It is time again for another QUILT BLOCK MANIA edition. This month’s theme is FLOWERS. I designed this block a few years back when I was playing with my silhouette cutter. I had some fun playing with contrasting colors in flowers, but didn’t use it in a pattern. When this theme came along, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share it with you!
The color scheme has a variety of pretty colors that work great with flowers. I picked two of the colors in order to get the 2-color contrast but you can see the full palette below:
This color palette is definitely a winner and fun to play with.
When I used this design with the silhouette, the original shape was cut out as a reverse-applique shape. It was all one piece overlaid on top of a fabric square. You could definitely use this design that way but I ended up using regular applique this time.
The challenge with regular applique for a project like this is to create the symmetry. So, I created a placement template that can be traced onto freezer paper. If you haven’t worked with freezer paper much, you’ve got to check it out–it is amazing how useful it is. You can iron the freezer paper onto your fabric, place the applique pieces and then peel up the freezer paper when you’re done. The placement template is sized slightly larger than the actual applique pieces so it’s easy to use.
If you don’t have freezer paper on hand, you can just print out and cut the placement template that is included in the pattern instead of tracing it onto freezer paper.
The regular paper placement template looks like this:
Using the paper placement template, I placed each piece where it belonged, removed the template and pressed into place. Then I stitched each piece with raw edge applique.
The finished 4-patch looks like this:
I haven’t decided how I am going to use this block. Maybe a pillow or a tote bag. What would you make?
If you’d like to make the Echinacea quilt block, you can DOWNLOAD THE PDF PATTERN HERE. It is a free block for now so enjoy!
Please check out all the beautiful, creative FLOWER BLOCKS by hopping around the following blogs:
Orchid Quilt Block by Carolina Moore
Rose Garden by Slice of Pi Quilts
Happy Flowers by Carolyn Burgess
Double Flower by Devoted Quilter
Faux Flowers by Blockofthemodotcom
Mod Tulip
Enchanting Echinacea
Rosebud Wreath at Patti’s Patchwork
Flower Power – Cotton Street Commons
Dottie’s Garden by Heidi Pridemore
Poppies by Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Pretty Posies at Perkins Dry Goods
Mittens Smells the Roses at Puppy Girl Designs
Wildflowers by Studio R Quilts
Sweetheart Rose by QuiltFabrication
Flower Patch at Orange Blossom Quilt Design Studio
Scattered Petals by Snowy Days Quilting
Scrappy Tulip by Katie Mae Quilts
Happy Bloom Block by Oh Kaye Quilting
Buzz along
Everything’s Coming Up Roses by Inquiring Quilter
Spring Posies by Blue Bear Quilts
Four Roses
Pieceful Crocus Focus
Improv Bloom by Love to Color My World
Happy Sewing!
Lisa
Thank you for this block – looks like it will take me out of my comfort zone 🙂
You’re welcome! Enjoy and have fun stretching that creative muscle 🙂
I’m a beginner at quilting. But this looks possible.
Good for you for starting to quilt! I hope you enjoy it. There is so much help available – quilters are a friendly bunch 🙂 Assembling this block is easy – stitching it down is a little more of an intermediate skill that takes a little practice to develop– making quilt blocks is practicing though! And, you can always stitch over the top with matchstick quilting (straight lines close to one another) instead of stitching around each piece if you aren’t ready for that yet.
Thank you for the opportunity to obtain some free patterns, I’m relatively new to quilting and it’s marvellous to see what you all produce.