April's Flower, Blue Hydrangea

Wow, this is a beautiful flower, and a challenge to me to make a pattern for you; but, I did it and you'll enjoy making it once you get the pattern.............I'll keep pictures on the blog going for you so you can follow the steps for completion.
Enjoy this one............I love it!

Flower Block with sashing sewn on

I have sewn all of the sashing onto all of the finished blocks. I did all of this by hand using the directions that are in the April 7th or 8th issue of the newspapers. The cornerstones will be added next in all 4 corners.

#4 illustration of a finished cornerstone!

When the three sections are sewn together, it should leave you with a 3 1/2" square cornerstone to be sewn onto the sashing at every intersection. Please notice that every intersection meets perfectly due to the use of the diagonal pinning as shown in #3.

#3 illustrates how to pin sections together

Pinning the cornerstone sections together is very important. "But" the seam allowances together and insert a pin beside the seamline on both sides, but TURN THE PIN INTO A DIAGONAL position as shown in the illustration. For some strange reason, doing this makes the seams stay together perfectly! This is a great trick to learn when machine piecing at intersections. The seams will match up every time! AMAZING!
Illustration #3

#2 step is to switch colors and sew strips for cornerstones

#2 step puts the light fabric on the outside edges of the strips. This will become the center section of the cornerstones.

Steps for Making Sashing and Cornerstones

Once you have cut 1 1/2" strips of dark fabric and light fabric for your sashing, proceed to sew them together in the method illustrated below in #1 illustration.

PINK FLOWERING DOGWOOD

This is the flower that I used for the patterns for Block #7: the State flower of North Carolina.