Hollyhocks

Nearly all the flowers in my garden this year are shorter than normal. I've had dwarf foxgloves, mini love-in-the-mist and pint sized lupins. Because of this, I was dubious that the little hollyhock plants I planted in the Spring would come to much. I needn't have worried.

The flowers are coming out in ones and twos rather than in a mass but still ... I'm pleased with them. I've got five all together, these two near the house and three more up the garden. They're all doubles and four of the five are pale pink with just one deep pink.

I'm hoping they'll self seed and be back next year.; I have no idea which type these are so we shall have to wait and see. I've always loved hollyhocks but this is the first year I've really managed to grow them. I'd like some single ones too and ore colours but you have to take what they have from the plant stall in the market which is the only place I can get to for plants. It's and excellent stall though and it's quite fun just seeing what's there.

My Mum always had a lovely display of hollyhocks; this photo is from about sixteen years ago.

You can just see her runner beans up at the back. There may only have been two of them in the house but she still had a full row of plants. She loved her fresh runner beans. I find that three or four plants on a wigwam of sticks gives me more than I need.

Inspired by the flowers in my garden I thought I'd have a look round the house for other hollyhock prettiness and found all sorts of treasures. This is one of my favourite cup and saucer sets. Isn't it lovely?

And I love this teapot, complete with cup, saucer and tea plate. I used this set for my tea the other day.

I have a whole cupboard full of pretty china and, every so often, I swap it round and choose a few sets to go on my kitchen dresser for everyday use.

Cottages with pretty gardens which nearly always featured hollyhocks were very popular themes in china and embroidery from the 1930s and are back in fashion again now. Or maybe they're not and I just think that because I like them so much. 

Over the years I've found various embroidered pictures in antique shops. This one hangs in my front room ...

... and I've written about this little one before. You can read about it here. It just took me ages to find the blog post I wanted to link to. This is what comes of being lazy labelling the posts when I write them. You should be able to click on any work in the word map at the side to find posts on that subject but I'd forgotten to list that particular post under 'embroidery'. Oh dear.

Anyway, if you read that old post, you'll learn that this particular embroidery came from a 'Good Needlework' magazine from November 1937.

I have lots and lots of old needlework magazines like this. Often, hollyhocks were combined with the ubiquitous crinoline lady as in this design from the 'Good Needlework Gift Book' of 1936.

This is an early catalogue of Weldon's embroidery transfers. Note the hollyhock tea cosy in pride of place on the cover.

I've shown you this lovely embroidered firescreen before too and, four years on, I still haven't managed to re-lace it and mount it properly.

I found a couple of other crinoline ladies to show you in my trawl round the house. This is actually a handkerchief sachet but I've put a piece of plastic canvas inside it and it's been propped up in  my kitchen for years (it could probably do with a wash).

Then there's this bag which I made from one of my many charity shop finds.  This is hung up in my craft room and holds my embroidery hoops.

Lorna Bateman is partial to embroidered flowers and crinoline ladies too. Her work is absolutely beautiful and I would recommend her book Embroidered Country Gardens.

As well as lots of detailed projects, she has instructions for embroidering all sorts of garden flowers and features so that you can design your own garden picture.

I have to admit that I haven't made anything from this wonderful book yet but I will - one day. That reminded me of these two tablecloth kits that I bought about thirty years ago when I found them very cheap.

I think they're both beautiful but - you've guessed - I haven't actually made either of them yet. I did make a start on one years ago ...

Mmm, quite a bit more to go I think.

The nearest I've come to knitting hollyhocks are these on the side wall of my Summer Cottage.

I have just published a pattern for some crochet flowers though. 

Crochet Bouquet

Having crocheted lots and lots of these flowers I thought I'd just try making mini versions and these turned out to be favourites.

I had fun choosing colours to match the threads on my old cotton reels. These are now sitting on my desk and they make me smile every time I see them.

Before I go, I just wanted to show you the woven blanket I finished the other week. This is the pin loom one I was working on with the help of my improvised Lego loom holder. I crocheted the squares together with a lacy join, added a simple crochet border and it's all done. It took less than a month to make from start to finish. That's a lot quicker than knitting or crocheting a blanket.