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Monday, June 9, 2008

Spring CQ...Osteospermum

Osterospermum, or Afraican Daisy, comes in many shapes and colors.

This picture is from the Thompson and Morgan seed catalog...not my garden. That is because it is not warm enough yet for them to look like this.
Alas, when I look out the window, this is what I see!

That is 55 degree rain.
Ah well! We carry on with the indoor garden....My Osteospermum kept me occupied over the week-end (and we did have a sun break yesterday afternoon).

I started by gluing button backs and threaded buttons onto the backs of some dichroic glass rounds that I picked up at the bead show last April for 50 cents apiece. I just knew they would be flower centers one day.

My leaves had to go on first. I used the repositionable adhesive spray to smooth them into place until I could buttonhole them down. This works great, and avoids the dreaded fusible web. Those yummy Riversilks ribbons on the left there will be my petals.

Here are the leaves in place, ready to be sewn down. Those little pins are marking where I think the flowers are going to go. The leaf fabric is hand dyed by Stacey Michell.

I don't know what you call this round plastic gizmo. The lovely Lisa Caryl handed them out to all of us students at the John Campbell school a few years ago...she said it is from the auto parts store. It is invaluable for marking circles.

Well, this is a fast forward, many hours and a few hundred petals later, not to mention the stems and all those little gold beads around each flower center.

And here's the larger view. Friendly little flowers, aren't they?
I am psyching up to do some roses next, I think....

17 comments:

  1. They sure are! They were worth all the effort because they make a big impact.

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  2. Great fluffy daisies! My favorite flower!

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  3. I am off to the automotive store to get me one of those gizmos.

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  4. I'm loving the scale of the flowers on this quilt versus the size of the fabric patches. It is a "new" idea in crazy quilting (I think) and makes the overall composition from afar very pleasing indeed. I'm wondering if you're going to forego some or all of the individual seam coverings?
    SO much fun to watch; I really would have paid a lot more to see this show...

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  5. Wow! I was reading/scrolling down your page and loving the work you did....but I was thinking wow are you ever getting bold - cuz they looked HUGE!! And then I saw the final pic and had to smile!! They ARE so cute and happy...they look quite like gerberas too, with theirs big centers!! You've some how captured the essence of this flower - petals and all!!

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  6. All your flower embellishments are VUNDABAR! How great that you can sit in your dry home and create such lovely flowers while Mother Nature rains. I'd be happy to take some of your rain, although we did finally have a 1.1 inch storm last week, after a month of dry. My wild blue flax are blooming and loving the hot weather.
    Google isn't accepting my ID and password, so Anonymous is really Granny Fran.

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  7. Hi There, It's crummy here, too! Was that brief bit of sun yesterday our summer? The comment from Theresa motivated me to look up both African and gerbera daisies to see the difference. I've had good luck carrying my gerberas through the winter by bringing them into the garage and watering them only once a month. One was give to me by my MIL and the other by a fried, so it's a bit of a personal challenge....

    Love how the quilt is progressing.

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  8. Oh Allie - your African daisies are my favorites to date! So glad you had the forethought to buy those centres when you saw them. They just set off the vibrant ribbon colors a treat! Lovely work my friend.

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  9. That dire weather prediction was in yesterday's Seattle Times...bleh! Oh well, more stitching time, right?

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  10. Allie, where can we find out what that round thingamajig is???? It is killing me............ lol

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  11. Hey Allison, Congratulations! I just opened my email newsletter for The Quilt Show (Alex and Ricky Show) and saw your "House in the Garden" quilt as representative for the My Quilts/Our History contest. It looks beautiful!! What fun for your quilt to be chosen as their image to show.

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  12. I meant to ask what exactly is that thingamajig??? =) I should have been more clear.

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  13. What drama queens these daisies are! Magnificent.

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  14. Those daisies make me happy just to look at them! They are delightful - great job!!!

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  15. That pop of orange is really great. I'm glad you're making your own sunshine.

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  16. Wow! So do you cut away the little plastic gismo like with lost canvas? Whatever, the flowers are wonderful.

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  17. I've really enjoyed seeing your flowers and leaves come alive. I think that I've seen that round thing in plastic canvas. Do you mark through the holes and then take it away to sew?

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