Sew up this bird and dogwood blossom quilt block for a unique cover or wall hanging.
Materials
- Printable patterns, below
- Tracing paper and pencil
- Paper-backed fusible web
- 44-in.-wide100% cotton fabric: 1/8 yd. or scraps of brown small print for branch, beige small print for flower petals, light green small print for flower centers, dark green mottled print for leaves, light gray small solid, medium gray small print, dark gray solid, very dark green solid, black-on-black stripe, and black solid for birds
- 10-1/2-in. square of green stripe for background of block
- 10-1/2-in. square of quilt batting
- 10-1/2-in. square of backing fabric
- Six-strand embroidery floss—black, brown, cream, dark green, light green, dark gray, light gray and maroon
- Embroidery needle
- Rotary cutter and mat
- Quilter’s ruler
- Standard sewing supplies
Instructions
- Before beginning your quilt block, download and print the patterns.
- Wash all fabrics as many times as needed until rinse water runs clear. Dry and press all fabrics.
APPLIQUES:
- Trace each pattern piece onto tracing paper.
- Following manufacturer’s instructions, fuse paper-backed fusible web to wrong side of color of fabrics for each pattern piece as in photo.
- Pin pattern pieces to right side of fused fabrics and cut out each following pattern outline. Remove paper backing from each.
- See Stitch Chart for stitch illustrations. Refer to photo for placement.
Branch:
- Fuse branch to right side of background fabric.
- Separate brown six-strand floss and use two strands to blanket-stitch around edges of branch.
Birds:
- Fuse each bird piece to right side of block, starting with piece A and adding pieces B through G for the top bird, and pieces 1 through 6 for the bottom bird. Pieces will overlap as shown on patterns.
- Separate six-strand floss and use two strands of matching floss to blanket-stitch around fused pieces.
- Use two strands of black floss to add a French knot to each bird for eyes.
- Use one strand of white floss to add a French knot to the center of each eye.
- Use one strand of black floss and straight stitch to add a foot to bottom bird.
- Use two strands of gray floss and satin stitch to extend tail feather on bottom bird.
- Use two strands of gray floss and stem stitch to add inside design lines to tail of top bird.
Leaves and Flower Petals:
- Fuse leaves and flower petals to right side of block, overlapping pieces as shown.
- Separate green six-strand floss and use two strands to blanket-stitch around edges of each leaf.
- Use two strands of green floss and stem stitch to add a vein to each leaf where shown on patterns.
- Use two strands of cream floss to blanket-stitch around each petal.
- Use two strands of light green floss to blanket-stitch around flower centers and to add French knots to center of each.
- Use two strands of maroon floss straight stitch to add inside design lines to flower petals.
QUILTING:
- Center batting on top of backing and block on top of batting. Pin in place.
- With light green thread, echo-stitch around the outside of branch, leaves, flower petals and birds.
- With light green thread, quilt background as shown and quilt around block about 1 in. from outside edges.
- Trim completed block to a 10-in. square.
Quilt Block Craft Project originally sent in by Dorothy Bowling of Scottsburg, Indiana
