Anemone Flower Block

The Anemone block.... there are approximately 120 species of Anemone. The name "anemone" comes from the Greek word "anemos", meaning "wind". This is why anemones are often referred to as "windflowers". In Greek mythology, it was believed that the wind could blow open the petals of these delicate flowers. The idea was that the flowers would bloom in response to the wind.

Anemones come in many different colors. Mostly I have seen purple, pink, blue, white, and red with either black/dark or yellow centers. The photo I took of one in my mother's garden is a pale purple in color with a dark center. I suspect this is an Anemone Coronaria but with so many species I cannot be certain.

Depending on the species, Anemones can vary in the amount of petals on each flower so I based my design on the six petals shown in the photo and decided to use shades of pinks and purple fabrics.

The photo doesn't show the leaf because they have basal leaves meaning the leaf is positioned at the bottom of a long stem. Unfortunately when I took the photo I simply forgot to take a photo of the leaf which is something I make a habit of doing. Instead I based my leaf design on an illustration by Pearson Scott Foresman found on Wikipedia. The leaves are quite unusual and again, can vary depending on the species.

I think the trickiest part on this design was cutting the leaf out. For fusible applique I didn't want to cut along the lines where the sections overlap which meant I needed to remove the small inner section.

There is an easy trick to this. After the leaf is cut out around the edges, I fold it through the center of the section I want to remove and make a small snip being very careful not to snip too far. Watch the other side too!

I can then unfold it and poke the point of the scissors through the hole and proceed with cutting out that section. Small pointed scissors do make the job easier.

Note: if I was planning on hand appliqueing these leaves, I would cut the three sections of the leaf separately to make the process a whole lot easier. 

I cut each flower as one whole piece but I've included individual petal templates in the pattern. You can use either, but it is especially helpful to use the individual petal if you are stitching by hand.

After everything is cut out and pressed to the background, it is time to select suitable threads..... after which, it is time to start the stitching - my favorite part.

I have used free-motion to stitch around all the shapes as this is my favorite method. That is, all except the center of the flowers.

For the flower centers, I used a free-motion zigzag. This is much like the free-motion zigzag I used to demonstrate the poppy stems a couple of weeks ago.

You can see how much better it looks when you compare the two anemones in the photo below. The purple one looks much more realistic with the stitching added.

Here's my finished Anemone block....

If you'd like to make one too, you can find the pattern here: Anemone Block

I'd love to hear what colors you might use and feel free to share a photo of your finished block.