Wildflower Blossoms by Krisanne Watkins is a truly unique floral block that you'll definitely want to try.

The main quilt block has variously sized petals that come together with the magic of a partial seam.

The Irish Chain block in two shades of green and the side setting triangles bring the design together.

Creativity blossoms on this episode of “Love of Quilting.” Funding for Love of Quilting is provided by.

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[Upbeat music] Hi there, and welcome to the 48th season of “Love of Quilting.” I'm Sara Gallegos.

And I'm Angela Huffman.

Angela, this is such a beautiful floral quilt.

I love this block.

So this is Wildflower Blossoms.

It's by Krisanne Watkins, and the block itself is super cool.

The way it goes together.

- It explodes out from the center.

And I really love it.

- Yeah.

So there's two blocks in the quilt that you've got your your wildflower blossom, but you also have a standard Irish chain.

And so this is the block that has, it's got partial seams.

It has some really interesting, triangle, units that you don't normally see.

So let's dive into this block, because it's kind of fun.

I also thought that it was really interesting that it set on point.

Yeah.

- You don't expect that.

I feel like looking at it.

Right.

Yeah.

The the quilt itself is set on point.

- Yeah.

All right.

So what we're going to do first is we're going to make these, little rectangle units here that have, flippy corners on them.

And so I've got this one and I've already pre marked the diagonal line.

So you're going to take a rectangle.

And we're going to lay that square down I've marked from corner to corner if you would just sew right on that line.

- Sure.

And this is the unit that we're after.

So kind of like a, a little candy cane stripe unit.

It's cute.

And so she used, solid fabrics for this.

And you'll notice that each of the wildflower blossoms themselves have, two different, colors that are similar.

There's a little bit of contrast, but one is kind of a halo effect, over the other.

All right.

We're going to cut a quarter of an inch away from that line that you just, stitched.

And I used a fat quarter bundle to give myself a variety pack there of colors.

Which would be a good way.

You could also use, if you've got a nice, scrappy, stash would also work.

The solids are really pretty, but I can see it with scrappy prints too - Yeah.

- being really fun.

And, you know, for a long time I didn't play in solids very often, but I've been having more and more fun in the solids world.

All right.

You're again going to sew from corner to corner of that, darker hot pink unit.

I'm always amazed by how many shades of color Oh my goodness.

- you can get in solids now.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's like it is amazing.

Like over 300.

It's - Right.

- It's kind of wild.

- It's amazing.

- Yeah.

So if you need one that has a certain tonality, you can certainly find it.

There you go.

All right.

And so this one I'm just going to, cut a quarter of an inch away and we will have this unit done.

And the block itself goes together.

There's four quadrants that spin around the center.

So just follow the pattern.

It'll tell you how many of these you need to make.

But you're going to need a few.

So you're going to need, a shorter one and then you're going to need a taller one.

So it's going to be very similar where you take that, pink rectangle and you put your white and your hot pink and I've already sewn this, and you'll cut a quarter inch away, just like we did.

And this is the unit you're going to wind up with.

So do notice that.

It's the opposite.

- It's the opposite, right.

And one's taller.

So really labeling your pieces and being very careful about your organization here will help you a great deal.

I think that I would make all of the short units all at once.

- Yes.

And then make all of the long units all at once so that I don't mix up my direction.

- Yes.

This feels like a key place to make mistakes.

Yeah, yeah.

Now for the center of the flower we're going to take, a little green unit here, and we're going to put this is more flippy corner fun.

So we're going to put a pink, little square all the way around.

So you're going to sew on the diagonal again.

And we're going to do all four corners.

And that'll give us like a snowball effect.

In the center.

And she's got two different greens that are really doing a lot of, supporting, costar work here.

On the quilt itself.

So they're similar.

They aren't.

There is an a large contrast between, the two greens that she's got in the quilt.

It's a subtle Irish chain.

So there's one side, we'll go ahead and we'll put these two on, and then we'll trim everybody up.

- Okay.

Sew a little snowball action there.

It's a sweet little snowball.

It's an interesting way to make the center of that flower - Yeah.

- Almost like a star different type of star.

- Well and you'll see it kind of It does make a star.

Yeah.

It does make a star.

And I would also say that since these, little squares that you're doing are so small, this is an opportunity when you, go to cut your yardage before you cut your yardage, I would want you to starch well.

So prepare that fabric because it's such a little pieces, a little bit better hand on it is going to improve your accuracy a whole bunch.

- Right.

and label, label, label your pieces I would assume.

Yeah.

- Lots of different sizes here.

Okay.

So we're just going to trim this up.

