Tutorial - Bold Blossom for Spring

Here's a bright, happy tutorial to celebrate Spring!

The pieces are leftovers from my Joyful Blooms quilt - the pattern is in the current Spring issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine. 

This is my original idea for the scraps that I played with shortly after making the quilt. Then I put the scraps away! I recently ran across the photo on my mini iPad - it is kind of bright! - and I decided to see if I could still find the pieces and recreate the large block to celebrate Spring. You'll notice that I changed the center to get rid of the big empty white space that might have required some applique or embroidery ;)

My leftovers are mostly from a jelly roll. You can use leftover strips for most pieces but not the hsts (unless you piece fabrics together to make the squares - now that's using your scraps!)

Here's the tutorial - let me know if something doesn't make sense! Enjoy!

Will make one 24 inch finished block

Fabric Requirements

from EACH of 2 different greens - 2 - 5 inch squares
2-  4 1/2 inch squares
4 - 2 1/2 inch squares

yellow, red, orange, pink
from EACH color you will need
1 - 5 inch square
4 - 2 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch strips
*you will notice that I have 2 different fabrics for each color - use what you have or change colors altogether!

white
8 - 2 1/2 inch squares

brown
16 - 2 1/2 inch squares


Make corner hsts

*Mine are different fabrics because they are leftovers. If you want your hsts to be different fabrics - you will need 2 of each yellow, red, orange, and pink fabrics - and you will have leftover hsts!

NOT from this quilt, but the photo should give you a visual on the steps for making hsts :) S.V.

Use one green 5 inch square and one 5 inch square of yellow.
Draw a diagonal line on the back of the green 5 inch squares.
With Right Sides facing, sew 1/4 inch away from each side of the drawn line.
Cut on the drawn line and press the seams to the green triangles.
Trim each hst to 4 1/2 inches square.

Repeat with red, orange and pink 5 inch squares to make a total of 8 - 4 1/2 inch hsts.



Make 4 patches


Note that there are 4 of two different 4 patch blocks - the only difference is 4 are made with one of the green fabrics and the remaining 4 are made with the other green fabric.

Place the fabrics in the same position in each 4 patch block. 
Sew the four patch pieces together to make a block.
Press the seams to the brown fabric.
Sew 2 patch units together and press the seam to the green 2 patch unit.

Repeat to make 4 - 4 patch blocks with one green and 4 more with a second green for a total of 8 - 4 patch blocks.



Make corner units

Note the orientation of the units in the block - it is the same for all 4 corner blocks. My blocks use 2 different colors in each block - yours will {probably} have only one color.
Sew the four patch to one hst with the color triangle towards the brown and white side of the 4 patch - press the seam to the 4 patch.
Sew the bottom hst to the 4 1/2 inch matching green square with the green triangle side against the square - press the seam to the square.
Sew the two units together using the photo as reference - press the seam to the four patch unit.

Repeat with the remaining color hsts and matching four patch units to make 3 more corner blocks.

Make strip blocks

Keep the color sequence the same in all four blocks.
Sew the long side of the four strips together- pink, then orange, then red, and then yellow - press the seams toward the yellow.

Repeat to make 4 strip blocks in total.



Make center four patch

Refer to the photo and sew the remaining four patches together to make a block.
You may need to re-press seams to nest them. Your goal is to make it lay as flat as you can:)

Sew Blocks into Rows

YOU get to be the designer here! All the blocks are complete - see which layout you prefer.

{this one is my second favourite - I love the effect of the four patches around the center. 

But not as much as I like how the green hsts towards the center look like a shoo fly!}

Okay - did you pick one? Maybe take photos of your own blocks moved around and see what you think. I also noticed that the white space between the blocks on the design wall influenced my thinking - so you might want to lay them out overlapping to lose the white.

Layout your blocks as in the photo OR how you choose - note the orientation in the original layout of the corner blocks and the fact that the matching greens are in opposite corners. Be sure to line up the strip blocks in all the same way. 

Sew the top left corner block to the strip block beside it - press the seam to the strip block. 
Then sew the final corner block to the strip block - again pressing to the strip block.

In the second row, press the seams to the strip blocks again.
In the third row press the seams to the middle strip block.

Sew Rows into Block

With Right Sides Together, pin the top row to the middle row, especially where seams meet.
Sew the rows together, pressing the seam to the top row.
Again with Right Sides Together, pin the bottom row to the middle row.
Sew the rows together and press the seam to the bottom row.

Your block is complete and should measure 24 1/2 inches square.

You can choose to add an additional 2 1/2 inch border to bring it up to 28 inches square finished. I might be doing this because then this big block will fit on my large European pillow shams!

Layer with batting and backing and quilt.
Label, bind, and enjoy!

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With Joy,


Sarah V.