Fall Flower Pots Quilt Tutorial!!

I just got my

Fall Flowers Quilt 

back from my friend Juli

 who does my quilting and always

 does such a fabulous job! 

Now I want to show you how I made it:)

The blocks are super fast and easy

 to prepare for appliqué...

and I decided to applique by machine

 to make it even faster!

I used my Autumn Love fabric collection 

and was able to use a lot of 

the leftover bits and pieces 

from the sew along...

especially for the flower petals.

I used 4 of the 

Autumn Love Sew Simple Shapes:

F3 for the flower center

F10 for the leaves

F20 for the petals

F33 for the flower pots

The petals are really easy to make

 because you just sew one F20 shape...

cut it in half ...

and you have two petals!

I used all of the prints and 

divided them into piles of colors.

For each flower you need 7 petals.

I used all of the green prints

 to make the leaves and stems.

You need 2 leaves for each flower.

Each stem is cut 5" long after preparing 

and I used the 1/4" bias tape maker

 so that they measure 1/4" wide:)

I started out using only the 

browns and grays for the centers

 and then added more colors later.

At this point I was not sure 

if I was going to make a runner or

 a quilt so I didn't know 

how many blocks I would end up making.

I used all of the color prints 

in the collection

to make the flower pots.

For the background I chose to use

 the new linen by Riley Blake Designs.

This color is called natural.

I cut my background blocks 

10" x 18"

 and later trimmed them down to

 8 1/2" x 16 1/2" 

after the applique.

I started with this pile all ready to go!

I prepared all of my appliqués

 just like I always do 

with my sew along quilts.

If you have not used

 my method before...

CLICK HERE

to watch the Autumn Love week one 

video where I show you how.

First I pressed my background in half

 so that I had a nice center line.

I pinned and glue basted the 

flower pot 1 1/2" up from the 

bottom edge of my background 

and then glue basted 

the stem down the center..

tucking 1/4" under the flower pot.

Because I cut my stems 5" long...

by the time I tucked the top edge

 under the flower center by 1/4"...

the length of stem showing is 4 1/2" long.

After I pinned my circle...

 I tucked the raw edges of the

 petals underneath it

 starting at the top and centering

 that petal and then working my way around.

The flower petal at the top 

measured about 1 1/2" down from

 the top edge of the background.

After I glue...

I remove all of the applique pins 

and layer my ruler on top 

and then my bumble bee to 

weight it down while 

drying for a few minutes.

All dry and ready for applique!

I took it to the machine and

 decided to just do a

 "top-stitch applique"

 by going around the

 edges of each piece.

I sewed about 1/8" inside the edge

 and used a neutral thread

for all that matched the linen.

I backstitched a little 

when I stopped and started.

On the flower top...

I did all of the petals first and 

then finished up with the circle.

Easy peasy...

and one block took me about

 10 minutes to machine applique!

All of my flowers were about 

14 1/2" tall from top of petal

 to bottom of pot.

I used my 8 1/2" Trim It Ruler 

and trimmed it 8 1/2" wide

 by starting at the bottom 

and using the center line 

on the ruler to line up with 

the center of my pot and the stem...

and trimmed the sides

Like this.

Easy peasy!!

Then I trimmed off the top and the bottom

 so that the block measures 

16 1/2" tall now:)

Fall Flower Pot Block

8 1/2" x 16 1/2" unfinished

Ready to sew into the 

quilt or runner:)

At this point is where I decided to

 make more blocks and do an

 entire quilt because they were 

so fast and easy and it was fun 

to make all different 

color and print combinations:)

Yes ...lol...

I'm a quilter and I like to 

play with fabric!!

My potted flowers kept growing...

And growing...

Until I had 25 Blocks!

I started to lay them out and

 decided that off setting them 

like this would be fun way to finish:)

I cut 6 - 8 1/2" squares of the linen

 to add to the top and bottom 

of those rows where they are offset. 

I really loved the way they 

looked on the natural linen:)

I sewed 4 long rows of 4 flower pots

 and 3 rows of 3 flower pots  

and those 3 shorter rows are the ones 

that I added the 8 1/2" squares to.

 I decided to use the linen as 

the borders as well!

YES! I love it!

I cut  2 side borders 

6 1/2" x 64 1/2" 

and added them first.

The top and bottom borders are cut

 6 1/2" x 68 1/2"

The quilt measures 68 x 76 

and I'm sew happy with it!

I decided to add a scrappy binding...

And so I grabbed a 

2 1/2" strip roll and used some

 of the strips to make it. 

Cut the pieces about 6-7 inches long 

and join on the diagonal until 

you have at least 300".

I think the scrappy binding really

 adds the perfect finishing touch

 against the linen.

The linen is a dream to work with...

and in fact I'm using it 

for the background in my next sew along...

Farm Sweet Farm!

When working with linen

 you should probably

 pre-wash it for shrinkage purposes.

It doesn't shrink a lot but it will

 shrink at a different

 rate than the fabric...

which by the way I do not prewash.

I super love the 

scrappy happy look of my

 Fall Flower Pots Quilt!

It really was so fun to make 

and adds so much vintage goodness

 to my fall decor.

It's also versatile enough

 to use year round!

It was such a beautiful fall day today...

blue skys and all!

I hung my quilt over the gate where the colors of my barn and shed 

look so cute with it:)

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Thursday is Thanksgiving

and I am sew grateful for all of you wonderful and amazing quilters.

Thank you so much as always 

for sewing along with me:)

xx

Lori