I enjoy drawing and painting, particularly flowers, and have many designs I’ve drawn but have yet to use, so this small wall hanging was an opportunity to put some little flower designs to good use as applique. Tulips, daffodils and pansies are a welcome sight in my garden in the spring and the sunny colours remind me that winter is over.
Finished size
Approx 28 x 68.5cm (11 x 27in) before binding
Materials
- Fat eighth of solid orange fabric for blocks
- Fat eighth of solid pink fabric for blocks
- 20cm (1/8yd) or fat eighth of solid pale green fabric for blocks
- Fat quarter of solid white fabric for blocks
- 25cm (1/4yd) of solid deep yellow fabric for blocks and binding
- 60cm (3/4yd) of solid pale yellow fabric for border, backing and hanging sleeve
- Scraps of print fabrics for flower appliques: pale green, pale pink, dark pink, deep yellow, orange, tan and mauve
- 15 x 30.3cm (6 x 12in) fusible web
- Template plastic or thick (good quality) tracing paper
- Stranded embroidery cotton for appliques: off-white, pink, deep yellow, orange, tan and mauve
- Machine quilting threads in off-white and yellow
- 38 x 80cm (15 x 31in) wadding
- Wirework hanger 23–28cm (9–11in) wide (optional)
CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS
1. From the solid orange fabric cut the following:
- Two 1 1/2in squares for pieced Border 1
- Six 1 1/2in squares for Snowball blocks
- Eight 1 1/2in squares for Evening Star blocks
2. From the solid pink fabric cut the following:
- Two 1 1/2in squares for Border 1
- Six 1 1/2in squares for Snowball blocks
- Eight 1 1/2in squares for Evening Star blocks
3. From the solid white fabric cut the following:
- Three 4 1/2in squares for the Snowball blocks
- Two 2 1/2in squares and eight 1 1/2 x 2 1/2in rectangles for the Evening Star blocks
- Eight 1 1/2 x 2 1/2in rectangles for Border 1
4. From the solid green fabric cut the following:
- Four 1 1/2 x 6 1/2in rectangles for Border 1
- Eight 1 1/2in squares for Border 1
- Sixteen 1 1/2in squares for Flying Geese for Border 1
5. From the solid deep yellow fabric cut the following:
- Eight 1 1/2in squares for the Evening Star blocks
- Three 2 1/4in x width of fabric strips for the binding
6. From the solid pale yellow fabric cut the following:
- Two 3 1/2in x width of fabric strips. Sub-cut into two strips 22 1 1/2in long and two strips 12 1/2in long for Border 2
- One piece 15 x 33in for the backing
- One piece 4 x 9in for the hanging sleeve (optional)
MAKING THE SNOWBALL BLOCKS
1. There are three of these blocks in the wall hanging, each 4 1/2in (unfinished). They house the three flower appliques. For one block you will need one white 4 1/2in square, two 1 1/2in orange squares and two 1 1/2in pink squares.
2. Mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of all four smaller squares. Place the small squares on top of the white square, right sides together and corner edges aligned, with the marked lines in the directions shown in Fig 1A. Pin the small squares in place.
3. Sew along each of the marked diagonal lines. Fold each square along the sewn line so a triangle is created and press into place (Fig 1B). Trim off excess fabric at the back (white and coloured), leaving a 1/4in seam allowance. Check the block is 4 1/2in square, trimming if need be. Make two more Snowball blocks like this.
MAKING THE EVENING STAR BLOCKS
1. There are two of these blocks in the wall hanging, each 4 1/2in (unfinished). Four Flying Geese units are needed for an Evening Star block, made up of one 1 1/2 x 2 1/2in white rectangle, one 1 1/2in orange square and one 1 1/2in pink square. You also need four 1 1/2in deep yellow squares and one 2 1/2in white central square.
2. Start by making a Flying Geese unit as follows. Draw a diagonal line through a
pink 1 1/2in square. Pin the square right side down on the right-hand edge of a 1 1/2 x 2 1/2in white rectangle (right side up), aligning the corners. Sew along the marked line. Flip the square over along the stitched line and press. Trim excess fabric at the back to leave a 1/4in seam allowance.
3. Sew an orange 1 1/2in square to the rectangle in the opposite corner in the same way and then flip, press and trim excess as before. This triangle will overlap the one already sewn in place. Make three more Flying Geese units in this way.
4. Sew a Flying Geese unit to each side of the central white 2 1/2in square, making sure you have the star points pointing outwards. Press seams inwards.
5. Sew a deep yellow 1 1/2in square to each side of the remaining two Flying Geese units. Press seams outwards.
6. Arrange the block in rows as shown in Fig 2 and then sew the rows together. Press the block and check that it is 4 1/2in square, trimming if need be. Make one more Evening Star block like this.
