This is not the post I had planned, but this is the post I decided on when I realized how quickly the second Thursday of the month arrived in May. I'm still battling water in my basement, which doesn't seem to want to let up. Some hours we had up to two inches of rain. Over the course of one day, one meteorologist said we had 14 INCHES of rain. And that was just ONE day!! The rains and flash floods continue even as I write this.
Recently, one of my blogger friends mentioned that once my tulips were through blooming it would be time for my irises to bloom.
How true they were. This photo was taken before I mowed last Saturday.
This was taken after I mowed. You can see the irises are just beginning to open
and are popping up all over my yard.
Fast forward a few days and more irises have bloomed. 
Aren't they lovely? 
I only have the purple bearded irises, 
but I get a bit carried away when I see them blooming in early spring. 
I think they are stunning. That's why I want to feature them for my Second Thursday tutorial this month.
My materials are simple: a length of fabric, scissors, and a rubber mallet. 
Moving the fabric to my concrete step, I cut the irises with the scissors and positioned them on one half of the fabric.
I covered the irises with the second half of the fabric. 
After pounding awhile, I opened the fabric to see if I was making a difference. Note how the green stems have been pounded into oblivion. I repositioned the irises and pounded again. 
This photo doesn't even begin to do this fabric justice. 
Nor does this one. 
However, this closeup I took really captures the intense beauty of this incredibly beautiful flower pounding. You can even see the green from the stems.I am so happy you joined me today. Once this post goes live, it will be on my tutorials page, where you can find it anytime. Now back to my water logged basement.
Dollar Exchange Rate
19 thoughtful remarks:
hope you get rid of the water in your basement soon, it happens too often! the irises are beautiful and so is the fabric!
That water in the basement sounds bad, hope it is soon gone. The colour of the fabric is gorgeous, irises are just beautiful flowers. Valerie
Wonderful irises in your garen dear Elizabeth and the fabric you created with them is simply AMAZING! WOW!!! Gorgeous!Wonderful natural AND I love the ecologically sustainable idea behind it! Thinking of you - sending water stop thoughts for you my friend!
Big hugs,
Susi
I've done flower pounding on paper to make cards. Your iris are gorgeous. So sorry about the water in your basement. Maybe you should think about having a sump pump and drain system installed?
I'm so sorry about your water logged basement Elizabeth. 14 inches of rain is a lot! Your Irises are beautiful. And I love how you used them to color the fabric: it looks fantastic. I hope your friend Sally is okay. It was very concerning to hear she was admitted to the hospital.
Love how you used the purple Iris to colour that fabric, looks beautiful. I'm sorry about your flooded basement, hope it gets sorted out soon, and you don't get more rain.
How cool. This made a really great colored piece of cloth, and so simple. I am writing this from my work computer since my home computer was having issues this morning and I am procrastinating this morning over a big pile of papers to grade. Sorry to hear the rain hasn't let up. Hugs-Erika
I feel for you with your water logged basement-hope not too much got ruined. we are still having flooding here in Missouri too-the rain just keeps coming-looks dry for the upcoming weekend though-hope so
I was happy to see this post-I Love flower pounding! I did a bunch of it when I first moved here to the woods-over time most goes brown-but the prints are still really pretty. I made allot of little mini pillows with lavender and rice inside-
I have pretty iris's up at the lake house-which makes me smile
Happy Thursday
Yikes- hope the water problem gets resolved soon. What beautiful Iris, and what a lovely color they made on your fabric!
Iris are beautiful ... since I moved 8 years ago I haven't been able to get my Iris to grow let alone bloom ... thanks for sharing
so sorry about the water in your basement hope the rain stops enough for it to really dry out ...
hate to see beautiful blooms crushed but they do make great background colors
Oh I do hope you get cleaned up and that the rain will stop! Irises are one of my favourite flowers - I think we will have to get up to Styall Mill and see the display there! I'm pleased you could take a break to show this - the results are wonderful! Big Hugs, Chrisx
The irises and fabric are beautiful!
Hope Mother Nature lets up on you soon.
I've only seen a few houses here with basements, and they all collect water when we have rain like we're having lately. I hope yours dries up soon. It's still raining here :)
You can't press irises -or at least _I_ can't- but your pounding technique turned out beautifully! What a great idea. The flowers are gorgeous follow-ups to the tulips. Both make such a colorful statement out in the yard.
Elizabeth; first up I'm very sorry you have a flooded basement; been there.. done that.. NOT fun... and I hope it's resolved soon and the rains let up ....secondly your flower pounding reminds me of the tie dye back in the day; very nice work !!! hope your weekend turns out to be a great one and HI to bleu and squiggles from TT ☺☺♥♥
Your iris plants are a gorgeous colour and must have been a welcome sight when the showed their beauty.
I really loved the result when you pounded them on the white fabric. It look gorgeous.
Sorry to read that the rain is still causing flooding. I hope it will clear for you soon.
Yvonne xx
The flowers are beautiful and made gorgeous colored stains. :)
Elizabeth, I want to thank you for your kind comments left on my blog. When Google+ went away, so did my Blogger ability to reply to comments. I'm sure it is some little thing I've checked or not checked but haven't found it so far. In the meantime, I will come visit when I can. As for you featuring my favorite color (purple, more blueish than reddish), I'm 2 thumbs up but the real treat is getting to see the heart of a true 60's hippie in action! winkwink I may be a tad jealous, too. Those fabulous herbs you are growing, you are dying your fabric with flowers, and you're bailing water out of your basement. I will pray for some for y'all as that's what I do. And so you won't feel so alone, me thinks it's come to see us in Texas now. Horrible storming and wind and solid sheet pelty rain on and on. It's staying all week this time, so I know from living near Houston about the water, thank goodness not from personal experience. I am sure you are indeed tired of it and so you need to vent here steam valve and keep your determination strong. It's got to stop sometimes soon. Hugs xoxo
This fabric flowers may be lovely Elizabeth !! Love the colours, and love the flowers in your garden. Hope now, you haven´t more problem with the basement.
I wish you a very nice weekend, and
send big hugs, Caty
Irises so capture my heart I don't think I could have forced myself to pound one out! But it's a great project. Maybe I should try it with dandelions. Heaven knows I have PLENTY of those!
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