Welcome!
I am excited to get this project going. This is the true “first week” of this quilt along. I will be using my DIY Design & Blocking Boards to design my flowers for this project. I am also using my stash of scraps for the flowers and leaves. During this quilt along I will be using a combination of the 6 inch and 12 inch blocks–However, I will be keeping each flower separate making each flower measure 3 1/2 or 6 1/2 (unfinished) inches. What’s really nice about the pattern is that the flowers can be kept separate from each other. I am going to keep mine apart so that when it comes to piecing my quilt together I can play around with the placement of the flowers to create a really nice flow of color and pattern.
Here is my first block design. This block actually uses LESS pieces! How fun is that? The triangles with the * are eliminated from the pattern for this flower.
My second block design uses the same pattern as the original. The difference here is the inside is a different color from the outside petals.
Design Board Flower #1 
Design Board Flower #2 
Partial Flower Blocks
I decided to step out of my comfort zone and use a colored pattern for my background. I love how this first flower looks like a pinwheel.
Finished Block #1 
Finished Block #2
This week I started by making the larger size. I typically start with the larger size when I am doing both patterns because smaller scraps are made when I trim my seams. I save those scraps to use on my smaller size blocks.
I pretty much save all of my scraps–even the teeny tiny pieces that typically go in the trash. Check out what I do with those scraps here.
Join in next week for blocks #3 and #4!
Start to bloom by choosing JOY–Julia
