Garden Bouquet Quilt: Month 15- The Poppy

It’s a quick jump that quilt makers take. Last week they were busily ushering in one of the first flowers of spring- the daffodil, and today they are in the hey-day of summer with its glorious poppies.

This poppy may be developed in pinks, soft reds or in yellows or soft orange. It all depends upon the scraps and the looks of the colors in the quilt.

Nancy cautioned the members against making any one flower of too noisy or strong a color. It is best, the club members found, to keep all the colors rather subdued.

This flower has a number of pieces- four are used in the flower, two little sepals and two leaves, as well as a stem. The stem is easy, since that is made from biased tape. The leaves are of the same shade of green as the stem. The sepals may be of a darker green. The petals are of two shades. The back one, shown as a shaded piece in the pattern is of a darker shade than the three front petals. The dotted lines indicate the overlapping of pieces. It is wise to cut these as shown in pattern for straight edges or plenty of underlap help to hold the pieces in shape. The members had the white triangles ready. This is cut 12 ½ by 12 ½ by 17 ½ inches. It is seemed on the seventeen inch side to the pieced urn block which has been prepared ahead of time. The pattern for the urn was given at the start of this quilt. The members used the urn pattern every time they prepared a new block. It is used twenty times in all in the quilt. This is the fourteenth flower block.

The birds, patterns for which were given earlier also, are always appliquéd to the upper white triangle in which is placed the flower. The method of procedure had become a habit by this time with all the members. First they cut the pattern, with accompanying directions, from the paper. Next they traced the flower lightly onto the upper triangle of white. Thirdly they traced the design onto light weight cardboard. Fourthly, they placed the original pattern for safe-keeping in the Nancy Page scrap book. Next they cut out the cardboard pattern into its parts. They laid these on the color-fast material and cut the pieces allowing one-quarter inch on all sides for turning under raw edges. When these were turned under they were basted and pressed. Then they laid them in place on the white triangle, following the light tracery made at the start. The pieces were then appliquéd with slanting, hemming stitch. The block was completed when the flower, its leaves and stem were growing from the urn and when the admiring birds were appliquéd beside the flower.


I haven’t been able to work on my Poppy block so I don’t have anything to show off. I will update this when I do get the chance!

Do you have any Garden Bouquet Quilt blocks to show off? Leave a link to your blog post about it in the comment section or email me a photo at heathers_custom_sewing{at}yahoo.com so I can share with everyone!

I hope you are enjoying this series!
~Heather


Quick Links to:

Month 1: Beginning Instructions, Urn, and Basket Instructions
Month 2, Part 1: The Tulip
Month 2, Part 2: The Saucy Bird
Month 2, Part 3: The Meek Bird
Month 3: The Cactus
Month 4: Lily of the Valley
Month 5: The Wild Rose
Month 6: The Trillium
Month 7: Canterbury Bells
Month 8: Nasturtium
Month 9: The Pansy
Month 10: The Tiger Lily
Month 11: The Primrose
Month 12: The Zinnia
Month 13: The Daffodil
Month 14: The Phlox

Hand Appliqué
Machine Appliqué
Alternate Method of Appliqué Tutorial
Biased Binding Tutorial

Garden Bouquet Quilt- Month 14- The Phlox

Nancy asked the members of the quilt club whether they had ever walked in their gardens at the cool of day and caught the quit fragrance of the phlox. There is just a faint sweetness that lets you know the phlox is blossoming.

For the flower in our quilt you may use your own judgment and scraps as to the best colors. I have seen pink and white phlox, white and purple, lavender, magenta, red, yellow. You might make each one of the four blossoms a different color, or you might keep them all the same.

I should think a small fast color print design in lavender and white or in pink and white would be attractive. Your choice depends, somewhat, upon the color you used for the zinnia.

Notice that the four blossoms are all cut from the same master pattern. The center of each flower is embroidered with fast color embroidery cotton. Choose a rather dark color for this center. The stem is made from bias tape. At least I think that is the easiest way to make it, for the edges are all turned in for you and being on the bias the stem will take curves easily. The leaves are of the same green as used in all the other leaves of the ten previous flowers.

That mention of “ten” called to the members minds the fact that they were starting on the last half of the quilt. In the finished quilt there will be twenty flower blocks or flowers with birds on the urns. The ten which have been given thus far are tulip, cactus, lily of the valley, trillium, nasturtium, primrose, pansy, and zinnia. Now the phlox makes the eleventh flower. There are nine more to come after this.

Each flower is placed in an urn and each flower has two birds admiring it. The urn makes the lower half of the diamond-shaped block and the flower and birds are appliquéd on the upper triangle. This triangle is 12 ½ by 12 ½ by 17 ½ inches before it is sewed into the quilt. The finished diamond is twelve by twelve.

After the club members had cut the pattern, with its accompanying directions, from the paper they made a light tracing of the flower on the upper triangle. Then they made a second tracing on the lightweight cardboard. The original was then put away for safekeeping in the Nancy Page quilt scrap book. Directions for this scrap book may be obtained by writing this paper.

The cardboard design was cut into its separate pieces and these were used as patterns. They were laid on the soft, fast color material of which the flower and leaves are to be made. In cutting, a quarter-inch allowance is made on all sides. This allowance is turned under, basted and pressed. Then the pieces are pinned in place on the triangle and sewed or appliquéd with running, invisible hemming stitch. The block is then ready for its place in the fast developing and much admired quilt.


I haven’t been able to work on my Phlox block so I don’t have anything to show off. I will update this when I do get the chance!

Do you have any Garden Bouquet Quilt blocks to show off? Leave a link to your blog post about it in the comment section or email me a photo at heathers_custom_sewing{at}yahoo.com so I can share with everyone!

I hope you are enjoying this series!
~Heather


Quick Links to:
Month 1: Beginning Instructions, Urn, and Basket Instructions
Month 2, Part 1: The Tulip
Month 2, Part 2: The Saucy Bird
Month 2, Part 3: The Meek Bird
Month 3: The Cactus
Month 4: Lily of the Valley
Month 5: The Wild Rose
Month 6: The Trillium
Month 7: Canterbury Bells
Month 8: Nasturtium
Month 9: The Pansy
Month 10: The Tiger Lily
Month 11: The Primrose
Month 12: The Zinnia
Month 13: The Daffodil

Hand Appliqué
Machine Appliqué
Alternate Method of Appliqué Tutorial
Biased Binding Tutorial