Floral Inspirations

A few days ago I went for a walk along the quay and saw some beautiful flowers to delight me.  The challenge was it was a very windy day and they were blowing in the breeze.  Hence some are not as focused or framed like I would have preferred.  This pink bloom was on a very slender stalk.

 Just beside it was this lovely delicate white bloom.

 A larger group of them.  Very inspiring against the Spring green background.

 The Iris blossoms are looking lovely this pink mauve one caught my eye.

 A blue purple one nearby.

 Lovely orange pansies without the traditional face markings.

 The peonies were looking magnificent.

 This one was just starting to bloom.

 Love the contrasting dark pink against the pale centre.

 Another favourite.

 Lovely white perfection.

 My Lemon Bells is starting to bloom, I had one several years ago and lost it.  Fortunately it was developed at U.B.C. and I was able to get another one Here is a link to the U.B.C. Botanical Garden for further information.

 They are so pretty and delicate.

 I got this one last year and was a bit concerned it may have not survived but I was pleasantly surprised.

 Love this picture.

 Back in 2013 I took a two day workshop with Sue Spargo. This is what I started out with as a layout.  I decided I didn't want to do a grid layout and based it on a photograph of a ginger flower I took in Hawaii.

 This how it looked at the end of the three days.  Here is a link to day 1.

 Well I'm taking another workshop with Sue in June and decided to do a bit more stitching and add some layers ahead of taking the class.  This will be a three day event.

 This is what I did in the workshop.

 I had some fun and couched some pink boucle yarn with some variegated orange DMC Perle cotton.  I then did another couched pink boucle yarn with turquoise DMC.

 In the workshop I did some beading and a few drizzle stitches.  I later added some more and then took them out.

I did some cast on stitches around the turquoise silk velver.

 At the end of the class I had woven a variegated yarn through a running stitch and did a woven picot.

 I also added some more decorative stitching as you can see on the bottom right leaf.

 In the upper photo you can see some more stitching to this naked bud, French knots and some more couching of a turquoise yarn.

 This batik was added in class and then I did some dazzle thread stitching to the edge.

 I've also added a few more cottons and wool to add another layer or two.

The yellow wool shape on the turquoise leaf was a random shape left over from cutting another leaf.

 I had some fun doing some bullion knots to couch down a yellow thread around the orange leaf.

 Another random shape of the mauve crescent shape on the dark wool and in the next photo you can see I did a more slender shape on the mauve leaf.  I did these several hours apart and then realized I had reversed the colours on both leaves.

 I've also had some fun with some fabrics with words and some organic curves.

 I thought it appropriate to put the scissors adjacent to the Threads that bind applique.  Ironically the polka dot fabric mimics the dark purple pink wool, the yellow wool and the lime green dot on word applique.

 My bird needs a dark centre to its eye and maybe a bit of outline stitching.

Still have many hours of stitching to do but liking how it is going.  Here is a link to the photos I took at Sue's lecture.  Here is day two of stitching with Sue.