Earlier this year...

I got in the car and drove up to Stamford, a town of such beauty and historic interest that you half expect everyone to be in costume and the possibility of running into Rufus Sewell seems enhanced.  Anyway, I was thrilled to be going to visit the floral legend and emporium which is Miss Pickering's.  You will know that I am a huge fan of this very talented florist and blogger.  Her shop is a monument to gorgeousness.
I went for a day's tuition in floral arrangement (think of it as CPD for florists) and also some photographic tuition from the lovely Emily Quinton.

Here's the arrangement part;  Miss P's style includes masses of different foliage, lovely scents and amazing colours and textures, so this is probably what we call a pale imitation, but I had a lot of fun (and rhubarb muffins, v. delicious).

Emily's tuition was very helpful too, I discovered parts of my camera I never knew existed....still lots to learn.

The other highlight of my day was meeting The Hound, who is Miss Pickering's shop dog in residence, who keeps an eye on all the comings and goings.  He is charm personified, considering he is something of a celebrity dog and has his own blog. 

Miss P was happy for me to take pictures of the Hound and he graciously agreed.  With due deference to my own lovely dogs, the Hound is indeed very handsome.  Who needs Rufus Sewell?

Waiter, there's a flower in my soup

Here's something I tried out recently, flowers not waving but in some cases drowning.  

Although these don't last so long, they do have a bit of impact I think, especially the leaves, which are always great for concealing stems.

I chose some brights (tulips, ranunculus, roses and germini) and some zingy green carnations to take the edge off January and its inherent greyness.  The ones under water are magnified a bit, so you get more flowers for your money.


Visiting a wedding venue tomorrow, very exciting..... love is in the air.

2010 in Flowers

A brief snapshot from the year just about to end; Happy New Year to all my friends, thank you for your support and encouragement throughout this year, may the New Year bring you everything you wish for.

With love, Sue x

The Wreath Lectures or How Much Fun Was That?

What a fantastic way to spend a Saturday, in the company of fun, creative women, lots to talk about, a nice bit of lunch and then doing flower stuff as well!  Like 'Loose Women' with foliage.  I got together with Karen, Dee, Kaly, Ann and Viviane for the inaugural Christmas Door Wreath Workshop.
Even the setting up was fun, putting out all those great decorations, cinnamon sticks, pine cones, oranges, limes..... all the essentials for Christmas creativity.

We did mossing and greening up before lunch...

...progressing to the really fun part after lunch, fortified with a glass of fizz... The results were just brilliant, all quite different and all of them gorgeous. Apparently, we're doing garlands next year.  I can't wait.

That time of year again...

Another month gone and just into November I find myself in the garden making Christmas wreaths.  Slightly premature,you may be thinking... Well, there was some reason to this madness, namely the annual Open House craft fair held by my friend Karen, a very talented producer of beautiful stained and fused glass decorative objects (check them out  at www.heartsofglass.co.uk).

It was a really beautiful day, I was kept company by a robin on the lookout for any insects concealed in the moss.  For some reason I always refer to 'the robin' in our garden, I'm sure there must be more than one...

Anyway, work progressed to the decoration stage, my favourite part.  Any excuse to get the glue gun out.

  Oh and the house smells of pine and oranges and cinnamon and stuff like that already.  Mulled wine, anyone?

Just outside the door...

and amazingly close to home, all the colours you could wish for in autumn.  I snapped these just walking round the block.........

Right, that's autumn sorted, I'm off to buy Christmas decorations. 

Covent Garden Magic

To New Covent Garden on Wednesday, for the Christmas Preview event. I should definitely have set off earlier, given the state of the Finchley Road, but I digress.  I did get there in time for the demonstrations by Judith Blacklock and the fabulously entertaining Ercole Moroni.
Judith created several designs at lightning speed, including this modern twist on the Christmas table decoration.

Ercole went for Christmas bling (well, when else can you truly go for it?) with a side order of ...bling, but it was truly fantastic.

This one was an advent calendar design with something different, divine and diamante in each box.  For a picture of the covers for the boxes, all made with different natural materials, have a look on the Covent Garden website and the pictures of the event.

Other designers demonstrating at the event were Zita Elze and Wild About Flowers, who produced gorgeous and distinctly different designs. Here's Zita's in soft and subtle tones -

The lovely guys from Wild About Flowers did a zingy red and purple table design, the colours of which featured in the workshop I attended with them.

All in all, an inspirational and fun morning; I still get a thrill walking into that market, it has to be one of the best in the world.  To view the (dried) fruits of my labour in the workshop, have a look at my Flickr page.  Here's a couple more of Ercole's creations, totally gorgeous.......

Glad I don't have to empty those vases.....