flange | Simple Bird Applique

This past week I have been working away on the corner block that finishes off the third border on Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”. I get goosebumps just thinking about how close I am finishing this once-in-a-lifetime quilt!!

First, I traced the design on the background with a Clover water soluble blue marker. I always like to start with the vase.

Next, I added the base.

Next came the decorative oval and I knew I just had to use this gold swirly fabric.

I used this fabric already on this vase and I loved the effect it gave.

Something told me the red vase was lacking something, but what? The two fabrics have a lot of motion going on and I needed to separate the red and the gold swirly fabric. So I cut a freezer paper template just a little bigger than the gold swirly piece. Using this new template, I cut an oval out of the same gold I used on the base, placed it underneath and voila!

Once I was over that little hurdle, I was ready to start filling the vase!

I stitched the block to the border so that I could continue adding the flowers and leaves.

Since the right-hand side of the block is complete (and everything is stitched in place, I might add!), it is now time to add the border to the rest of the quilt. Now I can start to fill in the left-hand side of the block. So far, so good!

Still here? Good! Since I already had my sewing machine out, I decided to put the binding on my Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. First, I carefully trimmed the quilt so I had straight edges to work with. I am always a little nervous when putting my rotary cutter anywhere near my quilts! I always mark the line I am going to cut with my blue marker, just as an extra safety precaution.

I chose a bright orange polka dot for the flange. I cut the pieces 1″ wide and pressed them in half lengthwise. Then I stitched them to all 4 sides of the quilt. The folded edge is towards the middle and the raw edges are lined up with the edge of the quilt.

Next, I cut my binding strips, joined them into one long strip and pressed them in half lengthwise. I stitched the binding on as usual, on top of the orange flange.