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Saturday, August 8, 2009

Searching for Blue and the Rest of the Rainbow

Recently as I was wandering around our garden, I realized that many of our flowers, like this liatris, are in the red-pink-purple range .
Gay Feather
There are two clumps of it in bloom at the moment, and its common name, "Gay Feather," suits it well. Is this preponderence of pink because I've chosen mostly these particular colors, or are there just more flowers available in these shades? Then I started thinking about my projects and wondering whether they reflect my color preferences. Even my blog background is pink, and then there's the current header. Yikes! (Those roses are called "Blue Girl," however! So, off I went looking for anything blue among our photos and whatever else I could find that was different from my usual choices.

We have lots of blue hydrangeas in our yard, and I was extremely excited to see that this year our lacecap hydrangea has more blooms than ever before. Our neighbors removed a couple of trees last summer, and apparently this plant really appreciated it.Lacecap Hydrangea

Have you seen a balloon flower? They are so cute; the buds look just like balloons and open into the prettiest flower. We have some white ones in our sideyard, but the ones out front are called "Double Blue"!
Aren't they cute?
How's this shade of blue?
Very blue, right?

Oh, and last month we took lots of photos of these cheeky little fellows. Their larger cousin, the stellar jay frequents our backyard, and you probably remember the grey jay from my recent post?
Blue Jay

What about this project? It's blue, not pink, but that's because Megan is having a boy. No choice there, but these booties are definitely blue, 2 shades no less.
For Megan's Baby Boy

I also finished two more of the !Gail Pan Christmas blocks. You're right, one is framed in red, but but I finally found a suitable green for the other one.
Second Gail Pan block, finally!

And then I found this puzzle piece for Kathy. I used scraps given to me by my Aunt Phyllis from one of her quilts. I'm waiting to finish this green one before sending both to her, and I doubt that one will include any shade of pink, red, or purple.
Mostly Blue
Some Green

With this little exercise, I realized that I have broadened my palette a tiny bit but have a long way to go before I've used the full rainbow of possibilities. Some day.....

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

We had those blue balloon flowers in our garden at the old house. I loved them.

Merry said...

Great photos. I have never heard or seen balloon flowers before...they are so pretty.

Wildflowerhouse said...

Your flowers are beautiful. Judy we have 19 resident elk. I thought I had them all trained but they keep having babies and the babies think they own the place. LOL We must get together soon. I am still staining logs and have jury duty this week. I hope I don't fall asleep. Sharon

Mrs Quilty said...

Judy, your garden is beautiful...that's one thing about living on the west side of the mountains, flowers seem to do very well. Those blue ones are gorgeous, and the pink roses on the top of your blog, perfect roses! Love your little puzzle piece too! When is your Megan going to have her baby? My 2nd grandchild is due Nov. 11 but they aren't choosing to find out what it is...oh dear!!! I'll have to make a quilt with yellows and greens! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

JK said...

Hey darlin! Gorgeous flowers in your garden, but my favorite pic is of that little guy in your water fountain! We had the same problem with ours on our patio, but it was a tad bigger. My artful disarranger was a mountain lion.

Library Gal Quilts said...

Love those puzzle pieces! by the way, we having raccoon swimming at night here in Chico. Twice now my husband has seen them in the pool! The dog went crazy and the cats watched from the picnic table. Me? I slept through the entire thing. I guess I sleep more soundly than I thought I did! xo Pam in Chico

Kathy said...

The blue double balloon flower is great, I haven't seen one before. The blue hydrangea is very pretty, will have to see if that is good for our zone. Your puzzle pieces look so nice, good work. Kathy

Lelia said...

Beautiful flower photos & I love your puzzle pieces. They are interesting & colorful : )

Wendy said...

Dear Judy,
Your blog is more beautiful than ever!!!! I didn't think that was possible, lol. I absolutely love the roses and flowers!!! (And slightly jealous of your green thumb, JK lol). I am so sorry that I haven't been 'around' lately. But I promise that things will get less busy sooner or later and I will be able to chat more and blog more. The only blogs I have been able to keep following lately is my sister-in-laws, Melissa's and yours. LOL I love all my other blogs and look forward to being able to catch up on them too.
Thanks so much for the sweet post about my Uncle and friend. Jeremy is helping me stay too busy to get depressed about it. :) He has gotten to be a little charmer with his smiles.
Big Hugs,
Wendy

jane said...

Hi Judy, I have enjoyed the same LaceCap Hydrangia in my yard. Mine has the name of Twist and Shout. Great photos of your furry friends and beautiful flowers. Aunt Phylis will enjoy the puzzle pieces. We are now enjoying the heat you sent our way. Been in the 90's this week. Jane