So I'm going to just cut a quarter inch away on all four corners.

And because these corners don't overlap you can sew all four on before you have to press.

So you could start to do this in assembly line fashion as long as you kept you know who's you know which color pink or which color yellow or whatever your wild flower blossoms are.

This would also be super sweet and like a little calico, little small motifs as well.

- Sure.

Yeah.

All right.

And then I'm just going to press those corners out and we'll, we will have the center, of our flower.

All right.

So there's our little center.

I'm just going to set him aside for now.

Because this is one of the little triangle units that's that I was talking about.

That's a little bit different, than what you might see.

So it's going to go together like that.

So the first thing to go together would be this rectangle with that, triangle.

And so you're going to line up that right angle together and sew down.

And so you have a choice of how it's going to fit into the machine.

You could feed it in this way, but you've got that little tiny tip of a triangle underneath.

So what about you Sara?

I would I would feed it into the machine more like that direction.

Is that how you would do it?

Definitely, because there's a lot more for the feed dogs to grab.

I also love to use a straight stitch plate for something like this, where you've just got that little single hole opening, so not as much opportunity for the needle to grab those fabrics and pull them on down.

And if you haven't played with, a single, single hole needle plate, it really does make a very big difference.

- Yeah.

Just remember, it's a single hole needle plate, so don't go changing your stitches and changing your needle position.

Yeah.

That's right.

You'll have a broken needle and that's no fun.

- Yeah.

Some machines will yell at you and say, oh, honey, - Right.

you're about to make a terrible decision, but most machines will just be like, okay, okay, so here, this one now goes on this way.

And again, I'm just going to line up those right angles and we'll feed it through the machine in that direction.

And of course that that feeling, you know, where your stomach kind of bottoms out when you break a needle.

It's it's like scary and sad all at the same time.

I always feel that when my needle breaks, I'm thankful because it means that it was dull or tired or just not the right needle for the job, and it was time to change it.

So I always giggle because I feel like needles are the things that as sewers were the cheapest about.

Like, - Yeah.

You try to not change that needle and they're the least expensive part of what we do.

So how often do you change your needle?

Well, I generally wait until it tells me it needs change.

So they say, you know, eight hours ish, but like ticking sound skip stitches, thunking.

I can kind of tell when it's when it's due.

I'm going to trim right along that white triangle.

So you said when it tells you you're talking about the needle itself and does something different.

- Correct?

Okay.

- It behaves differently.

It sews differently.

And I don't know about you, but like you get to know the sound of your machine and how things should sound when you sew a lot.

I think, and the needle is one of those indicators, and a lot of times people will get frustrated and think there's something wrong with their machine, when really it's just time to change the needle.

Yeah.

- Skipped stitches.

That's a real big sign.

- That is a big sign.

Okay, so the next unit that we're going to make it looks like this.

So we're going to put on that triangle.

No wait a minute.

Ooh my little brain.

Yep.

There you go.

That way.

And that way okay.

It's always good to have a little picture okay I'm going - Sure.

- to lay this over and send that to you.

When you're machine quilting, you can tell if you need a new needle because a lot of times you'll see the batting get pulled to the backside.

That's a sign of a dull needle.

And then it makes that pop pop, pop pop - Right.

sound that you're talking about.

I mean, - Yep.

- it's it's they're not expensive.

So fresh project fresh needle.

- This is your reminder.

If you haven't done in a while, just change your needle.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

And I will also say that I've had some friends lately who, bought their needles, from a big box store online, and they weren't.

They were like, not the right size, and they were going down too far into their bobbin area and they were having terrible stitches, and we couldn't figure out what the heck was going on.

And once we put on, a different needle, just that one little change, everything changed.

Oh, goodness there.

- So they were too long.

They were too long.

Yeah.

Yeah, they were just counterfeit needles.

They weren't made to a standard.

So if the needle is not a brand you know and trust, then just, you know, have your antennas up.

If something sounds weird, it could be you just need to put a different needle in.

Just go to your local shop that, you know, provides good service and good education.

Yeah.

- That's how I feel.

They're going to have the needle.

That you have what you need.

- Yeah.

And the advice to help you pick the right needle, - Yeah.

because there are so many different kinds of needles - Yeah.

- out there.

When you piece what kind of needle do you like to piece with?

I always piece with a microtex needle.

- Me too.

They're so sharp and pointy, and if I'm trying to get my perfect points, especially on triangles like what we've got on here, we've got so many layers going together, it just sinks through all those layers precisely without kind of cheating over to the side and finding an easier place to land.

So we're going to put these together, and I'm just going to go ahead and get those dog ears kind of out of our way.

