M for Meadow Saffron

Inspiration – The season has changed and this is reflected in my garden. There are fewer flowers now and much less bright colour. I have yellow Helianthus, pink Sedum, red/purple Fuchsias, blue Ceratostigma and there are also a few Summer flowers left – Zinnias, Echinacea and red Salvias.

The stars of the garden in August and September are the meadow saffron flowers. Their proper name is Colchicum autumnale but they are often called “naked ladies” because the flowers come in late Summer without the leaves, which don’t appear until the Spring. These are very delicate, dainty flowers with pale pinky lilac coloured heads held on thin, white stems. The anthers inside the flowers add tiny dots of bright orange. When the stigmas are mature they can be harvested as the saffron strands that we use in cooking for flavour and colour.

The background here is again a confetti mix of the colours in my garden this month, secured in place with nylon net and free machine quilting. The saffron flowers were assembled petal by petal before being placed on the background. I have used free motion stitching to create the anthers and stigmas, adding the detail of the bright orange anthers in each flower. This stitching also attaches the flowers to the quilt.

The quilt is made from cotton fabrics covered in nylon net. The quilting thread is cotton, the embroidery threads are rayon

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