Bringing you roses

If you are looking for my giveaway, you will find it here, but let's move swiftly on to a bit of beauty to help us through the week.

As you know from here, I like a bit a of aesthetic excellence, and I love a bit of floriferousness, so I offer you a little something from my garden to jolly along your Wednesday.

(Amy of During Quiet Time is organizing a Linky Bloggers' Garden Tour - it would be nice if you could join in with your own little patch, or if not, have a look around the others.)

In the past couple of years we have been concentrating so much on the productive, self-sufficiency side of things that flowers have been rather abandoned by the wayside, but I started out as a flower gardener, and this year I decided that my psyche needs flowers, and so does my B&B, so rather than pay for air-freighted flowers produced in uncertain conditions, I would exploit my own labour. So I sowed a few seeds in amongst the vegetable ones, and I also bought in some tiny plug plants from Crocus and Sarah Raven, and now my B&B guests can reap the benefits of my springtime exertions.

Lady's mantle, white valerian, delphinium blue. red valerian,  delphinium white

With two members of the family suffering badly from hay fever, I don't usually get to bring my flowers into the house, but running a B&B gives me the opportunity to indulge in a little light floristry in a rather amateurish way.

... and cranesbill, and lupins, and catmint, and roses

But the good thing about garden flowers is that you don't have to worry too much about the initial arrangement - they all move about the vase as they settle in, and some decide to lounge about, and others to stand upright as a result of the picking and plunging, and it seems that whatever you do, the effect is one of lovely disorder.

Sweet disorder

And before I go, and while the Head Chef isn't looking, I'll share with you a little purchase I made when I, um, accidentally pressed a button whilst perusing a very lovely Etsy shop. Amy is not only a gardener, she is also the most talented needlewoman, and somehow this wonderful zippy bag found its way into my bathroom.

And not only is the front made of fabric screenprinted by Amy with cottages and apple trees (just like mine), the back is yes, flowery, with individually quilted flowers. 

How on earth does she quilt those petals and circles so neatly? I always struggle with curves (and even my straight lines aren't that straight).

And I can't even practise sewing curves for a bit - my dear Rose (even my sewing machine is a flower)  is off to be fettled up today, and she will be absent from our happy home for a couple of weeks. All I can do is go and gaze longingly on the productions of others, and muse on my past creations: Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts has a nice little selection to admire, but perhaps this is a form of self-torture?

Such is the trauma of parting, I can't find words to express my separation anxiety - will dearest Rose have changed when she returns, will our relationship be the same? Karen has written most expressively about this - read what she has to say, as I can dwell on such a painful separation no longer.

She exits in search of a length of black lace and six yards of bombazine.