Spring Daffodils, March Block of Month
Since March is my birthday month I looked for a block that represented birthdays. My first thought was “cake stand” but I also found “Happy Birthday”, “Birthday Cake” and “Birthday Parties”. Spring Daffodil is adapted from “Happy Birthday” as identified in Jinny Beyer’s book, The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns. Daffodils were always one of the first harbingers of spring growing up and a spring favorite of my mother’s. Also a favorite of mine but I’m just not much of a cultivator of flowers in the ground. I do love them large and bold in fabrics however!
This block was made using scraps from other projects so dig down in your stash and pick out your favorite spring blues or choose your own color palette.
Various blue prints: twelve 3 ½” x 6 ½” rectangles and four 3 ½” corner squares.
Dark blue: fat quarter (two 10” squares cut in half diagonally)
Neutral: ½ yard or 14” square
Scraps of yellows and greens for daffodil applique (my contribution to the block).
You can find simple line drawings online of daffodils or draw your own. If you leave me a note on the blog I can send you a pdf of the drawing I made and used for mine. You might also search through your patterns and books. I found it pretty easy to sketch the flower and then just added leaves.
Step 1: Use your favorite method to applique the daffodil to the neutral center square. I used a machine buttonhole stitch after fusing the raw edge applique to the background. Trim to 13 ¼” square.
Step 2: Sew dark blue half squares to each side of the applique center. Trim to 18 ½” square.
Step 3: Join three 3 ½” x 6 ½” rectangles and sew to either side of the center square. Join three rectangles and two corner squares for the top and bottom of the block.
Step 4: Layer, quilt, and bind.
I quilted a few snowflakes and added a few beads on the gray polka dot background as March blooming daffodils may experience some snow after peeking through on the south side of our house.
A very fast and simple project. Hope you enjoy trying this one in your favorite spring colors and favorite spring flower.