A great collection of Bloomsbury paintings. The girls couldn't believe they saw so many famous people painted in so many different styles. (we also spent an inordinate amount of time examining in close up how to paint shoes, but that's another story ...).



We ate some sandwiches in Trafalgar Square and it felt so strange to be sitting there like a tourist when I had grown up in London and knew the place so well. A whistle stop tour of the National Gallery allowed Little Sister and Big Sister to see some of the most famous paintings in the world - they couldn't believe that there in front of them was Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Yellow Chair, in one corner was that famous painting by Renoir - in fact so many paintings that they had seen so many times in books, postcards, t shirts were there in front of them. It was lovely to watch them looking at them close up for the first time.



But there's only so much culture us Roses, well the younger ones, can take. With vouchers from Christmas burning a hole in their pockets, I knew it was time to tackle Oxford Circus. We walked up Regent Street, passed the shop I used to work in on Saturdays when I was at school, we pressed our noses against the window at Hamleys, waved at Libertys and arrived at teenage heaven - Topshop. No shortage of colour here! I watched Big Sister dance her way through the rails, Little Sister and I trailing behind, she swooped from one item to another and I remembered how I used to feel in just this very shop years ago. We emerged relatively unscathed, minus the Christmas vouchers, but Big Sister triumphant holding a skirt that coincidentally resembles all the beautiful paintings we'd seen that day and the promise of Spring days that lie ahead.

Making room for the sunlight

Last Friday, on a cold, wet and grey day, much like today, a couple of friends came for lunch. One of my friends gave me this lovely bunch of spring flowers. A week on and they are still smiling at me on the kitchen table, (the flowers, not my friends). You can't help but smile back when you see a pot full of spring sunshine welcoming you into a room.



Late yesterday afternoon Little Sister and I had to walk into town. Just a couple of weeks ago at 5.30pm the streets would have been dark and silent, but yesterday dusk was just beginning to fall and in the trees was the undeniable sound of birds singing!!! (If you click on the above image, you should see the loveliest mug that Little Sister bought for her daddy). Little Sister told me that the birds were waking up (just like the Moomins in the books we're reading) and it's so good to know that Spring is in our grasp. The weather may be pants, the temperature may be cold but there is no denying that things are changing.



So fast forward to this Friday - the weather is grey again but we have been lucky enough to have had some beautifully sunny mornings and early afternoons here. Bitterly cold, but sunny. Just right for taking photos. Some corners of my home that enjoyed the rays this week.



Last year on the way back from school, I saw a builder just dumping this mirror in a skip. I asked him if I could have it and he looked at me dubiously when he saw that I didn't have a car with me. But hey. there is nothing like the strength of a woman in possession of a new/old mirror is there? I clambered home up the 100 or so steps with my treasure wrapped in my arms. Ten minutes to get it home, eight months to paint!!!



it now sits, freshly painted on my dressing table. It's height works well in the room as we have tall ceilings and it is a long room.



Of course it meant that everything else had to be rearranged and freshly dusted and Mr Roses muttered something about never being able to find anything,... but I'm pleased with the results.
I am not a vain person, these days I hardly look in the mirror for fear of what might greet me, but I cannot believe the amount of mirrors we have in our bedroom ...



The pink mirror that was originally on the dressing table is now at the other end of the room on the chest of drawers and I found one of our cats sitting on a mirrored (!) box of drawers gazing out into the garden with her head bathed in warm sunlight (isn't it amazing just how small they can make themselves to fit into a warm sunny spot).



I have also finally managed to frame and mount the piece of vintage fabric that I found for my kitchen. It fits the space so well and always reminds me of happy days on the Downs whenever I walk past it.



A few weeks ago I had a giveaway - the lovely winner was Lou. A couple of days ago there was a knock at the door and a postman standing there with a very big parcel for me. As it just happened to be the day that Mr Roses was home from work I did panic, frantically rethinking what I'd been buying on the internet!!!! Well M hovered over my shoulder and with hands shaking I opened the box and found this treasure trove of loveliness!



A thank you from Lou for my giveaway prizes! Such a sweet, generous, kind and unprompted gift. I have spent some time this morning arranging my goodies around the house and smiling.
Hope some sunlight crosses your path this weekend.



x

Life's a beach ... stringing wishes

I never would have thought last Monday when we were busy chucking snowballs at each other, that just a few days later we would be choosing to enjoy the wintry sunshine on the beach. Saturday morning, we all felt the urge to be out. Away from home, away from the shops - we needed, in short a change of scene.



Just a short drive along the coast and we found what we needed. A deserted stretch of beach, calm, serene and as a different from a busy Saturday morning in town as you could imagine.



Whenever we go to the beach, we tend to stick together, at least initially. A little group of four huddled round our picnic surveying the scene. This time was different. After just a few minutes I noticed that we were as far apart as possible. The four of us together, but separate by our need for different things.



M had woken up that morning desperate for some air and new vistas. He needed some horizon he said. Well he certainly found it - miles of it, unspoilt, clear, blue, glistening in the chilly sunshine. He walked the beach scanning the horizon, taking his photos, breathing in the sea air and breathing out the worries and stresses of a week without horizon.



Little Sister lay basking on the rocks, face turned up to the sky. She said she needed space. Cuddled up in her coat, plugged in to her Ipod and her mind full of the thoughts and dreams of a 9 year old ...



I knew what Big Sister needed and so did she. She needed the sea. Sitting amongst the rocks on the shoreline with the waves lapping at her feet. she sat and stared. She has always loved the sea and I think that it worked its healing. comforting charm on her again. Even the worries and upsets of a teenager seem to fade slightly if you stare at the sea long enough ....



As for me, I needed to be alone with my thoughts. Not lonely, just alone. I walked across the pebbles. listened to the sea, felt the air on my face and looked over at my family. I always gain persepective when I'm on the beach, it is a place to be optimistic, to indulge in dreams and to find some calm.



I walked over to Big Sister and asked if she minded me joining her. We sat together ( she held on tight to me as I kept sliding down the rocks) and we stared out to sea. Sometimes you don't need to use words do you? We both understood at that moment, what mattered, what was important, what would last and what would pass...



I think we all found what we had gone looking for. Just a couple of hours spent on the beach together, looking for our own kind of treasure.