It's the first day of June and we have reached the last stop on our summery stroll: the Rose Garden. My favourite place to be at this time of year.
the Jug of Roses block
The inspiration for this month's block is very dear to my heart. I live in Shropshire and a mere half an hour away is a little slice of paradise on earth: the David Austin Rose Nursery {and please click on that link, it will raise your spirits no end}.
First grown for their medicinal value - the hips are a wonderful source of vitamin C - roses were prized in the classical world and in ancient Persia and China. Their beauty and heady fragrance were enhanced, over hundreds of years of cultivation, in the earliest gardens. Of course those early roses flowered only once and we have the rose breeders of revolutionary France to thank for, um...revolutionising rose growing. Crossing species of European and Asian varieties, they gave us the first reliably repeat-flowering roses to fill our gardens with beguiling beauty all summer long.
We've now met all of the Midsummer Sampler blocks. They will be available as PDF patterns - either singly or as a discounted bundle of eight - so look out for them in the shop next week. I will also be sharing the finishing tutorial for the whole quilt very soon and publishing a printed pattern book, hopefully, at the end of the month.
Until then, happy (virtual) travels,
Nicola xx
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