The Name of the Rose

I have a feeling that roses, those most versatile of flowers are our most popular bloom. They seem to crop up on everything.
You find them decorating absolutely everything and every new invention seems, eventually, to acquire a rose or two.

On my Facebook page this past week I have been making up silly little ditties around Herrick's first lines, after which my blog is named and altering them to illustrate this fact.
I started with this one
Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
cover with egg white - beaten
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow can be eaten!

Fabric of course may be the first thing you think of when searching for examples of decorative roses. They are everywhere and always have been, way back in time.

A friend of mine collects and sells beautiful antique fabrics and needleworks.
http://morgaine-le-fay.co.uk/?page_id=106

Roses crop up on a good deal of the fabrics and pieces she finds.

I have just acquired the most wonder printed fabric from Australia and yes- you've guessed it - roses are everywhere.

See how similar the antique and the modern can be?

Roses adorn china of all kinds. I have many teacups and saucers, as you'll know if you follow my Teacup Tuesday posts on Facebook.

Of course, some roses are the simple petaled flowers and others can be the multi petaled varieties - they are so versatile.

Embroidery is festooned with roses.

As is tapestry and cross stitch.

Jewellery...

Boxes....

Cakes......

I could be here forever.

Think I've proved my point though.

We LOVE <3 roses don't we.

And not JUST for their beauty.

 I'm going out now to smell the roses in my garden. This is my favourite one. Variegata di Bologna - the only stripe and blotched rose.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

For the Love of Fondant Fancies.

I LOVE cake. There I've said it.
A bit like that song " I hate men ", from Kiss Me Kate. I could set it to words.

But Ill spare you that joy ;)

Now when I came across these,

and these,

and these too,

and certainly these,

on Facebook, I had an idea.

I had been wanting to make, for some time, pincushions in the form of vegetables and fruit.

I made a few to see how they would look....

A carrot, a yellow pepper, a gourd and a strawberry.
I liked them and what is more so did my customers at craft fairs.


The next step I thought, could be little dainty cakes.

Now when I was young my Grannie had a strawberry pincushion - I still have it and use it- and it's made from velvet and is filled with silver sand.
It just so happens that my husband ( who is a garden designer and builder ) was able to get me some silver sand.
The sand is brilliant for keeping pins and needles sharp and rust free. They knew a few things these old time sewers.

So I made a prototype cake in felt.

Nice though it is, it isn't quite what I wanted.

This is where my clever husband comes in again. I asked him if he could make me a former in wood so that I could stretch felt over it to make the seamless shape of a cake. My prototype had been sewn and that was part of my dissatisfaction.

The gadget he came up with is this .....

It's a wooden block which has been sanded on the edges to round it a little just as a cake would be. This block is fixed to a stick and on the other end is a smaller block to tamp down the sand once poured into the moulded felt. This will make little square cakes

I have starched the felt and it's drying in the airing cupboard.

Next...let's see if this works.

It's just an experiment you understand.

Something Bugging Me!

We have had, for some time now, a major problem with carpet beetle.

Not moths......oh no......not weak little teeny tiny, "can't be doin' with all this spraying and gassing- I'm off" moths. Those are the bluetits of the pest world. We have carpet beetles. They are the Pterodactyl of the pest world!
SQUAWK!

And they look SO HARMLESS. They haven't even eaten the carpets!!
I sometimes think it would be easier to move house than to eradicate these little bug ( g***!)
Except I might be taking them with me?

We moved in 2007. The house isn't old but it hadn't really been looked after and so when we got it we had to make sure of a few essential maintenances.....like the roof! Although the roof is good - there were tiles missing, about which the previous occupant had neglected to tell us. So had the surveyor - but that's another story. < ahem>.

As there was a great gaping hole in the roof we got Jackdaws nesting. I'm fond of birds but I don't want to share my inside living space with them.
And where there are Jackdaws, there are nests.
And where there are nests there are carpet beetles.

They feed on the detritus in discarded nests ( lovely little creatures ) and so we had very quickly to get rid of them. We then had two years of relative peace. As far as beetles are concerned.
CUE.. < JAWS MUSIC >
Then, 'as if from a long sleep' ( as the author has it ) they emerged from their hidey holes and proceeded to chomp their way through my cashmere.( They should be called Cashmere beetles, THEY ARE SO FOND OF IT!)
I'm fond of my cashmere. I'm also fond of the price I paid for it!

Now I have not one piece ( yeah I do....just one new piece I had for Christmas - and I quake every time I take it out ), which hasn't been ventilated.

It's heartbreaking.

Get rid of the little bugg ers...I hear you cry. Fumigate, spray, shake powder, chase, squash and thoroughly exterminate!

But hold your horses!
WE HAVE.

We have been trying for three years to eradicate them. Yes we are winning. They are smaller, weaker and less of them.
But they are still there. And it only takes one little caterpillar ( no I shan't dignify it with a word as nice as that,)  MAGGOT, to eat through yer best cardy!

Ah well.....keep fumigating. And Fulminating.

The point of this little diatribe on a mostly flowery crafty blog?

I simply couldn't bring myself to get rid of my cardys. So this is what I have done with the first of them...
Every hole- no matter where ( and they are never organised in their nibbling - wouldn't be so bad if they were, ) I've darned with embroidery wool and added a bead. Yes...it'll do.

My yellow shrug, they have comprehensively banqueted.
So a little yellow silk and a few flowers later...I might just be able to resurrect it. Watch this space.

ALSO, watch the space in your loft. If you get them, check for nests and remove. Clean everything scrupulously. Cover everything edible ( all natural fibres ) in cling film to store. Then get a fumigating can and go out for the afternoon.
Then do it again...
and again.....




and again.
And cross your fingers.

