Spring is coming!

I can feel it in the air. The days are slowly warming up. The grass is slowly becoming greener. The birds are returning. The bull frogs are noisy. And I can’t wait to get out in my garden and get my hands dirty!

A Prayer in Spring

by Robert Frost

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid-air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends He will,

But which it only needs that we fulfill.

Garden Bouquet Quilt- Month 4

Lily of the Valley

“It’s no wonder the birds are gathering at this vase. Who wouldn’t when they had a flower as pretty as the lily of the valley close at hand?” In a way this remark reflects the sentiment of all members of the Nancy Page Quilt Club.

They had made the first complete block during the past week. It consisted of a lower triangle with the pieced urn, the upper triangle with its appliquéd tulip, its saucy and its meek bird. Now they were ready for the second flower. On the block they had already made the pieced lower half or urn, the upper white triangle was seamed on and the birds were appliquéd. All that remained was the appliquéing of the flowers. They took the pattern as given in today’s paper and traced it lightly in place on the white triangle. Then they laid the paper pattern over a piece of light-weight cardboard and traced it again. Then they pasted the paper pattern with its directions into the Nancy Page Quilt Scrap book. Next they cut the pasteboard pattern into its pieces. Each lily is like its neighbor, so only one paper pattern is needed to be cut, although four cloth lilies were made.

In cutting these, as in cutting the leaves, a quarter-inch seam allowance was made on all sides. This gives material for turning under. The stem was made from green bias tape. Had the members not used that they would have cut the green material, fast color and the same as used for the leaves, into a bias strip, twice as wide as the pattern. Then the raw edges would have been turned until they met and basted and pressed in place.

The lilies overlapped one another and the stem, as shown in the picture and as indicated by the dotted line.

In choosing the material for the lily a green and white polka dotted material may be used, or a green ground sprigged with white, or a white sprigged with green. In any case the pattern should be small.

In appliquéing the pieces after the edges have been turned, basted and pressed using a fine, slanting invisible hemming stitch or if desired, but not recommended, a buttonhole stitch. In that case raw edges do not have to be turned under and the pieces are cut the size given.

Of course, the whole quilt may be worked in outline stitching, using fast color embroidery cotton. Or the pattern may be traced, filled in with colored crayons and then pressed with a hot iron. This sets the crayon color in the material. It is a quick method, but not as pretty in the final result as in the appliqué.

Here is the pattern for the Lily of the Valley. You can copy and save it to your computer. When you print out your pattern make sure the 1 inch square is the correct size.

Here is my completed Lily of the Valley block!

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 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
Month2, Part 3: The Meek Bird
Month 3: The Cactus
Hand Appliqué
Machine Appliqué
Alternate Method of Appliqué Tutorial
Biased Binding Tutorial