On a chilly April evening, the Club welcomed Margaret Earl from Tyne & Wear to Queen’s Cross Church. Margaret's title for the evening's demonstration was "Just for You".
With Easter nearly upon us, Margaret used a craftwork backdrop to which eggs and other seasonal accessories had been affixed as the background for her arrangement. An asymmetrical triangle of foliage containing yew, forsythia and fatsia leaves became the framework, and plaited palm leaves added another interesting texture and shape to the design. Sunflowers, orange carnations and blue Iris were added to the foliage and finished off with a nest of yellow raffia in which some chocolate eggs had been placed. This stunning arrangement, which not only looks good but would taste good, is this month’s image, and you may note the two cheeky faces in the lower sunflowers which Margaret is holding in her left hand.
With thoughts of the approaching royal wedding, Margaret's next arrangement was suitable for all sorts of celebrations - a change of flower colours could take it from an arrangement suitable for an engagement to one for a wedding, or for an anniversary. Margaret used phormium leaves to link a pair of matching vases into which she had fixed candle cups with Oasisfix®. Whilst completing this arrangement, she told us of the many other uses for Oasisfix® she had come across over the years, which included holding together the display shelves of the flower shop she had bought when she first set up her own business. With the phormium in place, and some leather leaf fern added to provide a contrasting texture, red tulips were placed in the design which gave it a flowing feeling then red gerbera giving a contrast in shape of flower. The arrangement was completed with steel grass threaded with glittered balls which again linked the two placements.
The third arrangement of the evening was a contemporary "European" design. Margaret used a long trough shaped wicker container into which she placed an upright piece of yew and completed the groundwork with skimmia and vibrant yellow / green cypressus. A horizontal line of green anthuriums was positioned across the trough and yellow tulips were intertwined through the anthuriums stems. The main flower stem of an orchid was placed in the design and the individual flowers from the rest of the orchid stem distributed through the arrangement. The overall result was wonderfully fresh and spring-like.
A wedding theme popped up again in Margaret's next arrangement - this time with a hat. Using a tall clear glass vase, filled with clear waterpearls as a stand, Margaret created the most delightful hat. Medilino sticks had been fixed in such a way that when placed in the arrangement they gave the impression of the brim of the hat, manipulated aspidistra leaves and fatsia formed the crown and the whole confection was finished off with pink spray carnations, delicate white calla and frothy alchemilla.
The final arrangement of the evening was "a picnic in Scotland" - let's hope we get the weather for a few of these this summer. Margaret draped the old picnic hamper in some tartan fabric and inside arranged phormium leaves at each end which she manipulated to create different shapes. Yellow carnations were interspersed through the phormium then agapanthus and eryngium added to the basket. The moody blue colours were lifted by the addition of longiflora lilies just starting to open. This arrangement was a lovely finale to a demonstration "Just for Us".