SEWING THE BLOCKS TOGETHER
1. Take the three Snowball blocks and the two Evening Star blocks and lay them out as shown in Fig 3. Note that the orange and pink triangles need to alternate, so check that your Snowball blocks are orientated correctly so two of the same colour aren’t touching. Sew the blocks together and press the seams.
MAKING BORDER 1
1. This first border is pieced, so that the white centres to the Snowball blocks appear to stand on point. Each long border is made up of the following units:
- One pink 1 1/2in square
- One orange 1 1/2in square
- Two green 1 1/2in squares
- Three white/green 1 1/2 x 2 1/2in Flying Geese units
- Two green 1 1/2 x 6 1/2in rectangles
2. Create the Flying geese units in the same way as you did for the Evening Star blocks but use a white rectangle and two green squares. Make three like this. Sew together the units listed above, as shown in Fig 4A. Make two border units like this in total.
3. Each short border is made up of the following units:
- One pink 1 1/2in square
- One orange 1 1/2in square
- Two green 1 1/2in squares
- One white/green 1 1/2 x 2 1/2in Flying Geese unit
Create the Flying geese units in the same way as in Step 2 above, making two units. Sew these units together as shown in Fig 4B. Make two border units like this in total.
4. Sew the long border units to each side of the wall hanging, taking care to match seams and triangle points neatly, and press the seams outwards. Sew the short border units to the top and bottom and press the seams outwards (Fig 5).
ADDING BORDER 2
1. The outer border is pale yellow. Sew the longer strips to the sides of the wall hanging and press seams outwards. Sew the shorter strips to the top and bottom and press seams outwards. This border is cut a little wider than needed and trimmed down later after the applique and quilting is finished.
ADDING THE APPLIQUES
1. Audition your applique fabrics, choosing a pale pink, dark pink and pale green for the tulip, a deep yellow, pale orange and dark orange for the daffodil and a pale orange, mid orange, tan and mauve for the pansy. Back your applique fabrics with fusible web.
2. Copy the templates from the Pattern Sheet onto template plastic or thick tracing paper. The templates have already been reversed ready for fusible web applique. Draw the individual flower shapes onto the appropriate web-backed fabrics. Cut out the shapes accurately.
3. The applique shapes can now be fused to your Snowball blocks. Work on one flower at a time. Start with the tulip, peeling the backing paper off the six shapes. Place the pieces on the fabric following the number order given in Fig 6. When you are happy with the shape and it is centred in the block, carefully remove petals 5 and 6, without disturbing the others. Fuse petals 1, 2, 3 and 4 in place with a medium-hot iron. Now replace petals 5 and 6 and fuse them in place.
4. Apply the pansy next, again laying out the whole shape first. Remove all petals except 1 and 2 and fuse these. Add petals 3 and 4 and fuse, then petal 5 and fuse, and finally mauve petals 6, 7 and 8. Apply the daffodil in the same way, as shown in the diagram.
5. When all of the appliques are fused add the following embroidery:
- Edge the applique shapes with hand blanket stitch (or other stitch of your choice) using two strands of stranded embroidery cotton in colours to suit your fabrics
- Edge the mauve area of the pansy with backstitch in two strands of mauve thread, with long stitches in the centre for depth
- In the daffodil’s trumpet sew five French knots with two strands of off-white stranded cotton.
- Edge the white on point fabric areas with blanket stitch using two strands of off-white stranded cotton
QUILTING AND FINISHING
1. Create a quilt sandwich, with your backing piece right side down, the wadding on top and then the wall hanging on top, right side up. Use your favourite method to secure the sandwich. Quilt as desired. Linda began by quilting very close to the outer edge of all of the appliques in a toning or invisible thread. Work further quilting to secure the layers. Fig 7 shows the details of Linda’s machine quilting. You could work the quilting by hand if you prefer.
2. When you have finished quilting, secure and tidy all thread ends. Trim and square up the wall hanging so it is 11 x 27in, with the outer yellow border 2 1/2in wide.
3. Join the binding strips together at rightangles, pressing the seams open to reduce bulk. Trim away the ‘ears’ and fold the strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and press.
4. Sew the binding in place, working from the right side and starting part-way down one edge, match the raw edges of the binding to the raw edges of the wall hanging and sew in place, folding a mitre at each corner. Before completing your stitching, neaten the short raw end of the starting piece and insert the ending piece into it. Fold the binding over to the back of the hanging and neatly slipstitch in place by hand.
5. Add a hanging sleeve, if required, using the 4 x 9in piece of pale yellow fabric. Turn under and hem the short ends. Fold the piece in half along the length, right sides together, and sew together along the long edge. Turn through to the right side and press the hem. Using matching sewing thread, slipstitch the sleeve in place at the back of the hanging, just under the edge of the binding. Avoid your stitches appearing on the front of the work.
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