Another quilted bouquet

I had so much fun making the last quilted bouquet that I'm making another one! 

Here are the flowers stuck to one side of Steam-a-Seam 2 (above). After you cut them out more precisely, the next photo shows how you peel off the paper backing to leave a layer of fusible glue on the wrong side of the fabric.

I'm using a pink and orange batik vase this time on a collaged black and white background that I've already quilted.

I'm still playing around with flower arrangements. When I'm satisfied, I'll hit them with a hot iron to melt the fusible and permanently adhere everything.

Outside, the REAL flowers are blooming like crazy. My neighbor's jasmine vine has spilled over the top of the trellis onto my side, making my patio smell heavenly.

Another neighbor has this big prickly pear that blooms with hundreds of yellow flowers each spring.

Here's an orange prickly pear flower in another yard.

These two flowers are on cholla cactuses in a wild area just outside our neighborhood. Most people don't plant cholla in their yards because the needles are nasty. If you bump into one, they'll cling to your clothes or skin and when you try to pull away a chunk of cactus breaks off and hangs from you. They're called jumping chollas for that reason. The best way to get them off of you is with a large comb since you can't touch them with your hands. So savvy hikers here carry combs in their first aid kits. (I do.)

I believe the purple blooms are on a jacaranda tree in our neighborhood park.

And here's Beth making me a Virgin Lily -- another kind of flower -- during her Kentucky Derby party. 

 Have a colorful day