So I'm just going to roll the rotary cutter to get it out of the far way.

And I'm going to line up kind of the centers of these.

So again my right angles right there.

And so they're just a little bit oversize.

And we'll we'll just turn that down here.

Well I think it's kind of neat to look at here too.

When you trimmed that.

You did not.

You went straight off from the white edge.

You didn't go to the points.

And that's what gives us that extra quarter inch for the seam allowance.

You've got a little engineered corner there.

- Yes.

Worked right into the pattern.

- Yeah.

Yeah I like microtex needles a whole bunch.

It's it's fascinating how many needles there are on the planet.

Like the way that they can take a piece of wire and create an all these different kinds of needles.

It's just fascinating.

I got to see, a show that showed how the needles were made.

It went right inside of the needle factory, and it really was fascinating to see how those come off of line.

- Yeah.

And I will say, if you don't have a single hole needle plate, one thing you could do is you could have a little piece of fabric that you sent through your machine first before you send in those tippy tips of the triangles.

And that'll just kind of hold the thread in place to give you the time.

Then to get the rest of the fabric under the feed dogs so that it will, go through correctly.

All right.

So I'm just going to warm that seam up and press it.

And this is a place where, you might use, if you've got, a little pen that has some softener in it, it would just there's so many seams coming together right there to help those lay down.

It could also be a place where you choose to like to press that open.

- Yeah.

Just there's a lot there's a lot happening right there.

Okay.

So believe it or not, we are ready to sew together one of the quadrants, - Wonderful.

so I'm just going to pull over.

I've got some here finished.

So this is the quadrant that we're after okay.

So we've got our tall rectangle.

We have our little rectangle.

We have this unit that we just did.

So the first thing is we're going to put these together.

Okay.

And I have a friend when she sends through a piece of fabric at the beginning of each line of stitching, she's been smart enough that she's cut like her excess.

You know how you get the end of the yardage, and you've got a little bit of strip leftover from your project, and you're not going to use it in your project, but also it's good fabric.

So she takes and cuts that little extra bit into 2.5in strips and then 2.5in squares.

There you go.

- And then since those through.

You could be piecing one quilt at the same time as piecing a second quilt.

That's exactly right.

That's fun.

- That's exactly right.

I have another friend.

She goes around when we sew like and, in a group setting and she will, go through the trash and takes everybody's scraps out, and then we'll sew a quilt from everybodys scraps that she'll bring to the next the next retreat.

- Oh, that's a sweet idea.

- Yeah.

Does she then, like, raffle it off or something?

For all the retreat goers?

No we all look at these little tiny pieces and go, you have fun, Mary.

- Nice work.

You have fun.

Yeah.

I'm glad you're enjoying this.

Yeah.

That's cute.

- Okay, so there's that one.

Now, we will need to put a little white, rectangle on this side.

- Okay.

So I'm gonna play that down there.

It's.

And that through.

Yep.

There's one in every crowd that's got the patience to grab all those little bits.

Oh, but when you see it though - And make them into a magical things.

- When you see those post, postage stamp quilts that are made out of little one inch squares.

- They're incredible.

And it's all scrappy, it is incredible.

Yeah, yeah, it's beautiful.

But then I go, man, I don't know.

I don't know Mary.

Yeah.

- She laughed.

One day the time will come where we have more patience for things like that.

- Yeah.

- Or more time.

Yeah, yeah.

- The kids keep us busy.

Stuff like that.

They do.

Yeah.

My daughter is getting married soon, and so we are in the, wedding mode, so I don't have a whole lot of time for anything.

- Right.

Right now.

Okay, so there is that piece, and then we need one more.

And this is just a rectangle, a white rectangle with a, green square on it.

Okay.

- And notice the green matches the green.

So like I said, she has two different greens in here.

So just pay attention.

And that's our little, hat on there.

And if I have been thinking, I would have pressed these in the opposite way so that they nest, but we can kind of force it to happen here.

And if you mush the finger on there, you'll hold it down long enough and it'll behave.

It's such a different, subtle difference between the two greens.

You do want to be careful of that, I'm sure.

Yeah, well, and I like that it doesn't have strong contrast between the greens, too.

I do too, the subtle movement throughout the quilt.

It really makes the flower stand out, I think better.

Well and it's kind of like nature.

Right.

So you've got, you know, one side of a leaf and the other side of the leaf and it's not the same green.

So as the wind moves that leaf, it gives you a different color on each side.

- Right.

- Yeah.

There you go.

- Okay.

All right.

So we are almost to this quadrant.

We have one more little piece to put on.

All right.

So this is the last one.

It goes on that side.

- Okay.

