riley blake designs | Night Quilter

Meticulous cutting is one of my favorite quilting past times, and with all of the new English Paper Piecing (EPP) patterns coming out, there’s ample opportunity for carefully cutting up fabric and piecing it back together in clever ways (widely known as fussy cutting, but read why I prefer “meticulous cutting” here). As soon as I saw Patty Young‘s new Flit and Bloom fabric line for Riley Blake Fabrics, I knew I wanted to create meticulously cut EPP masterpieces with it. From the fanciful hummingbirds and elegant peacocks, to the fact that there are both floral and geometric patterns in the line, there are SO many opportunities for pattern play.

Today I’m excited to be the first quilting stop on Patty’s Flit and Bloom Blog Tour, where I get to show you what I’ve been working on these past couple of months using her newest fabric line for Riley Blake Designs. Let’s just say there’s been some meticulous cutting madness in this house lately!

I began with one of my favorite EPP patterns, Moonstone by Giuseppe (aka @giucy_giuce). I built around the stunning Bloom Henna Blossom in Teal fabric as the center, adding flitting hummingbirds and flowers, some geometric fun to tie the colors together, and coy little pairs of peacocks dancing around the outer edges. I love how this block came together!

Aren’t these peacocks fun as they dance in pairs around the block?

While I was stitching my Moonstone block, Mathew (aka @misterdomestic)’s new Flowermania quilt EPP pattern arrived on my doorstep. You know I wasn’t going to just let it sit there!! So I dove in, meticulously cutting that same Bloom Henna Blossom in Teal fabric as the petals, showing how versatile this print is with fussy cutting.

I knew I wanted to incorporate the hummingbirds into this flower block, since hummingbirds and flowers go together like rock and roll, but couldn’t fit them onto any of the individual shapes. Then I realized that I could split the hummingbirds across two background fabrics and decided to go headfirst into meticulous cutting at its best.

I labeled the humming bird front-back pairs since the Flowermania block is pieced in such a way that they are only joined right at the end as the segments are stitched together. This fussy cutting feat was no easy task, I might add. From the careful cutting to make sure the hummingbird halves would seamlessly meet when stitched together, to basting the pieces *just* so, to then stitching it all together and having it meet perfectly around the green diamonds, this was a challenge. They are not all perfectly matched up, and I learned a few tricks along the way that I’ll keep in mind next time, but overall I’m happy with the outcome.

Some hummingbirds match perfectly, but even the imperfect ones are perfect in their own way. Hummingbirds are happily flitting around this Fowermania bloom, and it seems to me that it’s the perfect poster-child block for Flit and Bloom fabrics. Right!?

Finally, I started to dive into a Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses block, since what is EPP without Lucy Boston? I love how rotating the fabrics creates even more meticulously cut geometric fun, and I look forward to seeing how this block shapes up.

One of my favorite parts of planning with Lucy Boston blocks is in the outer pairs. I like to make a few “test pairs” with different fabrics and arrangements to see which ones I visually like best.

I love that Flit and Bloom has plenty of opportunity for mirror image fussy cutting, since those are my favorites–can you see why?

Which arrangement is your favorite?

I used Aurifil 50wt 2886-Light Avocado thread for all of my piecing, and with the varied colors in these fabrics, its light green color seemed to be the best choice for blending in. Between careful stitching and practicing the flat back stitch, the thread blends right in. I love Aurifil thread for hand stitching!

When I first began piecing these blocks, I was envisioning a sampler EPP pillow, but with the varying sizes of the blocks, I’m thinking I may opt for a table runner instead. That giant Flowermania bloom would make a fantastic centerpiece, wouldn’t it?

I hope I’ve inspired you with my meticulous cutting fun with Flit and Bloom fabrics! Fussy cutting opens a whole new world of design, and I encourage you to give it a try!

Giveaway

To help spread the fussy cutting Flit and Bloom love, I have a bundle of Flit and Bloom fabrics left over from my project that I am giving away to one lucky reader.

To enter the giveaway today, let me know what you would make with Flit and Bloom. Leave a comment and make sure I’m able to get ahold of you if you win. For an additional entry, leave another comment telling me how you follow Night Quilter (email list, instagram, facebook, twitter, blog follower, etc.).

This giveaway is open internationally. The giveaway will be open until Saturday, November 11, at 8pm eastern time when I’ll select the winner randomly with random.org. Giveaway is open to participants 18 years or older. This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Pamela!

Be sure to visit the rest of the stops on the Flit and Bloom Blog tour to see what everyone has made with this fun fabric:

Monday, Nov. 6th – Night Quilter <—YOU ARE HERE!
Tuesday, Nov. 7th – Winging It!/Hummingbird Highway
Wednesday, Nov. 8th – Blue Nickel Studios
Thursday, Nov. 9th – ReannaLily Designs
Friday, Nov. 10th – The Sewing Loft
Saturday, Nov. 11th – The Cloth Parcel

What would you make with Flit and Bloom?

For as much as I photograph and swoon over flowers, florals are foreign to my fabric stash. Last week, I built my stash with this fabric it rarely sees: florals. I bought in 1/4 yard cuts since it was the smallest possible cut at the local fabric store I visited, and I don’t typically use florals in my projects. I must say, though, I am happy with the floral fabrics I did find, and they are perfect for the project gift I have in mind.

This project is a surprise gift with a short deadline. I KNOW the recipient will love it, and I’m exciting to share details with you. But for now, I’ll just show off these fabrics.

I don’t know the full information for all of the fabrics, since I didn’t have a chance to write them all down, and I bought small enough cuts that the selvedges don’t all have the manufacturer/designer information present. Many of the fabrics are from the Grace fabric line by Mary McGuire for RJR Fabrics, which I love. I had to buy some of the Snug as a Bug (spiderwebs) fabric by Melly & Me for Riley Blake Designs, since how could I resist sneaking a spider web into the garden?! I also bought a couple of fabrics by Andover and Studio E, with two coordinating Cotton Couture (I think?) solids, one for sky and one for border.

fussy cutting plan — Planning my 2″ square assiduous cutting (okay… fussy cutting!), with the help of the 2.5″ square template I made.

As you may have guessed with the little hidden templates, I plan to fussy cut most of these to make a garden quilt wall hanging. Some of it will consist of 2″ squares on point (2.5″ unfinished), and some will consist of 1″ squares on point (1.5″ unfinished).