Baby Hannah's Christening 27th April

On Sunday the 27th of April it was the happy occasion of baby Hannah's christening in Coventry. Fallon was one of the Godparents and was honored to be chosen, she played her part well and she looked lovely. Hannah looked lovely too as you can see from the pictures i took, and she was such a good girl never cried all day even though she was passed around me having her every second person. Well I don't get to see her to often so made the most of every minuet. Just for a change the weather was dry and warm until late afternoon when the heavens opened, and traveled back home in torrential rain with Fallon's annoying noisy window wiper, but it stopped me falling asleep. The photo above is of one of the table arrangements I made for the tables in the hotel, baby pink pots,white lily's, pink carnation's, white rose's, pink Gerbera, pink and white spray carnation's and pink broom. There were some balloons and baby confetti on the tables. From the amount of presents that where there looks like Hannah will be ok for clothes for the rest of the year. There are so many beautiful baby clothes in the shops its hard to choose, well Nikki you will just have to have another (in a few years time and another girl).
Fallon with here cousins Christopher and Sally and baby Hannah
With Nikki her mum Sorry missed you off John her dad
Me Me Me

Hannah in her afternoon party dress

Worn out and ready for home

week four of the night class

This was the forth design the class had to do last week.It was nice to use some delphinium and we used them at there full height. Two fox tail lilies came out to one side, two Anastasia and three cerise Gerber's. I wanted to keep the foliage to a minimum so just used fatsia and a few salal leaves which covered the dish up well. I knotted some china grass to give a different shape and a few pieces of looped steel grass. Everybody liked this design. some people had clear vases so i gave a few suggestions to make them a bit more interesting. If you crush clear cellophane and fill with water it looks like crushed ice, coloured sisal, layers of sand or pebbles, vertical twigs or lots of cut pieces of twigs, circles of grasses or you could add food colouring to water. Using a dish with oasis that sits on top of the vase leaves the vase empty for you to do these things and experiment.

week three of my night class

Week three of my night class was a horizontal design. we used aspidistra leaves length ways pining them onto the foam block giving them a wave effect. two stems of monusella were added and then a row of roses. I used contrasting colours of lizzyantha at ether end and then finished it of with steel grass and decorative wire.

The start of my 8 week flower class, week one and two.

Last September started a ten week flower arranging course in the shop. After the days trading i cleared the shop to make space for three trestle tables and a number of chairs, these are borrowed from the local council buildings. It was a great success and there was a good variety of designs and as it was near Christmas the last few weeks were spent on Xmas designs. My plan was to start another course in January but with Valentine day and mothers day then Easter so close we have only just started three weeks ago. The above photo is the design for the first week. My aim was to use tulips before the are out of season, and this week at market there wasn't the variety there has been. They are available later as they grow them in sand but they then become expensive. Tulips after cutting are the one flower that keep on growing and when i designed the arrangement the tulips were to fall downwards but by the morning the were all facing upwards but it just changed the arrangement and still looked ok. The phormium leaf was manipulated and shaped into a fan this proved to be rather hard for some of the Lady's but every one managed it in the end.

This was the second weeks design. The container was a short stone like pot and on top of this we made out of bio degradable wire lined it moss shaped it to a circle and placed it on the pot, wet oasis in the bottom and twigs and contorted willow was added. I washed the soil off some daffodils and Hyacinth's bulbs added them to the design and some irises. Finished it of with ivy, natural rope and lichen. It was an unusual arrangement but the class enjoyed the challenge and it was something different.

Future concepts workshop 20th April 08

A few years ago i joined a flower club in oxton called future concepts. Its a contemporary design club and we meet five or six times a year. Its usually a work shop for the weekend but i have to go on Sundays as i work on Saturdays. This year we are celebrating our tenth anniversary. To help celebrate we have booked the town hall in Burton on Trent and have invited life 3 three wonder full floral performers. Per Benjamin (Sweden), Max van de Sluis (The Netherlands) and Tomas De Buryne (Belgium). This all takes place on Sunday 6th July something to look forward to. We met last Sunday for a workshop our tuter was Sarah Horne. Sarah has been a florist for many years and has a thriving shop in Lemington she was a very good teacher. We made the basket from a new bio-degradable wire mesh, lined it with moss and i dressed mine with lichen twigs and catkins etc. I used pink Gerber's, Hellebore's from the gardens, daffs, ivy and two orchids. topped it off with a few bleached twigs and a lovely twisted thin branch as if it was a handle. There are over 20 people in the class and it always amazes me how we all come up with so many different designs, The two people in the photo Julie and Jackie are my Friends from when we were at collage, they live near Birmingham the opposite way to me so we don't get together often so its good to catch up when we meet. Over the years we have had some great demonstrators and workshops, its a great way of keeping in touch with new trends and techniques. there isn't another workshop until September so ill have to get my fix from another sauce until then.

Jackie's design
Julie's design

Yorkshire sculpture park

last year i found my self with a free day so decided to go to the Yorkshire sculpture park near Wakefield In particular wanted to see the exhibition by British born Andy Goldsworthy a land artist. As part of the flower arranging course we studied land art and as part of our last year studies we had to construct a piece in the grounds of the collage. I enjoyed this very much and the whole class did some amazing work. Some of the sculptures in the park have been there for many years with exhibits from Henry Moor and Babarbra Hepworth. Goldsworthy uses natural materials wood, stones, leaves water, ice and clay. He has many books and there are a number of interesting web sites. Just type in Andy Goldsworthy there are video's and his many designs on the sites. This sculpture is called hanging trees, there are three all linked together and is a permanent sculpture in the park.

All over for another year

I just don't know where March has gone. One minuet it was Valentines day then Mothering Sunday then our holiday to Malta. I never even had a chance to take photos of all the lovely arrangements i made for mothers day. It was really busy in the shop we worked some days 16 hours but its over for another year. Easter isn't usually very busy people tend to buy small posy's of spring flowers. This year we sent for some wonderful Narcissus from the Isle of Silly their perfume fills the whole shop they are so delicate, we had four different types they look good just put in a crock jug.

Just before all the busy times at the shop started our family was blest with a beautiful baby girl, Hannah. she is the daughter of my sisters daughter Nikki, my niece (and Goddaughter). This picture is of her only two weeks old. They live about 70 miles away and iv not seen her since the beginning of February but I'm pleased to say they are coming to see us 5th April. One of the reasons they are coming for the weekend is Fallon our daughter gave me two tickets to go to see Torval and Dean ice skaters in Sheffield for Mothers day, so my sister is going with me. I have followed the skaters from the 80s when they won the Olympics and world champions. They have been on the TV for a few weeks and are just as good if not better. I'm looking forward to the weekend. It would be nice if the weather would warm up. Its been so cold and we have had more snow now than in the depths of winter. After being in Malta in warm weather its been hard to get back in warmer clothes and boots instead of sandals.

The cross stitch below is what i made for Hannah as a keepsake, i put it in a frame and gave it to her mum and dad after she was born. I enjoy sewing and in the past have done many projects but of late have not been very productive. the cross stitch below of the farm scene took me two years and i finally got it framed late last year. Not long ago i made curtains for my new bedroom. it saves a small fortune if you can make things your self and there is a great satisfaction when you've achieved something.