OR...don't buy any cashmere! :)

Teacup Tuesday

Now Spring has finally, I think, sprung, I seem to be getting in the mood for decorating. Not the usual stuff I do but a 'Spring clean' type of decorating.

I have seen so many inspiring pictures on Facebook lately, of pastel coloured rooms with oodles of vases filled with beautiful Spring flowers, of teacups with little posies of wild blooms. Or candles.

Photo courtesy Miss Rose, Sister Violet

And since it's Teacup Tuesday I thought I'd share a photo with you.
I know, I know, they aren't teacups. They are chocolate cups.

In days of yore when knights were bold,
And chocolate was served a lot
Piping hot, served warm, not cold
In a pretty little lidded  pot.

I have three pretty late 18th century Limoges chocolate pots with lids, which sit by my mid 19th century clock on a special little shelf made by my husband Stephen. The diamond shelf is painted the same colour as the walls and blends in nicely. ( A grey blue ).

But I digress.

For some reason, living where we do, we get quite a bit of pollution which settles as a grey sticky deposit on anything plastic, painted or fabric.
I did put it down to the proximity of the road ( never having lived near a road before, albeit a road that doesn't get much traffic ). Until recently I thought it was car fumes that were turning my pretty kitchen walls from a delightful pale violet colour, into a mucky grey.

I've changed my mind.
I think it's the plastics factory down the road. A long way down the road but in direct line for the south westerlies to bring it to my door....and window...and curtains...and delicately shaded walls.
So I'm hoping this bank holiday weekend to do some re-decorating of walls. Not before we get out the good old sugar soap and give them a good scrub.

I like decorating but I hate cleaning walls. Anyone like to come and help?

No, I didn' think I'd get any takers. ;)

So when I next post. I'll have a beautifully clean kitchen, filled with lovely shiny crockery and bright dust free fabrics.
I'll post some pictures when it's done.

Meanwhile here ARE some teacups...
My 1901 Hammersley hand painted set...every piece is different, too pretty to hide away!

And yes...I have to wash every piece by hand, because they too get grey with pollution. <Sigh>

Whatever you are doing this bank holiday, be it decorating the walls or filling vases with flowers, make it special.

A Pinch and a Punch

April is with us. It may not seem like it. But here, it is.
 I've been very busy with The Medlar House Mice and so haven't had much time to post on GYR.
However I've kept the Facebook page of GYR going.

There have been some pretty things which have taken my eye. I think that we needed some heart warming imagery when the weather has been so horrible. They lift the spirits, don't you think?

I just loved this flower arrangement for the colours..

Making flowers always lifts my spirits. Over on BoxCleva I have a tutorial about how to make flowers which are made from mulberry paper. The blanks can be bought almost anywhere and of course you can punch out your own blanks if you have some flower punches.

I have dozens of flower punches but opted for bought in mulberry paper ones, for my projects, so that I could try them out for my readers who may not have a lot of punches, nor indeed any.
Prima flowers
They have so many applications, not least decorating the boxes for which BoxCleva is named and for beautifying the little box stands which I like to use to elevate the Medlar House Mice, from the surface of the display table, when I go to craft fairs.

I went to one on Saturday with the mice, with my Gather Ye Rosebud silk flowers, with decorated boxes of course and with a new idea of mine..pretty decorated houses which light up.

We tried a few of these glittery houses at Christmas and I wanted to make them all year, so made them rather Eastery to begin with. They are also on BoxCleva.
Here are some links for them.

A re-flowering

And for those on Facebook...

Houses
Naturally, they too are festooned with flowers.

So I called this post and Pinch and a Punch, because flowers were punched out and I've pinched my own posts from Facebook.

Happy April.

Hearts and Flowers

I haven't written anything on here since January for which I apologise.

Heartfelt and particularly, The Medlar House Mice have been taking up all my time.
Did I tell you I have resurrected my old mice which I made over 15 years ago? Well I have given them a twist and I now think they are a bit more 21st century.

They have been on Facebook for a while but I have now started a blog for them.
http://medlarhousemice.blogspot.co.uk/

If you click the link and scroll down you can see all about them and how they came to be the way they are....no clues.

Why have I suddenly started this?

Well, I got a bit fed up ( as you know ) with paper. I do love it but there is no point labouring over something which others can make by machine at the touch of a button. Handmade? No but nevertheless...anyone can do it. So I no longer want to make flowers or bags or boxes. These machines, Silhouette Cameos for one, will even make you a dolls house like I make so there is no point in me playing with those either except for my own fun.

So I started Heartfelt - all about felt shapes made entirely by hand and embroidered and made with Vintage lace, ribbons and sequins and beads.

One thing's led to another and I've been drawn back to the three D soft sculptures I used to make years ago.
You can read about them http://pastmastery.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/2-pounds-for-your-thoughts.html
here.

I had no idea if people were going to like the or not. SO I made a few and took them to a couple of shows.
They LOVED them.
So I shall be making some more. No two will be the same. They are OOAK...one of a kind. Even if I replicate a theme it will be different as the items used will not be the same.
For example...I made this little white mouse...

You all thought that in Alice in Wonderland..there was a White Rabbit..well no...it was a mouse ;)

I made him with some tiny playing cards which I got in a cracker at Christmas. I shall make another as he sold immediately he was put out on the stand. He won't be the same though...he will be white but not like this one...so there we are OOAK.

I hope you will follow the mice in their antics.I shall write a blog about most of them as I make them, on Medlar House Tails.
And pictures will appear on Gather Ye Rosebuds too.

Many of them wear hats filled with flowers and some of them hold or are embroidered with flowers.
I think that counts don't you?