The vegetables are coming up really well.  The warmth this weekend has really helped establish the seedlings.  I have put up some canes for the beans to climb, planted a marrow, a squash and a cucumber.  My darling sister gave me some raspberry canes which also went in.    Later this week I think I will need to thin the coriander seedlings.  Despite over watering by my youngest son, the teeny tiny leeks have managed to hold on and look almost a millimetre thicker than yesterday.

It is quite strange to have such heat in May (yesterday it touched 29 degrees in our garden).    I hope my usual flowers at this time of the year last and don’t fade too quickly.

One of my all time favourite flowers is up now perennial geraniums.  I have lots of different varieties blues, pinks and dark purple.   This is the month when everything speeds up so much, from day-to-day the growth in the garden gets more dense.  Unfortunately that also includes the weed which seem to grow twice as fast as the plants!

The pictures above show two geraniums, some Aquilegia which have self seeded all over the garden and  a flame coloured azalea.

The choice for June is

The Vanishing of Katherine Linden by Helen Grant

The blurb says –  “Pia’s life in the picturesque German town of Bad Munstereifel changes forever the day her grandmother explodes.  The unusual circumstances of her grandmother’s death make Pia the subject of local gossip and she is ostracised by her classmates.  Befriended by another outcast – Stefan, the two begin to investigate the disappearances amongst young girls in the town.  Little do they realise, their detective work will uncover things more horrifying than they ever dared imagine.

Next sewing project in hand – The Purple Splodge dress

I got the material from the fab Jersey Vogue in North London.  The print is a camouflage print in mauve and purples and the material is similar to a cotton sateen.    I decided to copy one of my favourite skirts which has small box pleats all around and to add a sleeveless blouse top.  So far I have cut out all the pieces and stitched down the pleats on the skirt.  I am setting myself a deadline of the first weekend in June to finish this dress.    I am keeping to the fifties feel this dress – as I did with my Olive Taffeta dress.  I love the styles from this decade and the early Sixties.

Finally today after hearing a talk from the curator in March, starting my own quilt  and the  school happiness quilt,  I got to this exhibition.  It was well worth the wait and I will probably go again before it closes.

The five rooms are based around  the themes of

The Domestic Landscape, Private thoughts and political debates, Virtue and Virtuosity, Making a living and Meeting the Past.

The artistry that has gone into making all of the quilts on display is amazing.  Even though some of the quilts are three hundred years old, the colours are wonderful, beautiful shades of scarlet, blues and yellows.  I was really inspired by the work on show and it has spurred me on to get  on with my own quilt.  It also gave me the idea of the need to add historical detail to the school quilt and possibly to speak to my own children’s Headteacher about making one with the children in their school.

If you haven’t been to this exhibition it is well worth a visit.

The final highlight is the fab shop where you can purchase limited runs of fat quarters.  Two of which I bought, one for the school quilt, one for my own.

The Palm Tree pattern is taken from a design from a patchwork coverlet possibly made in Wales 1830 – 40.  This one will go in my quilt.

The Leaf pattern design is taken from a patchwork coverlet made in Britain dated 1797.  This one will go into the school quilt.  I chose the leaf as all the classes are named after Trees!

I work in a school in London.  Inspired by the V&A quilt exhibition I organised a Happiness quilt to be made by the children in the school.  Each child and member of staff had a square to take home over the Easter holidays to decorate with something that made them happy.  So far we have received over 150 squares back which are currently being sewed together to make a Happiness Quilt to feast and gladden the eye as you enter school!

Here are a few pictures of some of the quilt squares which have come back to school. 

After incredibly early planting outside on my part, some my seeds are finally popping through.  It is so lovely to see seeds growing and I still am thrilled to see a bean seed struggling through the earth.    So far I have beans, coriander, a lettuce mix and a few fine leeks popping up.  My darling sisters who are both have allotments have got pumpkin, squash, marrow and cucumbers to go in soon.  I have also planted six tomato plants – three with small cherry toms and three larger tomatoes. 

Pictures to follow soon

This was one of the best Teen books we have read so far.  The setting was perfect for this tale of war-time treatment of people with mental health problems.  The three main characters were excellent, the troubled doctor and two teens interacted extremely well with each other.  I would definitely recommend this book if you have  teenager aged 13 up.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rowan-Strange-Julie-Hearn/dp/0192729209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274274396&sr=8-1

I have pasted a link Amazon if you want to read more reviews about the book and to hear from the author herself. 

Maybe it is my fascination with Oz, but Rowan is desperate and anxious about how and if he will ever return home.   The reader is left at the end with positive hopes for Rowan as the true madness is revealed at the end of the novel.

Can’t quite believe I haven’t posted for a whole month!   My dress was finished a couple of weeks ago and I finally wore it to the wedding for which it was made last Saturday. 

Here it is –

and I love it!!!

I wore it to the wedding with a limey green/khaki shawl to lighten it a little as black lace made it too much of an evening dress for a 1p.m wedding.   The weather was lovely and sunny but still quite chilly and the shawl helped keep me warm.  To bring out the colour of the silk I wore my favourite green butterfly brooch pinned but no other jewellery.   I particularly love the beautiful bow my darling mother made to finish the dress at the waist.

Had a fitting today after doing some more work on my beautiful dress over the weekend.   I decided to take off the sleeves as the weather may be quite warm, especially as this will have its first outing in May.  Without sleeves, my lovely mother had to adjust the back as I gained half an inch without the sleeves.  She helped me place the chiffon overskirt and then I tacked the blouse to the skirt.  At the fitting today, she levelled the hem, I am keeping it quite long just below my knee with chiffon about two inches longer.  We decided it needed something at the waist, first we thought of a black thick velvet ribbon but have decided on a flat taffeta bow in the olive.  This will add the detail it needs but keep the colour lighter.  I have decided against wearing the chain I posted about earlier, but will wear no jewellery except perhaps for a pair of earring. 

To keep my shoulders warm (in case it is a bit blowy), I am going to use the extra chiffon and taffeta to make a simple wrap.

Pictures to be added soon, once I have finished the armholes, hem and zip.

If I ever win the lottery or have one of those  girlie weekends in New York, there will be one shop definitely on the places I must visit.  Purl Soho – 459  Broome Street NY looks absolutely fab. 

If you press the blog roll link to the Purl bee you will see what I mean. 

The wool section looks amazing – and it has one of those wonderful library ladders to reach the out of reach yarns.  The sewing department looks just as wonderful as the knitting department.

One can dream…..