Bloom Block- It's a Garden Party Row Along

Welcome to my stop on the It's a Garden Party Row Along! I'm excited to share my Bloom block with you today 😊 Before I do, I have to say a big thank you to Marian Pena, of Seams to be Sew, for all the work she put into organizing this row along.

After I decided to sign up to participate in the row along, I realized I had no idea what kind of block I wanted to do. I've been doing that a lot lately, signing up for things and then figuring out my block or whatever after. I knew I didn't want to design a garden scene or a collection of flowers. Not because I don't like those kinds of rows or blocks (so many of them are beautiful!), but because it didn't appeal to me as a design project. What kept coming to mind was the art of Georgia O'Keefe, except I didn't have any real idea what her art looks like, just the notion that it involved extreme close-ups of flowers. After googling her art, I didn't see any way to translate her style into a quilt, but I still loved the idea of an extreme close-up of a flower.

I also had to take into account the various sizes of rows or blocks that were required for the row along. I knew a block would be better than a row, for what I was thinking, so I decided to make a 30" block. Then I decided to put the flower in the corner, rather than the center, and that's how Bloom was designed 😊

Northcott Fabrics generously sponsors the row along, providing each of the designers with up to 1 yard of fabric. I chose this gorgeous, marbled blue to use for the background of my block.

Then I picked out a selection of orange Island Batik fabrics to use for the flower petals. I love oranges/yellows with blue (as evidenced in my Burst mini quilt). I opted for raw-edge machine applique, using a glue stick to hold the pieces in place. It's my favourite applique technique. I love that it's quick and simple, plus it looks great and doesn't add any extra stiffness to the quilt.

When I had the petals glued in place, Zachary looked at it and asked if I was making a turkey! I can see why he would have thought that! I guess I should ask him if it looks more like a flower with the solid yellow (from Northcott, too, I think) there for the flower center.

You can choose to stitch around the shapes with a matching thread, or go with a contrasting thread to create a totally different look. This time I chose to use matching thread, Aurifil 50 wt in 2390 for the flower petals and 1135 for the flower center. Zig zag stitching around applique shapes is so quick and it makes the pieces look so much more polished. It's also very forgiving - if you move a smidge to one side or the other, it still looks good.

The It's a Garden Party Row Along will be continuing through October 8th, with blocks and rows being shared on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. With the different sizes of rows and blocks being shared, you'll be able to create a garden quilt that is unique to you. There are also prizes to be won! You can enter my giveaway by scrolling down a bit farther 😊

First, though, here's the full schedule for the row along:

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Blue Heron Quilting
Carolyn Butterfield
Made By Marney
Pumpkin Patch BC
The Devoted Quilter

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Bobbin In Quilts Blog
Kissed Quilts
Patchwork Breeze
Songbird Designs/Brenda's Blog
Stitchin’ at Home

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Daughters of Dorinda
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Just Let Me Quilt
Lovingly Lissa
The Quilt Rambler

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Fabric Bash/Carpe Blogum
For the Love of Geese
Kathleen McMusing
Ms P Designs USA
QuilterChic

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Heleen Pinkster Quilt Design
Patti’s Patchwork
Quilt Schmilt
Scrapdash
Your Sewing Friend

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Charisma’s Corner
Clever Chameleon
Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Mountain Meadow Designs

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Cynthia’s Creating Ark
Miss Loreen's Schoolhouse
Moose Stash Quilting
Tuning My Heart Quilts
Cheryl LaPlante

Thursday, October 01, 2020

Barbara Dieges
Linda B Creative
Orange Blossom Quilt Design Studio
Sunflower Stitcheries and Quilting
Ursa Minor

Tuesday, October 06, 2020

Bumbleberry Stitches
Charlie's Daughter
Seams To Be Sew
The Quilting Room with Mel
Words & Stitches

Thursday, October 08, 2020

Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Lynn's Beauty
Quilt Art
Renee's Quilting Addiction
Sew Incredibly Crazy

And now for the giveaway! Everyone likes prizes, right? Use the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win a $20 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop 😊 This giveaway will close on September 15th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Electric Quilt is also offering 20% off all products except for EQ Academy during the row along. Use the coupon code GARDENPARTY20 to save. I do all my quilt designing using EQ8, so I can highly recommend the program, if you're interested in designing your own quilts.

Don't forget to download your free Bloom block pattern. I'd also love it if you pinned this image, to help other quilters find the pattern, too. Thanks and happy garden quilting!