Quilt Garden

As I worked on Samper Garden (previous post) my mind was thinking of other "gardens".  The first thing that popped into my mind was quilt block flowers.  I enjoy both quilting and cross stitch and like to find ways to insert quilts into cross stitch designs.  It's not as easy as it sounds.  At times I've thought and thought and not come up with anything so I jumped on the idea that came out of the blue.

The left quilt flower is the Windblown Square.  I've admired this pattern since the first time I saw it in a book and have wanted to use it somewhere.  It always looks as if it as about to start twirling.

The middle quilt flower is the Ohio Star and is one of my all time favorite quilt blocks.  It is a classic and not just because I was raised in Ohio.  Originally the 3 blocks where not touching but when I was drawing the pattern on the computer and cutting and pasting the blocks into position I discovered that they made an interesting pattern when placed next to each other.

The right quilt flower is Dutchmans Puzzle.  The main reason I picked it was because it balanced the Windblown Square.

Next challenge was the containers.  I made them a simple shape so that they could be filled in with simple quilt patterns.  I chose the black and brown overdyed thread to make the pattern subtle because the flowers are the stars.  The quilt patterns are half-squre triangles, a one patch and a 4 patch variation.

Like the quilt in the background?  It is made of 4 blocks I found in an antique store.  I added borders and sewed them together into a mini-quilt. It makes a great background.

Speaking of quilts, I would love to make a quilted version of this design.  I've had to keep myself from running to the quilt store looking for the perfect black/gray and brown fabrics for the containters.  I already have plenty of greens and flower colors.  Someday ...