Sunday, February 20, 2011

Spring?

"The earth laughs in flowers." - e. e. cummings


So many bloggers are showing their wonderful flowers starting to appear. I am so jealous! We won't expect to see Spring and sprouts for another 3-4 weeks.

So when given lemons, make lemonade. I decided to have a little FUN sewing and make my own flower.




SQUARED UP


SUPPLIES:
5 background charms (silly me I only show 4 in the photo)
4 'flower' charms
2 charms - one for stem and one for leaves
1 charm for vase



Flower unit: Take one background charm and cut into quarters - four 2.5" squares.

Draw a line diagonal and pin right sides together to corner of flower charms as shown in photo.



Now sew on your drawn line - you can quickly chain sew these units.




Trim off the excess corner and press out to the corner. Square up if needed.


Lay out your 4 'petals' and sew together. I pressed all seams open to eliminate bulk. Just like making a 4-patch unit! These blocks make quick little flowers for a quilt, too. Just add a yo-yo center and you have a blooming baby quilt.


The stem unit: I cut a 1.5" strip from one charm for stem, but you could use a piece of scrap for this. Sew to one background charm and then repeat to the other charm . The leaf was made by cutting the other charm diagonally. Then I pressed in half and zig-zaged the edges. Remember this was for FUN - no fussing.


I simply overlapped the leaves and zig-zagged across the bottoms of the leaves to attach - giving a 3-D effect. Trim stem/leaf unit 9.5". Have fun - try big rick rack for stem and wool applique leaves for texture.


Vase unit: Take your vase charm and fold in half - wrong sides together. Pin 5" raw edges to right side of one background charm. Take your second background charm and lay face down on this matching edges - pin and sew seam. See photo.


First press seam open from back, turn over and press 'vase' piece centered - another 3-D element.


Sew all your units together. I used a scrap piece of batt and scrap backing to sandwich out my flower and just some simple quilting. You could add a sashing around entire piece if you like. I like to hand stitch binding, so I used a scrap piece of binding. Or you could use the method of turning your backing to the front for a faux binding. Which ever finishing you prefer. This is to be FUN. Add some fun embellishments - I love buttons -


When I have a small, light weight wallhanging that I am using binding sewn to the back, I like to use this method of a hanger. Just take a square of fabric - these were 3.5" square, fold diagonally and stitch across bias fold. THen baste stitch to top corners. They will get caught in with the binding finishing to the back. Then I can slide a dowel in and hang from a nail or tack.



Feel free to share with your friends, make any design changes, express with embellishments. Have FUN. I would love to know if you make a SPRING FLOWER of your own. Wouldn't it be fun to see these sprout up around the net?


Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

7 comments:

Miss Hillbilly said...

That is a cute flower. Thanks for sharing! It will be sometime yet before spring I fear. Oh, well, still allows for more indoor quilting time:)

Sheila said...

Love those red fabrics! Nice wall hanging. I can see these flowers in different colors sewn together to make a happy flower garden quilt.

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

How adorable! Thanks for the great tutorial!! The perfect way to get spring started in your home.

Sue Daurio said...

what an adorable pattern!! We so need some spring in the Chicago area. This would be a great way to get it started. Thanks for sharing!

Millie said...

So adorable, thanks for the tutorial. I am seeing so forward to spring, it is nice to see spring colors.

Shannon said...

What a great idea for the hanger. I will use this. It is much easier! I love your flower!

Kelly@ Charming Chatter said...

Oh Sharon that is SO cute - and so needed for spring! Thanks so much for the wonderful tutorial!!