Girl Next Door - Month 3 - Flower Block August 01 2020 1 Comment

IT IS A PREREQUISITE OF MAKING THIS BLOCK THAT YOU HAVE A COPY OF THE PATTERN GIRL NEXT DOOR BY LOUISE PAPAS FOR THE JEN KINGWELL DESIGN COLLECTIVE.

Charlotte (@Kirkenoll) here and for month 3, we are going to work on the corner flower blocks.

Since these colorful flowers will go together in no time, you may wish to begin selecting your fabric for next month when we tackle all 24 paper doll girls.  For the background fabric for the girl block pick various light to medium-light fabrics to alternate so the blocks don’t blend from block to another.  The dress, legs, skin and hair fabrics should contrast with the background fabric so each girl can be seen clearly.  You may also want to consider fabric that can be fussy cut for the dresses.

Each month, I will share the fabric we used on the original Red Thread Studio shop sample and then layout the cutting checklist.  I have also provided cutting tabs that you can download and print out.  These are useful to keep track of the various pieces used in this scrappy quilt.  At the end, I will also give some useful tips that I encountered when piecing the sample.

Feel free to comment here, on Instagram or in the Girl Next Door Quilt-Along Facebook group with any questions.  Don't forget to share your photos of your work in progress either on Instagram! Just use the hashtag #GirlNextDoorQAL.

Choose Your Fabric

We chose to keep the flower stems scrappy and used the 12 different green fabrics that were used in the Picket Fence block.  For the flowers, we used shades of pink, orange, yellow and blue to make these bright and cheerful monochrome flowers with a contrasting center.

Cutting Checklist - make four 6 ½” x 6 ½” blocks 

Flower Fabric - cut for four flower blocks

• 2 x T29 - use template - 1 ½  x  4 - petals
• 2 x T30 - 1 ½  x  1 ½  - petals
• 1 x T30 - 1 ½  x  1 ½  - flower center - might want to fussy cut

Stem Fabric - cut for four flower blocks

• 1 x T31 and 1 x T31 in reverse -  use template - 1  x  3
• 1 x T32 - 1  x  4

Background Fabric - white main background fabric - cut for four flower blocks

• 4 x T33 - 1 ⅝   x  1 ⅝  - cut on the diagonal to make two triangles
• 2 x T34 - use template* - 2 x 3 - one in reverse but no worries if using white solid
• 2 x T35 - use template* - 2 x 3 - one in reverse but no worries if using white solid

Cut 4 corners (T36, T37, 2xT38) bigger to make the block larger then trim down to exact size.

• 1 x T36 - 3  x  3  - cut on the diagonal to make two triangles ( use one for other flower)
• 1 x T37 - 4  x  4  - cut on the diagonal to make two triangles ( use one for other flower)
• 2 x T38 - 6  x  6  - cut on the diagonal to make two triangles 

* trace these pieces using a light box or up against sunny window if you wish

Flower Cutting Tabs 

If you wish you can cut up tabs and place with your cut fabric pieces.  See attached Cutting Tabs. 

Follow Pattern Assembly instructions to piece two flower blocks

• Scrappy cute! No matching required.
• Pay attention to flower corners and leaf fabric placement - a little tricky. Look at pictures carefully.
• Because of the diagonal leaf seams there might be some shadowing of the green fabric through the white background. Look for this and trim the green seam edge a bit if necessary.
• I made the 4 corners (T36, T37, 2xT38) bigger to piece block larger then cut down to exact size.
• When blocks are completely pieced give it a final press on a fluffy towel using just a little Magic Sizing to flatten all the seams nicely.
• Each flower block should measure 6 ½” square so trim to get that final perfect size to fit in corners.