A bright & happy garden

Spring is coming (well, it will be in a few months) and that has me thinking of bright, happy flower gardens. For this month, the Emerge circle of Do. Good Stitches will be creating a happy little garden quilt of our own.

I've always loved Cori's Bloomin' Quilt As You Go tutorial and even made a pillow with this method once or twice. My scrap bins are overflowing and these are a great way to use up some of them.

For our blocks this month, please use Cori's method (minus the QAYG part) to each make (2) 12.5" blocks. Each block should be a monochromatic bloom in any color you might find flowers in your garden. If you'd like to include a smidge of greenery in a corner or two, that's fine too. It will look like little bits of leaves peeking through.

Start each block with a 13" square of muslin. I tried to use the wrong side a quilting fabric I don't care for but it was showing through the yellow fabric, so muslin it was. I pulled fabric from my bins and laid them out somewhat in order of saturation, started with the lightest in the center of the square. All flowers are different - you could certainly start with the darkest in the center if you prefer. If you'd like to work from stash instead of scraps, cut 1.5-3" wide strips of various fabrics.

Please trim off as much of the excess as possible after attaching each piece so that it will be easy to quilt once fully assembled. I snipped a few little holes in the muslin when trimming excess pieces but that's fine - it's just the base to sew to. Continue adding strips around the bloom and try to vary the angles a little each round.

Once you've covered all the muslin, go ahead and trim to 12.5" or send to me and I can trim as I assemble. I made a time-lapse of sewing the pink flower if you'd like to see it here.

Again, do not use batting or do any of the quilting. I'll piece the whole top and then quilt it as one. This should be a nice and cheery quilt when we're all done!