We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
"Little Gidding"
T S Eliot

Sunday 9 July 2017

Gilly what?

All this heat addles my brain so that I can't think about anything creative, but I did complete this month's Craft Barn's Twelve Month Challenge using the July couplet:

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Strawberries and gilly-flowers.

And we must include gillyflowers, which I had to look up -

Gillyfloweralso spelled gilliflower, any of several scented flowering plants, especially the carnation, or clove pink (Dianthus caryophyllus), stock (Matthiola incana), and wallflower (Cheiranthus cheiri). However, the gillyflower of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare was the carnation. Other plants that are types of gillyflower are dame's gillyflower, also known as dame’s violet (Hesperis matronalis); mock gillyflower, also known as soapwort or bouncing bet (Saponaria officinalis); feathered gillyflower, also known as the grass or garden pink (Dianthus plumarius); and sea gillyflower, also known as the thrift or sea pink (Armeria maritima).

Hunted through some stamps, and found an old one by Paper Artsy which must be a wallflower (well, it certainly looks like one!).

Stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured with Windsor and Newton pens.

So far, so very boring ... 

...looking around I found a small piece of Bondaweb (a double sided adhesive usually used to bond two pieces of fabric). I had sprayed this particular piece with ink (probably Dylusions). So, I thought I would iron that over the top, for a bit of interest and texture.



Really enjoying Wimbledon this year - nothing like spending a lazy afternoon watching the tennis with an ice cream!

Postscript: just noticed the Sara Coeridge poem I downloaded has strawberries and not apricots. So I've just done another search, and found 3 different versions of this poem! 

So, I'll stick with strawberries - especially with cream - yum!

7 comments:

  1. Great wallflower ....looks like one to me. Yes it's too hot to get the inks out and too much sport to watch too. Much better to watch the TV and eat strawberries!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Often wondered what flower this is! Thank you for the enlightenment and a lovely card. Thanks, too for entering The Craft Barn Month Challenge xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. I certainly learned something today. I had NO idea what a gilly flower was until you enlightened me. Your card is wonderful, and I simply adore how you used the colored bondaweb. It provided that perfect touch.

    My friend Sally is watching Wimbledon, but I'm a basketball fan and won't watch until the very end of the tourney.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Strawberries, ooh yummy - that is very "Wimbledon".
    I reckon that is a wallflower, the leaves certainly look like wallflower leaves and it is a particularly lovely image. Great idea to use the Bondaweb, it looks really good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A lovely card. I think I prefer strawberries to apricots too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. A beautiful flower and a striking colour.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like wallflower to me. Great use of Bondaweb - now I know what to do with the pile I have!

    ReplyDelete