Hello! And welcome to my reveal day
for the Where Flowers Bloom Blog Hop.
A big THANK YOU to Carla of Creatin' in the Sticks for hosting this hop.
For my project I chose a bright and colorful little quilt that is quick and easy to make. This quilt is called Corner Flower Shoppe. It comes from the book entitled A Batch of Quilt Soup by Barbara Jones.
The finished quilt measures 61" x 61" and is the perfect cover-up for cool summer evenings. (Actually, where I live, there are no cool summer evenings, only hot and sticky nights, so I will save this quilt for the fall and winter.)
This is a simple quilt to make. In fact, I have seen this exact flower on a couple of other sites in this hop. The flower blocks are patchwork and the centers and leaves are appliqued. The flower pots and stems are pieced.
To make this quilt I used a lot of my stash of scraps. Smaller scraps would make a stunning scrappy quilt. I thought this would even be a great looking quilt done in grays and blacks on a white background.
The Stitch and Flip corner triangle method makes quick work of the flowers. There are 13 flowers in all. The hardest part is making sure the white triangles are in the appropriate corners.
The stem piece is made up of three rectangles. The quilt needs four of these sections.
The four flowerpot blocks have a contrasting color strip sewn to the top of a large rectangle. Then white triangles are sewn on either side, using the Stitch and Flip method. Excess fabric is cut away.
All that is left to do is sew the three sections -- flower, stem, and flower pot -- together.
Leaves are appliqued to stem section.
The center of the flower is made by cutting two 3" circles and sewing them together, rights sides facing. A small slit is cut into the wrong side of the circle, then turned inside out and ironed flat. Center is then appliqued to the center of the flower.
The quilt is finished off with a border of two colors of green which make a sort of picket fence design. The border also uses the Stitch and Flip method and goes together very quickly. I pieced this quilt's backing together with some ladybug fabric I thought matched the garden theme and bound it all with another color of green.
Another project I made for this hop was a couple of potholders. I always need potholders (mine are mysteriously singed) and I found a couple of really cute patterns in Potholders, Pinchers & More by Chris Malone.
The first to be made was a round potholder with a flower on top. These were so easy to make. I sandwiched an insulated backing (silver side facing heat source) between a top and bottom. For the design I made 8 petals and a round center.
To make turning the small petals inside out, I used the old straw trick. I positioned the petals around the potholder, then added the center using a blanket stitch. I used purchased bias tape to make the binding. I still need to add a button in the center.
Using basically the same steps, I made a long potholder with pockets for your hands.
I just had to show off two of my favorite Hibiscus flowers that are blooming in my garden right now. When we visited Hawaii a few years ago, the Hibiscus bushes were everywhere in every color imaginable. When I got home, I planted a few Hibiscus in my back yard. Their lovely blooms never fail to remind me of the good times I had in Hawaii.
Be sure and visit everyone participating today.
They are sure to delight you with their talent and creativity.
Friday, June 15th
Just Because Quilts (you are here)
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