Congratulations to Linda F., the winner of the Arc of Geese blocks! It is interesting that many of the blocks won in previous months have ended up in placemats for Meals on Wheels.
Earlier in the year Yoskyl gave me a stack of flowers made from hexagons to give out for a block of the month. I am using them this month as they will be a cheerful project as the weather becomes wetter and/or darker.
Start your block with a half square triangle block in two shades of a very light colour and appliqué one of the hexagon flowers onto it using the method of your choice. Alternatively you may choose to make a larger HST block and appliqué three of the flowers onto it.
MATERIALS
- 1 hexagon flower
- 1 – 9″ square of a very light colour that may be solid, or close to solid, or tone-on-tone
- 1 – 9″ square of a different fabric in the same very light colour
or
- 3 hexagon flowers
- 1 – 13″ square of a very light colour that may be solid, or close to solid, or tone-on-tone
- 1 – 13″ square of a different fabric in the same very light colour
CONSTRUCTION
Make your HST block, ie., your Half Square Triangle block. This would be an 8 1/2″ block for one flower, or, a 12 1/2″ block for three flowers.
Press the seam open.
Remove the paper from the flower. Do this by first taking out the threads holding the paper in place then pull out the paper.
Pin your flower to the block. I put the flower in the centre and lined the centre of the petal edges up with the line of the HST. Pin each petal in place.
I also put a piece of very fine Pellon interfacing (from my stash) at the back of the flower to provide a bit of stabilization. Not everyone puts stabilizer under their appliqué, so, this is optional.
Appliqué your flower to the HST block. You may do this by hand or machine.
I did mine by machine.
- I used a matching thread,
- a blanket stitch with a stitch width of 2.0 and a stitch length of 3.0,
- and a double sided blanket stitch when it was between two hexagons.
Unfortunately –
- I did not put four pins to hold the Pellon and it folded over a bit. It is not noticeable from the front, so, hopefully, no big deal.
- You will notice that there are three tie offs! All was going well until I noticed that I had come to an outside corner that was no longer tucked/folded over. I unpicked a couple of stitches and retucked the seam and then restarted stitching back a few stitches. So, ** be careful that the folds on the flower are all tucked before you start.
The finished product:
Happy Quilting,
Marilyn