Wild Orchids Quilt

Fabric Requirements:

Notes:

• Finished Size: 51 1/2" x 71 1/2"
• All seam allowances are 1/4" unless noted.
• WOF = width of fabric
• LOF = length of fabric

Making the Orchid Blocks:

1. Following the manufacturer's instructions, fuse a piece of fusible adhesive onto the back of each 5 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece. The leaves will be the ten HB19 Olive, ten VW27 Sage and ten EM16 Lime. The remaining 15 pieces are the flowers. Fuse adhesive onto back of the 3" x 13" S42 Chocolate for the flower stems.
2. Place the flower placement drawing underneath a piece of the ivory background, making sure the corners of the fabric match the corners shown on the drawing. Do this on your ironing board so you can fuse the pieces when they are placed in the proper position.
3. Cut the 3" x 13" S42 Chocolate into 15 pieces for the flower stems. Using the Placement Diagram as a guide, put the stems on the background fabric and heat fuse in place.
4. Take two matching rectangles of leaf fabric. Peal off the backing paper. Place the pieces, wrong sides together, and run through the die-cutting machine with slim leaf die. You will have two sets of leaves, mirror images of each other. You might have to use a pin to carefully take two leaves apart. Using the Placement Diagram as a guide, put the leaves on the fabric to form one large leaf. Heat fuse in place. You will have two extra of each of the three smallest sizes of leaves. Put these aside and save for a later project. Repeat 14 more times.
5. Take two rectangles of the flower fabric, with paper removed and wrong sides together, and run through the die machine with the dogwood/rose die. You will have two separate flowers. Using the Placement Diagram as a guide, put the petals on the fabric and heat fuse in place. Repeat until all the blocks have flowers.
6. Using decorative thread, do some free motion embroidery on the leaves and petals to permanently hold them in place.

Adding the Sashing:

1. Use five of the DF62 Blue Strips to cut eighteen 9 1/2" x 1 1/2" pieces. Sew one of these Strips to the bottom of each of the Orchid blocks. Press.
2. Use the quilt photograph as a guide, arrange the blocks in three vertical rows. Sew together and press.
3. Add a 1 1/2" x 9 1/2" Strip of DF62 Blue to the top of each of the three rows. Press.
4. Sew the remaining 1 1/2" Strips of DF62 Blue together, in pairs, lengthwise. Trim each to 71 1/2" long.
5. Sew as 1 1/2" x 71 1/2" DF62 Blue to each side of the orchid blocks row. Repeat for the remaining two rows. Press.
6. Alternate sewing the orchid block rows with a 5" x 71 1/2" Strip of DF65 Brown. You will start and end with a Strip of DF65. Press.

Finishing:

1. Sew the two 1 5/8 yd pieces together along the selvedge edge to make the backing.
2. Layer the backing, batting and quilt top. Quilt by hand or machine, as desired.
3. Sew the binding strips together to form one long strip. Fold the binding in half, lengthwise, with wrong sides together and press.
4. Sew the raw edges of the binding to the edges of the right side of the quilt. Turn the folded edge of the binding to the back side of the quilt and stitch in place by hand, mitering the corners.

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  Piecing Diagram