Brazilian Butterflies and REAL Flowers

Yesterday I posted some notes about one of Ruth Griffith's B.E. designs that I'm playing with, "Butterflies In My Heart".

I found this lovely blue/purple rayon ribbon floss in my box of treasures and have wanted to use it for a while. After I stitched those little bugle beads down the center of the flowers, I added cast-on stitches on each side using the rayon ribbon floss. Between each bugle bead I added a 3-wrap French knot to give the flower a finished look. Detail:

..and then I picked up my camera and went for a walk in my garden. Here are some of the pretty iris my friend Virginia shared with me a few years ago:



Do you ever wonder about what's deep down inside those flowers?
This one has a fuzzy orange caterpillar deep down inside there. See:

OK. Those are some of the iris in my garden. But if you remember, it rained a little in Oregon -- a record of 14.53" for March-April-May this year. Everything has decided to bloom at once.  See:

This is my Ceanothus, or California lilac, a blue flower I've loved ever since I saw it growing in the Sacramento, CA, area.  I'm pruning mine into a sort-of tree (not enough room for the flowers, otherwise).

When all of these little flowers fall, the ground looks like blue snow.

I'm not sure what happened here ... I tied up my Gold Medal rose to this little trellis I found at JoAnn's. But all of the flowers are facing away (probably entertaining the little hummingbirds that come to visit my Red Chestnut tree right next to the rose). Maybe I should have just pruned the rose in January.

If you aren't tired of wandering through my garden, here are more pictures.  This is a raggedly, shaggy peony next to a thorny rose stem. (I have yellow tree peonies, too, but they are bashful bloomers).

Oh, for sure. You have to almost lie down on the ground to get a good picture of those little babies!
     This spectacular beauty showed up all by itself. It's a columbine that volunteered from several other varieties that I have (probably pollinated by a curious bee). I haven't ever seen it before, and if you want a REALLY good look, double click the picture. Doesn't it just scream, "Design ME in BE!"?

I think I'll go out and collect some seeds before the little finches decide to snack on them.

Daisies are my favorite flower (oh, wait, these aren't daisies -- they just LOOK like daisies).

These are blue bells (campanula).

 Oh, wait.  I think ROSES are my favorite flower.  This is JUNE in Oregon anyway -- the month of our Rose Festival. 

This is Cl. Royal Sunset. It has been growing and blooming for 30 years ... even more since we cut down a tree that was shading it.  It's a 3-day rose. Beautiful bud and then opens to a lovely rose. This photograph is the second day. On the third day, it totally flattens out and cries, "Prune me, Prune me." (You didn't know that flowers talked, did you?)

This is Day 1 for the Climbing Royal Sunset (by the way, a lot of these roses are from Jackson/Perkins, but some are from Roseway and Fred Edmunds and other wondrous places).

And THIS is Day 3 for the Climbing Royal Sunset (hardly worth the waste of digital picture whatevers):

I have a Peace and a Chicago Peace, but I'm not quite sure what the name of this rose is:

This next rose is a floribunda called Sunsprite. It has also been here for over 30 years.

Here's my Peace Rose (or Chicago Peace) - I never get them sorted out:

I call this next photo "Bee on Fox". The foxgloves have re-seeded to the front of my garden, covering up all of the short stuff behind. This bee is taking a nap, but he heard the click of the camera, got into a huff for being awoken, and flew off a minute later.

I think that if anyone asks me what my favorite flower is, I will reply, "Yes."



I love these leaves -- the insignificant yellow flowers, not so much. But the leaves are amazing.  It's a short little plant and the leaves are actually more gray than green. But if you are designing Brazilian embroidery flowers or foliage, double click this to see a larger version and just imagine how it could be translated into a pretty design!

Speaking of designs, here's one of my newest. I call it a Posey Rose and for those of you attending our BDEIG Seminar in a couple of weeks, you will receive instructions for stitching it yourselves!



Which reminds me -- I should probably go back to finish up my stitching projects.

      I hope you enjoyed wandering through my flowers. Between them, my cats (uh, oh ... cat coming through) ...

That's Cuthbert. Looks like The Sphinx, doesn't he?  Well, between all of these and my Brazilian embroidery, I definitely do enjoy the beauty I see around me each day.

Rosalie