Summer Garden: December Flying Squares Block
- vafibrearts
- Dec 6, 2022
- 5 min read
Hello Friends and Welcome Back!
November passed in a flurry of flying geese units, and though it took a lot of trimming, each and every Wild Goose Chase block I've seen has come together beautifully!
I hope all of you have been enjoying this pattern as much as I have, because the next block is here! For the month of December, we will be making the Flying Squares block; a simple and super beginner friendly block that uses squares and rectangles. There is one special twist though, each block will use one partial seam!
Despite that twist, Flying Squares is the easiest block we've made so far, which also means it's the fastest to put together. So Friends, let's get started!
Pattern Notes
Since it's been a month since the last block was released, here's a reminder of some of the basic information that will help this block come together smoothly:
The Summer Garden pattern uses a 1⁄4” seam allowance. It is recommended that you test your seam allowance on scrap fabric before jumping into the pattern. Some of the pieces used in this quilt are fairly small, so having consistently accurate seam allowances will help to keep your block at the right finished size.
Pressing seams as they are sewn will also help to keep the block accurate. I find pressing along the way also makes piecing a little easier since the fabric will stay nice and flat, without any weird creases to get in the way.
Note that the Flying Squares block does have a partial seam, so that seam will also only be partially pressed.
Making the Flying Squares Block
Follow the instructions below to continue making your Summer Garden quilt!
To make one Flying Squares block, cut the following:
From background fabric:
4x rectangles at 2 1⁄2" x 6 1⁄2"
From fabric A:
5x squares at 2 1⁄2"
From fabric B:
8x squares at 2 1⁄2"
To assemble the Flying Squares block:
Select five squares of fabric A and four squares of fabric B. Sew them together into an alternating 9-patch unit as shown below.
Set aside.
Select one square of fabric A and one background rectangle. Sew the square of fabric A to one of the short edges of the background rectangle as shown below.
Make 4.
To finish assembling the block, select one fabric A/background strip and the central 9-patch unit. Align the fabric A end of the strip with the corner of the 9-patch unit right sides together as shown below and sew only half way along the edge to create a partial seam.
Select a new fabric A/background strip and sew it to the next side of the 9-patch unit as shown below using a full seam.
Repeat on the remaining two sides.
Complete the partial seam to finish the block.
Trim the block to 10 1⁄2" square.
For a throw quilt, make 4.
For a twin quilt, make 9.
For a queen quilt, make 14.
The instructions above can be downloaded in PDF format here:
Summer Garden Flying Squares Block
In the original sample of this quilt pattern, I used a green background with additional accent fabrics in lighter and darker shades of green.
All of the blocks in the original Summer Garden sample quilt were inspired by the colours and shapes of my own garden in Summer. But while most of the other blocks were chosen to represent specific plants, the use of Flying Squares was inspired by the clustered crush of many plants growing closely together.
With so many different plants, there are comes a variety of leaf and petal shapes. The clustering and overlapping of them creates even more shapes in the fall of shadows and areas of light until there's a deep complexity of beautiful patterns and intricate shapes!
I can't even imagine how challenging it would be to accurately reflect that chaotic cacophony of shapes and colours in a quilt, so instead, I opted for a more simplistic approach.
The use of various shades of green reflected the fall of light and shadow, while the Flaying Squares motif—which combines a set of squares into a larger, more complex shape—was used to show the way the different clusters of plants create larger shapes together!
This combination of fabrics has less contrast than seen in previous months, which in the finished quilt will create resting places for the eye. Combining busy, high contrast blocks with quieter, low contrast blocks can help to even out a quilt and make it feel less chaotic and crowded.
To make your own Flying Squares block, you can use this combination of colours or embrace those seen in your own garden! Or for a more individual effect in your finished quilt, make up your own totally unique colour scheme! Check out the Fabric Requirements post from September for more details about starting your own Summer Garden quilt!
Garden of Cards Flying Squares Blocks
While following along with all of you, I've taken inspiration from the Queen of Hearts' rose garden from Alice in Wonderland.
If you've been keeping up with me, you'll know that this means I'm making a playing card version of each block in black and white, along with several coloured blocks that represent the rose garden itself!
For the playing card block, I used white for my background and fabric A, and black or fabric B. Doing this created a really interesting and beautiful checkerboard motif that I really love!
For the rose garden blocks, I'll be using a more complex mix of colours. For the background, I'll use my medium green, for fabric B, a dark green, and for fabric A, I've chosen to use a mix of white and red!
Unfortunately, this picture didn't come out with very accurate colours, it's very dark and the block is much brighter in person.
I really love how this first Flying Squares block turned out! The composition of colours looks almost like a bouquet, and by mixing different combinations of red-painted roses and natural white roses, each block will turn out totally unique!
I'm really excited to get together with my Mom in a few weeks to finish off my last few Flying Squares blocks!
To learn more about my colour selection process, check out my September Colour Selection post!
Friends, I have been having so much fun working on this BoM project with all of you! It has been amazing to see all of your unique colour schemes and fabric selections! Each of you has put your own special twist on this pattern and I can't wait to see more!
Please continue sharing your comments, questions, and concerns, I love hearing from you both in the comments below and by email! And don't forget to tag me when you share pictures of this project on Instagram @v.a.fibre.arts or by using #summergardenbom on other platforms!
There are five weeks until the release of the January block instructions next month, plenty of time to make your Flying Squares blocks! But don't worry if you fall behind, the block instructions will remain here for you to come back to another time!
And don't forget to visit me again on 10 January 2023 (wow, next year!) for the release of another new block!
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