When I was growing up, an iris was always the very first flower seen in the garden in the spring. After the months of drabness and seemingly endless days of grey skies that is our winter, that iris always seemed so rich and vibrant and such a wonderful burst of colour. When I started making the purple ribbon flower, it immediately made me think of that first iris of the spring.
The iris ribbon flower from the front.
And the back. I have graded all but the seams of the background pieces. This time I decided to press the background differently as it makes the flower stand out a bit more – and I really like that look. I may end up going back over the others to press them the same way.
I decided on the weekend that each block is going to be named for a flower. Then I started wondering which flowers the first blue one and the second pink one represent – still haven’t decided on that yet. If I’m using the very first pink one in the Ribbons of Flowers Garden Quilt, then it will be the peony but, if not, perhaps that second one will be.
The iris ribbon flower was made using the mirror image shapes of two of the shapes in the collection. When looked at beside the blue ribbon flower it’s more obvious, I think, that the flower seems to be rotating in the opposite direction. Just another variation to play with – the variations with this block truly seem endless!
Now to pick out the fabrics for the next ribbon flower. I think it may be a periwinkle flower, but am not 100 per cent sure on that quite yet. I’ll need to pull some more fabrics before I can decide. That will get done today as I want to get the shapes printed and start sewing it tonight.
“Which Flower?”
It was a busy weekend with lots of errands and no pictures of the cats were taken all weekend, which is very unusual for us. So I found a couple that hadn’t been used on the blog yet.
This one of Jake from a month or so ago.
And this of Baxter, also from a month or so ago – when he was on my desk. Again. He just loves to get on my desk and find some paper in which to leave little tooth puncture marks.
Irises always make me think of my Dad. He had them planted all around his property, and had a variety of colors – including a deep purple that looked almost black. The majority were the purple ones like your flower, which is just beautiful. For the blue, how about a Texas Bluebonnet?
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The ones we had were only the one purple, much the same as the colour I used for this block, so I didn’t realize that irises came in such a range of shades! I’ve got to look up an image of Texas Bluebonnets as there are a few blue blocks that I want to make – and one of them may be the perfect match. Thank you for mentioning that!
Cathi
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Beautiful!
Sandra
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Thank you!!
Cathi
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Wonderful ribbon flower!
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Thank you! These are truly addictive to sew!
Cathi
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Morning Cathi, …….. POP! That’s beautiful! And the opposite rotation… wow!! I’m wondering what my eyes will do when I see the entire quilt top…… lol!
The kitties. …… mess makers for sure. I.loved the pic of Baxter on his back from.your last blog…. funny!!
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Thank you! There are so many variations – and of course I want to sew them all – that I know I’m going to need to either set them on point with a nice background print block in between or add some fairly wide sashing to give the eyes a place to rest.
Cathi
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That sounds like a research project for flower names. I can think of several small blue flowers, one of them Columbine. The iris block is beautiful!
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Thank you – I love the richness of that purple. I’m so glad you said that about blue flowers as I wasn’t sure I could think of any beyond bluebells so knew I’d be researching it! Cathi
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Stunning Cathi, just stunning. My favourite so far. Love the idea of naming each one after a flower.
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Thank you, Liz. I’m sure I’m going to say each one is my favourite as I finish it – I’m just enjoying seeing these so, so much! Naming each after a flower is going to be fun and may involve some research for me.
Cathi
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Beautiful iris block. My mom used to have a lot of them in all colors, pale to dark. Alas, their remains in the iris bed this year did not get much weeding, so they look a bit shabby. And the whole bed needs to be dug up and replanted.
I’m loving how my first block is turning out. It is looking like one of those “wind spinners” that are so popular for the garden the last few years.
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Thank you! The only colour of iris in our garden was the deep purple – I didn’t even realize they came in lighter colours until I did a Google images search! I can’t wait to see a picture of yours – your fabrics for it are so wonderful!
Cathi
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Gorgeous! Love the lavender/purple iris.
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Thank you!
Cathi
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Not only are Irises one of my favorite flowers, but yours are so pretty!
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Thank you! Irises, to me, just mean spring and everything wonderful starting to grow!
Cathi
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Having the background pressed to the petals is so good, and mirror image, this is going to be a fantastic quilt when all done, the toon will have a lot of research to do later on!! Beautiful iris block.
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I don’t know why I decided to try that with pressing the background pieces in, but I’m glad I did! With all the variations that are possible with this block, I think even if I were to make 20 blocks, each one could be very different looking – in other words, I’m having altogether too much fun!
Cathi
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Love that purple ribbon flower
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Thank you! I’m really having fun sewing these so know at least one or two more purple ones will be sewn as well.
Cathi
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So beautiful!
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Thank you!
Cathi
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Your fabric choices are spectacular! I love seeing what you are doing. BEAUTIFUL work. Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you! It’s having such spectacular Inklingo collections like Ribbon Flower that makes it so easy to get inspired to make beautiful blocks.
Cathi
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I love your iris and they do come in lots of beautiful colours. I love the deep burgundy ones. The cats are as always loveable.
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Thanks, Simone. I guess my parents loved that particular shade of irises as that as the only one we ever had.
Cathi
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