The Last of the Roses

Today, I've woken up to the greyest, grimmest, wintery day awash with rain.  No car booting for us then!

However, sitting on my work table here is a beautiful little display I picked just the other day in radiant sunshine: a (thrifted) jug, resplendant with the last of the roses from the garden.  

What a cheering sight.  Roses never cease to amaze me.  Our garden is a bit of a jungle (in fact, the gardener is finally, hopefully, coming in to start work a week on Monday), and yet in the midst of it all, these little beauties bloom away, ignoring the wilderness around them and not moaning that nobody has been looking after them.  No mulching, deadheading and pruning for these poor roses.  Our garden looked even worse when we moved into this house 3 years ago so they've suffered years of neglect, poor things.

They also smell divine;  shame that I can't cyber-share their perfume with you.   Some of the roses were already here when we moved in and despite initial plans to have a big purge, I grown to love their blowsy tea rose perfection and ability to keep blooming no matter what is thrown at them.

At the very bottom of the garden, we have created a kitchen garden with raised beds. There is a central gravelled path in between the beds over which we have placed a series of arches. Here we have planted some of my favourite David Austin roses, just so beautiful in their multi-petalled perfection.

My favourite is Jubilee Celebration. In bud, the rose is a dusky pink but opens to a reveal cream coloured petals, their edges tinged with a vivid pink. It has a good fragrance.

Then there is the Crocus rose, so named as it supports the Crocus charity for bowel cancer. It has a very large blooms crammed full of deliciously rich creamy petals. Unfortunately, there is little scent.

On Friday, I had a lovely day full of unadulterated shopping!  Not just any shopping but for my favourite things, craft supplies, in the form of Cath Kidston material and knitting yarn.  I set off for John Lewis where there is a good knitting section, lots of lovely Rowan (and other) yarns.  I had a good play about with my wool when I got home, well this is the first stash of wool I've bought!

In Cath K, I was tempted by a fair few lovely bolts of fabric...

Just to titivate you a little, I took some snaps of the display of Cath's new Christmas items...

The new print for this year depicts a chalet scene straight from the Tyrol.  Fancy a yodel anyone?

Ooooh, just look at these Christmas Stanleys!

I confess, I didn't buy these, even though they are so cute, because they look very simple to make yourself (for less than £12 for three).

Other gorgeousness in Cath K...

Enjoy your Sunday...