And line it up.

Yeah.

So my daughter she is going she's decided it's an outdoor wedding in Kentucky in the fall.

So it could be blazing hot.

It could be super chilly.

So she has requested, like, every quilt that, I've ever made and every quilt, like, in the, you know, radius of of the town that I can borrow from friends.

She wants the whole, ceremony to have people where they can pick up a quilt if they're cold.

And snuggle, for the ceremony.

That's the perfect idea.

With a quilter mama.

Well, if you need any extra quilts, let me know.

I've got a few I could share.

- Oh, good.

I do think.

Can't you just see that picture though.

I love that idea.

Everybody wrapped up in a quilt.

So I am hoping it's a very cold day.

I know she doesn't want it to be a super cold day, but I am kind.

Of hoping there's a little chill in the air, because that picture of her Walking down the aisle with everybody with quilts, I think that'll be that'll be pretty cool.

My daughter plays soccer and some of my favorite quilt pictures are like the quilts in the wild at the soccer games.

Quilts in the wild.

Everybody's always happy.

I have time that mom's got a couple of quilts to throw on the girls.

All right, so let's lay this out.

So there's our center that we made.

There's that one.

And I'm just watching these, dark greens because that one's going to go there.

And this one is going to go here.

- There it is.

So partial seam.

So the first thing that we're going to do is we're going to sew the center of the flower to this unit.

And we're going to start like in the middle of that flower unit and head towards this edge.

Over here.

- Okay.

How do you want to put that in there?

I think I'm actually going to start on the square corner and then stop.

- and just stop halfway through if that's okay.

Yeah, yeah, Yeah Recently my daughter came home too, and, my cousin is expecting, so my first cousin, her second cousin, but basically, like a sister to her.

And, she was like, mom, I'm coming home and we're going to make a quilt.

And I'm like, yes, and I'm going to drop everything, because when your daughter says, I'm coming home and I'm making a quilt, you're totally dropping everything to do that.

That's right.

All right.

That'll be fun.

So how much did you already do this or not yet?

- Yeah, yeah.

We did.

It was, just a little hearts, and then we had everybody, put their name on the hearts at the, at the shower.

Okay.

So you sewed from the middle to the edge, and I just pressed only that little half there.

Okay.

And now that's going to give us the room to put this Quadrant on.

- Sneak that piece on there.

To sneak it on.

Yep.

So line that up.

Put it through.

- Okay.

And so I just got fabric markers and, I had fabric out so they could kind of test signing their name on a piece of fabric that wasn't the patch.

And then when they came to put their name on the heart, to, you know, kind of tell.

Know how the pen writes.

-Know how the pen writes.

Yeah.

- Exactly.

And, put some, freezer paper behind them as well to give the fabric a little bit of oomph, - Nice.

To help them sign.

But, yeah, just little hearts with their names on it.

Was there anything you had to do to set the ink so that it'll stay with washing?

We're going to hit it with an iron to set it.

Yep.

- Nice.

There we go.

- So she hasn't talked about, what if she wants to do something similar?

For her, like, reception, you know, instead of a reception book, have people sign a quilt.

I think you should just plan on it.

Yeah, I don't know.

With my daughter.

It's got to be - Ah that's true.

- It's got to be approved.

Got to be approved.

- Yep.

Yep.

Okay, this one goes on this way.

- Okay.

All right.

Yeah, she she definitely.

She has a whole a whole agenda of how everything's going to flow.

So.

- I'm sure.

- I just have to show up and smile and, support her.

Just be excited and happy and enjoy the day.

Yeah.

Well, yeah.

My first kiddo.

- Nice that there's not much pressure on you then.

- First kiddo to get.

Yeah.

- Oh, she'll have everything.

Everything organized.

That's awesome.

Organized.

Like her mama.

Yeah.

There we go.

- All right.

And so we're ready.

Now here comes the fun part.

For that last seam.

And I'm just going to give it a little press.

And there's a lot of pieces here.

So this is where I would use that pen that we've talked about that has a little softener in it just to help everything lay flat just because there's a lot going on okay.

I very often well use the spray also.

- Just spray.

- As I go.

Yeah okay.

So we're going to ignore that little bit.

We're just doing this bit right here.

And that is going to get us to the point where we can.

So we might want to pull that out of the way just so that he doesn't get sucked in to the action there.

Yeah.

I'm actually going to start on that side just to keep it out of the way.

- Yeah.

And, partial seams.

I don't know.

They're they're kind of a showy thing to do, but they're totally not hard.

Not hard.

And it allows you some really interesting shapes without difficult sewing.

It does.

So I think.

This would be really sweet and like some little calicos.

