This stainless steel container belonged to Michelle Lunn, one of our
members, who passed away some time ago and whose
containers were sold at the last II meeting. I wanted a memento of
Michelle, who was a fellow student when I studied under Carlyne Patterson. 

Hello everyone,

I'd like to start this post with some good news. I recently completed the exam for the promotion to Riji and I've just received notification from HQ advising that I was successful. So, in mid-March, Sam and I are booked to fly to Tokyo for 'Flower Thanks Day' to have it presented to me. I'm really looking forward to returning to Japan and seeing again people who were very kind to me when I was there and whom I now consider friends.

This dear little creature is a possum. (Apologies for the poor quality of the photo) I think he is the Common Brush tail possum but I can't be sure. Anyway, he is one of many that live in and around our garden and are less than welcome when they eat the fruit from our trees. However, this little one has become almost a pet. He has taken to sleeping on the windowsill of our bedroom between the glass and the exterior blind. He usually brings with him branches from our weeping willow to make his bed. Our cat finds him very interesting and we've  become quite fond of him, so much so, that we avoid retracting the blind when he is sleeping there.

And now to some ikebana. For class last week I had set the theme  of using branches in one arrangement and then taking the arrangement apart and using the branches in a completely different way.

Some examples follow.

Emily Karanikolopoulos
First Arrangement
Siberian Dogwood and ginger lilies

Second Arrangement
Siberian Dogwood stripped of leaves and joined
to create triangles. And pink and white Belladonna
lilies

Bredenia Raquel
First Arrangement
Pomegranates and cotoneaster branches

Second Arrangement

Robyn Unglik
First Arrangement
Hawthorn, Agapanthus and bleached fern

Second Arrangement

Lucy Papas
First Arrangement
Persimmon, Hydrangeas and Lisianthus

Second Arrangement

Helen Novic
First Arrangement
Metal mesh painted red, wisteria vine and New Zealand flax
(Helen chose not to use branches)

Second Arrangement

Vicky Kalokathis
First Arrangement
Weeping willow and Pandorea

Second Arrangement
Willow stripped of leaves and clivia 

I would like to leave you with this freestyle arrangement by Aurelia Dong.

Bye for now,
Emily

Aria Emily

Hi everyone,

Well, she has arrived, quite late but, my goodness, she was worth the wait. And her name - Aria Emily. And like her brother and two cousins, she has brought great joy to the whole family.

And speaking of the other grandkids, the two eldest, Hermione and Xavier were flower girl and page boy at a family wedding yesterday. Please forgive a proud grandma for including the following picture.

And now to ikebana. I recently came across a flowering Eucalyptus Macrandra  growing on a median strip near by. I used it in the wall arrangement without any other material. The interesting thing about this tree is that it had buds, flowers and seed heads all at the same time, thus making it ideal for the lesson 'Only one kind of material'.

Buds

Flowers

Seed heads

Last week we had our AGM and first workshop for the year. My sisters in law, Betty and Toula ran the workshop which had as a theme 'Use your imagination with balloons; in water or with other material'. They put a great deal of effort together with imagination and creativity and conducted a workshop which was both informative and enjoyable. I have included a couple of photographs of their work but I urge you to go to our webpage to see the rest as well as the work of the attendees.

Betty Karanikolopoulos
Palm spathes, balloons and onion flowers in a
ceramic container

Toula Karanikolopoulos
Hand painted balloons, Rope that has been wired and begonia
leaves in a self made container

The next two arrangements were made with branches of my persimmon tree that broke accidentally. I should point out that persimmon branches break very easily. So, naturally, they had to be arranged but the fruit are very heavy and the challenge was to find containers that can hold them.

This is a Graham Wilke container which is quite heavy. I placed the branches
diagonally across the container for stability and added the now ubiquitous hydrangeas

This tall vase filled with water has enough weight
to carry the four persimmons. I added an hydrangea
and Crocosmia for colour

And a couple of arrangements just for fun:

I dedicate this arrangement to my cousins, Steve and
Nieves, who gave me this orange metal piece as part
of my Christmas gift. Do they know me or what?
I used with it crocosmia

And this I dedicate to my sister, Vicky for giving me
the bull rushes to which I added aquilegea leaves

By the way, hitherto, I have not included my email address in my 'Complete Profile'. I have just amended that so, for those of you who have tried to contact me but were unable to do so, you can now email me.

Until next time,
Emily