Garden Flowers--post one

Fat quarter, parts and scraps

Goal number nine on my July list was to determine what to do for our book club quilt project. We are discussing "By Her Own Design" by Piper Huguley. It is the story of Ann Lowe, a black woman dress designer, who created Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding gown. Lowe was truly an artist when it came to dress design. From the time she was a young girl, she liked to make fabric flowers and attach them to the dresses.

Fussy cutting the flower motifs

In the stash, I had a fat quarter that was printed with large flowers. I decided to use it as well as some green strings, pink half square triangles (HST), a few leftover parts from a previous project and pink strips. I fussy cut the whole printed flowers. I was able to cut out six flowers.

Possible layout

After fussy cutting, I started to work on a layout. Because the flowers were different sizes, I used a variety of pink strips to frame the flowers. Then I trimmed the blocks to one consistent size. I continued to arrange the blocks as if they were photos on a wall.

Flowers framed

After seeing all the pink, the project needed green! I thought the green bits I had were crumbs; but, it turns out they were strings. I started piecing two and a half inch strings strips of fabric to use as sashing. I also pulled the leftover pieces from a previous project to audition into the mix.

Leftover parts to possibly add to the project

I added a few HST to the layout as well as a yellow background fabric. I made an X from four of the leftover parts. I changed the layout so the flowers circled the X.

Adding a background fabric and changing the layout

I decided that I needed one 4 1/2 inch string strip to be placed at the bottom of the project. I pieced that strip. Maybe half of this strip will be on one side of the triangle leftover with the other half on the other side of the pieced part. 

Center block on point, adding HSTs

Looking at that center block, I decided it needed strings. I pieced more strings. These strings are two and half inches wide. After contemplating the layout yet again, I turned the center block on point and auditioned the pink HSTs as a border around the center block. 

Additional flower block added

I needed another flower block. I was able to piece one from the scraps of the fat quarter. In the photo below, you have to zoom in to see the piecing line! The design needed the additional flower block.

Pieced flower

I've created a math challenge for myself. I want to piece the flower blocks around the center. How to make the design work will be a challenge for another day! I hope to be able to inset the flower blocks around the center block with straight forward piecing.