Very pretty.

- Yeah.

- Or dots.

Dot all dots.

It would be fun in all dots.

Okay, so there's that last one.

Let's just hit it really quick and then we'll do that last little seam and.

There you go Sara.

Okay the exciting conclusion.

Yeah.

- I'm going to start where - Where you stopped.

I stopped that partial seam just so they don't end up with any sort of a buckle or a ripple.

And drop that needle down and just go slow.

It'll all work out.

But do try this even, you.

Know, sometimes.

You might see a quilt.

You go, I don't really want to do the whole thing.

Just do a block.

And make, a pillow out of it.

It's a really great learning opportunity.

And it'll look really beautiful on the couch, too.

And it's so cute and trendy right now to take that one block and put it onto a sweatshirt or something, just, or the back of a denim jacket, and you can have the satisfaction of the block without doing the quilt.

- For sure.

And then you might decide that you do want to do the whole quilt.

- You might do the whole quilt.

Not so scary after all.

So there's the block and the cute.

- It's beautiful.

I love it.

- Okay, the second block is an Irish chain, so let's just take a look at how it goes together.

So you've got your, checkerboard in the center.

You would put a white strip on each side - Yep.

and then you've got your side unit.

So those are white triangles with the green.

Just notice your greens right.

So you've got your your your greens your lighter greens that kind of march through your Irish chain and your darker greens going this way.

So just really follow the pattern, follow the placement.

It'll tell you how to put all this together.

So you're going to put those two sides on, then those two.

Then these.

- Kind of goes together like a courthouse steps block.

Exactly.

- Pretty simple.

- Exactly.

And sometimes it kind of fakes you because you sit here and you're like, oh, that's not the right length, but it's because you haven't put the seams in.

You havent sewn it yet.

Yeah.

So you kind of build this out just like you would.

And a courthouse steps.

So you do these two sides, then those two sides and these two sides and those two sides, and you have your Irish chain.

Now, there's something really special in that border that I think is worth showing.

Yeah.

So the side triangle to put this on point, you've got kind of an interesting little unit.

And of course follow the directions that'll tell you how to line it up on your ruler.

And this is where you are going to pop one of those.

It's the same way we just did with the green.

You're going to pop one of those on the edge.

And one of the things that I would do is probably, you know, fold this in half and finger press, you know, where the middle of that seam at that unit is.

And then just line that up because it will kind of hang off the edge on each side and then go ahead.

And sew that so there are side triangles.

There's also corner setting triangles.

So just watch what you're doing but play with this wildflower blossom block.

Super fun and absolutely adorable too.

And this little triangle block here actually pulls a lot of weight because it carries that chain out - Yes.

- to the edges of the quilt.

It does.

Yeah.

- That way you don't lose it at the end.

Don't you love the irish chain.

That's such a hard working block, but it really does add the lattice and the whole structure to that quilt.

Pretty cool.

And there's our border block.

- There it is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- Beautiful.

Love this quilt.

Wild Flower Blossoms.

Grab a pencil tips and other useful information.

Coming up next.

Okay.

Another Michigander here.

- Oh good.

We've got Christine Sordo from kind of my neck of the woods.

She says she's been sewing since she was eight years old and learned to make clothes for her dolls on a treadle machine.

Interestingly, I did too.

My mom taught me - Yeah.

- when I was four with a treadle making doll doll blankets.

I've got a rolling five sided drawer for my sewing supplies, and I found that hanging hooks on the side is a great way to store my rulers.

And so she added a little extra tape to the side and it comes in very handy.

She says, you two ladies make it so fun and easy - Oh good.

to learn new ways to quilt.

And I'm a devoted sewing fan.

- Oh, nice.

This one is very clever.

Okay, this is from, We get to start on the backside here, Sara.

- Got a little tour.

So this is from, Becky Piet from Rothschild, Wisconsin.

She says, Dear Sara and Angela, last year when I was faced with appliquéing 209 leaves and 58 multi petal flowers on a quilt board border, I came up with this method for making smooth finished edge appliqués.

My husband and I love watching your show.

He even knows about flippy corners and strip sets.

- He's a keeper.

Yeah.

So you, trace this?

The shape onto the back of the cloth template, and then you sew a piece of the fabric, to that shape, and then you can, trim it out and fold it under around the shape, spray it with starch, press the allowance along the stitching and then remove that stitching.

And you have a tidy turned under appliqué ready to go to sew onto your project.

You could even use water soluble thread and then it'd be super easy to remove it.

- Very nice.

Great idea!

Thanks so much for sharing your tips.

It's always good to sit around the tips table and learn from you.

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