My Flower Box Quilt Block Tutorial and Sew Along!!!

The last two weeks have been 

unusually calm weather wise here

 for this time of year

and I have an early case

 of spring fever!

The days are warm 

and the nights are cool…

So I'm completely 

in the mood to make

 a spring quilt for snuggling 

in my favorite chair. 

Perfect while I'm doing handwork

 or watching Downton Abbey:)

My quilt will measure 60" x 80"…

big enough to pull over my shoulders

and keep my toes covered

 at the same time:)

...a perfect snuggly size!

It's always fun to sew with friends…

so I decided to have a sew along!

Do you want to play?

I announced my new 

Flower Box Sew Along

on my Instagram last week

and have started a 

#flowerboxsewalong

hashtag so that others can 

share thier progress as well.

If you are joining in on the fun…

of course you can use any fabric you want.

"you are the boss of your own quilt"

***I do recommend using 

several different colors.

***For each color use

 a few different prints.

Doing this will ensure that

 each block doesn't 

end up looking the same

because you've only used 4 colors.

I wanted to use fabric in  

happy colors and a style

  that represents spring...

So I chose to use my 

current fabric collection

that's in quilt shops now...

FLOWER PATCH

There are 33 different prints 

in this collection…

21 come on the bolt and …

And 12 of the prints

 come in FQ's …

(it's a way I have chosen to 

"GROW" each of my fabric collections)

These come in the form 

of fat quarter panels.

(3 panels = 12 FQ's)

I'm using 30 of my 

Flower Patch FQ's 

for the block colors…

and using the 3 remaining prints 

that have a lot 

of white in them

for my background, 

binding and back of my quilt.

I'm using my favorite 

vintagey text print

 from the collection

 for the background in each block.

I will need 3 yards 

of background fabric.

This "queen bee" print 

will be the back of my quilt.

I'll use 5 yards and will 

have some leftover to 

trim off of the sides:)

This large floral

 will be my binding:)

5/8 yard needed.

The block I am using is

 an old traditional one 

and I love it!

I've named it 

"Flower Box" 

in honor of spring!

My block finishes at 10"square.

In the past…

this has been a 

very hard block to piece 

because of the needed 

use of templates and

cutting out all 

12 pieces on the bias.

But don't worry!

I will be showing you 

my easy peasy

no template method…

YaY!

Here are a few tools 

I am using for this sew along.

They are of course not necessary 

but make the process a lot easier!

6 1/2" square ruler

5 1/2" square ruler

1/2" x 12" ruler

Pink Circle Rotating Cutting Mat

I got all of mine at

 Fat Quarter Shop.

Of course I think that

 a good stack of my

 mini design boards 

are completely necessary!!!

CLICK HERE

for my tutorial 

if you haven't made any yet.

I promise 

you will LOVE using them!

So hurry into your sewing room…

turn on some music…

tie on your apron…

  put a new blade in your rotary cutter

 and lets get started!

From EACH of 4 different prints;

Cut 1- 6 1/2"square

and 

Cut 2 - 3"squares

From your background fabric;

Cut 4 - 6 1/2" squares

***Take note that you have just cut for

 2 - FLOWER BOX BLOCKS

You will need to mark TWO lines onto

 the BACK of each 6 1/2" background square.

The lines need to be 1/4" on each side of the center.

Using this 1/2" wide ruler makes it easy.

If you don't have one…

you can just draw a line down the center 

(from point to point)

 and then mark a 1/4" line away from

 that center line on each side.

I use a mechanical pencil for marking.

Place onto one of your 6 1/2"square prints 

(with right sides together) 

and stitch directly onto your marked lines.

Now cut them apart…

 in-between the two stitched lines like this.

Leave them closed

and place your 5 1/2" square ruler 

diagonal line on top of

your stitched line and square up

 with your rotary cutter...

Like this.

This is where the turning mat comes in handy

because you don't have to move your ruler …

just the mat:)

Open it up and press the seams open like this.

Repeat for the other one as well.

You now have 2 - half square triangle units

 that each measure 5 1/2" square.

(Repeat process for the other three 6 1/2"

 colored squares and three background squares)

Now mark a center line from point to point

 on the matching 3" square and place onto the corner

of the background like this.

Stitch directly on that line.

Repeat for the remaining half square triangles:)

Trim off excess 1/4" past your stitching line.

Press seams open like this:)

Next…lay four different color sections

 out like this and sew together.

One cutie patootie Flower Box:)

YaY!

At this point your block should measure 

10 1/2" x 10 1/2"

And because you pressed your seams open…

 it will be easier to line up points

 and you blocks will lie flat too!

This is what the back of my block looks like:)

Don't forget to sew the other block!

For my quilt I will be

 making 48 different 

Flower Box blocks.

I'll sew them together

 in a 6 x 8 setting.

No sashing…no borders.

I told you

 this would be fun and easy!

You can make your quilt 

any size you want…

you could make 20 blocks

in a 4 x 5 setting and

 it would be a 

perfect baby quilt size!

***NOTE***

Here is some Flower Box 

quilty math for you!

***From one 10" square;

 you can cut a 6 1/2"

 and two 3" squares

***From one F8th;

You can cut two 6 1/2" squares 

and four - 3" squares

***From one FQ;

You can cut four 6 1/2" squares

and eight - 3" squares

***From a 6 1/2" x WOF strip

(for your background)

You can cut six - 6 1/2" squares

So choose your fabric and sew with me!

Follow me on Instagram

to see my progress on this sew along

as well as all of my others:)

Have a quilty kind of day!

xx

Lori