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I have accumulated a huge collection of 6.5 inch charm squares from guild exchanges. I am trying to use them up.... but it is really funny but I keep getting more of them. I am currently planning to use them in a flower quilt for a friend with cancer who is going for chemo. I have been gathering inspiration from all over the internet, in books and magazines ... collecting pictures of quilts with flowers in them. Yes, I contacted original designers ( when I could find out who they are) to get permission to post my own blocks and my own instructions.
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Block size: 12 inch finished / 12.5 inch unfinished
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WARNING: Since I as using 6.5 inch charm squares I had to do some fudging with the blocks and sashing to get a consistent sized block.... I will explain later in detail when I give instructions for the leaves. All drawings shown were done on EQ7 as I am still making blocks and assembling the quilt top. I edited the blocks using a photo editing program.
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| TULIP from charm squares |
Using a white 6.5 inch charm square, I divided the patch into quarters, resulting in a 3-1/4 inch patch. I used those patches to snow ball one corner of my colored 6.5 inch charm square.
I then sewed 4 patches rotating the snowballed corners as pictured.
I attached the leaf block to the flower head and squared up my blocks as needed.
Working with charm squares I used all the pink, yellow, orange and red charms I had. The flowers looked pretty with other colors too.... use what you have as this makes a wonderful charm quilt.
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| flower #2: using charm squares | . |
I kind of came up with this block on my own, playing with my scraps and left over patches. but I am sure that this flower block has been around and is not original. This block picture was made with 4 patches the same, but my real blocks have each quadrant with a different colored patch.
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Snowball a corner using a 3-1/4 inch patch of background fabric. I have been using white on white through the entire quilt top. A friend made her blocks using a lovely soft yellow as she had 5 yards of in her stash. She thinks she can get two quilts made from scraps and her fabric.
Using a 2-1/2 inch square snowball the opposite corner from the background snowballed corner.
To assemble the block, sew the patches so that centers are toward the middle touching each other.
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| Flower head #3- not from charm squares |
This block is made from specifically cut yardage. For this block I kept all the fabric the same. I am using left overs from fat quarters.
I cut strips 5.5 inches in width. I then sub-cut them to 12.5 inches length. Snowball the top left and right of you patch x 2. Turn one of these patches to make the bottom of the flower.
Middle section is made of 2.5 inch strip x sub cut of 5.5 inches. A 2.5 square is sewn in the middle to form the center of the flower.
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This is the tricky leaf. I like a ONE INCH wide stem, so I had to fudge my half square triangles in order to get the blocks to fit. (Two inch wide stem looked clunky.) My strips were 1-1/2 inches x length of assembled leaves. I sewed my leaf blocks top and bottom then sewed them on to the stem.
Your half square triangles have to equal 5.5 inch finished to get the block to fit.
5-1/2 in + 5-1/2 inch = 11 inch plus 1 inch finished stem to make a 12 inch finished blocks. Theoretically, half square triangles can be made from 6.5 inch charms to make a 6 inch half square triangle.... but mine always came up shy of the correct size.
You can correct this problem by cutting fabric larger for your leaves. 7 inch patches made triangle that could be squared to 6 inches easily, with just a little waste.
I cheated and used my sashing to COPE for the discrepancy in size. My sashing strips were about an inch to an inch & half larger. Once the flower head and the leaves were sashed then assembled I squared all the blocks to the same size trimming any excess sashing.
I should say that my basic philosophy on flowers is that in nature none of the flowers are exactly the same ... so why should my flowers be the same? Finished is better then perfect.
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| Version two |
This is version two of the leaf blocks. This one should come out at 12.5 inch unfinished / 12 inch finished and match up to the flower head block without fudging the sashing.
Once again I favor a stem of ONE INCH WIDE made from a 1-1/2 inch strip of fabric x length of leaf blocks.
6-1/2 inch wide strip is cut from yardage. The strip is then sub-cut to 12-1/2 inches.
Leaves are right and left sided so be careful and mirror the snow ball patches.
At the top of the leaf I used a 6.5 inch charm square patch to snowball the top, being careful to maintain correct orientation. If I did not pay attention I ended up with extra right leaves or left leaves.
At the bottom of the leaf I used smaller background 3-1/4 inch square made from quartering a charm square.
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| EQ- 7 MOCK UP of the quilt |
This is a mock up of the quilt. I am using scrappy sashing and spacing blocks. I have no idea of what the finished quilt will look like or what size quilt it will be.
Finished flower blocks are 12-1/2 inches wide by 24-1/2 inches long. This quilt is about 60 inches wide by 60 inches in length not counting the borders.
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I will be posting pictures of my finished quilts when I have them assembled and quilted. I hope you can understand my instructions. Let me know if you have any questions by posting in the comments below.
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NONNIE
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