March 1st is still a few days away, but I want to post Block 10 before the beginning of the month. My husband, Paul,  and I are off to England and Amsterdam on March 3 for 10 days, so I am eager to ship Block 10 out before we leave.  All orders received after March 3 will be shipped when I get back home.  All 10 blocks of “Bed of Roses” are available on my website Simple Bird Studio.  

This month’s block consists of 2 identical blocks, which are fairly easy.  I haven’t stitched my blocks yet (the pieces are glued in place).  I am going to take these blocks with me on our trip. It’s not that I think I will have lots of free time to stitch.  Quite the contrary!   Its just that I get really antsy when I do not have a needle and thread in my hand. I am sure most of you can relate!!

It made sense to prep both blocks at the same time, so that is what I did.  First, I marked the pattern onto the background with a water soluble marker.  Then I made some 1/4″ bias for the stems and glued them in place.  You can see how I make my bias strips here.

Next, I added the leaves. Because all of the shapes in this block are symmetrical, I photocopied the pattern pieces onto freezer paper to make my templates.

So, next I added this cute little flower.  I find it very helpful to draw the seam allowance onto the piece of fabric.  It just makes it so much easier to line up multiple pieces.  You can read more about this technique here.

Notice when I clip the inside curve I don’t clip all the way to the freezer paper.

Looking good!

As I mentioned, both blocks are the same, but the pink fabrics are not the same, so read the pattern carefully!

The way this next centre part is put together is very slick!  First, cut the entire freezer paper template out, but keep it as one piece.

Since the outer ring is pink (R1) I will prep it first.  I iron it onto the back of the fabric and use liquid starch and a mini iron to press the seam allowance over the template.

Ok, once I prepped the pink section, I removed the freezer paper template and cut the first section off.  I am using this same template for all the pieces in this section, just like I did in my last post.

Next, I prepped the yellow section (Y1).

I traced the 4 leaf shapes onto the yellow fabric and then glued the yellow section on top of the pink section.

Next, I prepped the 4 leaf shapes, but, as you can see, I only prepped one side of the leaf, and left the other side a raw edge. I also drew the seam allowance on.  See how easy it is to line the pieces up?

Hang in there….we are almost finished!  I cut the next section from the freezer paper template and prepped it.

First, I prepped the outside edge.

Then I trimmed the middle section out and prepped it.

I removed the freezer paper, which was not nearly as scary as you might think….

…and voila!

Slick!

I am happy to report I have all 9 blocks of Trail Mix finished and stitched together.

I still can’t believe how nicely everything matched up!

Til next time….

Kerry