An Obsession with Orchids

I have just spent a few days away from home and found an obsession with orchids. They used to be expensive and I used to kill them. Now they are relatively cheap compared to other flowers, they last a long time and I have discovered how to get them to come back year after year. My house now looks like a greenhouse. It’s a good job I don’t get out much or I would have to obtain for myself an exclusion order taking effect within 500 metres of a plant shop.

When I was thinking of a subject for a blog it struck me that orchids make a good subject for quilts. In fact there are quite a few to choose from. I did a quick search online and came up with some rather charming examples.

The first two are from Quilting Life

This one is from  from The Virginia Quilter.

This one is from Sylvia Pippen Designs

As is this one.

Also this.

The next two are pieced and from equilt patterns

I found some machine embroidered ones on Emblibrary too. There are lots of them but here are a couple.

A short blog but a pretty one.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as I have made something to show you. On normal form that should not be too long.

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Cupcakes, Cream Teas and Crocodiles.

After much hinting and the realisation that just about everybody who visits us or is visited by us seems to be a member of the National Trust, The Big Cheese bought me a membership for my birthday. A combination of that and a free pass for a non member saw myself and Daughter Number One visiting Coleton Fishacre in Devon. It was a lovely day and, despite being a sunday, was not greatly overcrowded.

We had a very interesting time looking round the house. It used to be owned by the Doyly Carte family of Gilbert and Sullivan operetta fame. If you are ever in the vicinity and like historic houses and lovely gardens I can thoroughly recommend it.

The front of the house with some of the vast gardens

The sloped roof in the front is a side view of the loggia used for all meals whenever possible. I think the weather must have been better in those days.

The gardens were also lovely with many walks and we saw some plants we had not come across before.

Apparently these are a type of orchid. They look like dozens of tiny orchids on one stem.

Needless to say we had to sample the creams teas too. We sat in a sunny courtyard and they certainly didn’t skimp on the jam or cream.

The day after I arrived to stay with D1 she went on a course to decorate cup cakes. I was very impressed. I suspect that both skill and patience are required to achieve results. She certainly has the patience and she seems to have picked up the skill as well. What do you think?

I particularly like the pigs.

I can tell you that those bows are not easy. I was given a quick lesson on Sunday and Isuspect I have neither skill nor patience.

This week is her sister’s birthday so she decided to convert her skills into cake decorating. Slightly different scale but the skills seem to transfer and she certainly has patience judging by the time spent on the decoration.

Daughter number two was born in Africa and lived there for her first few years. The logical cake therefore was obviously a map of Africa with some native animals.

The tablecloth rather betrays the birthday girl’s origins.

Just in case you are missing the quilting element of the blog, here is my birthday gift. You may recognise it.

I have not had time to do any quilting having been away from my workroom. perhaps next week I will have made something more to show you.