The last two weeks have been unusually calm weather wise here for this time of year and I have an early case of spring fever! The days are warm and the nights are cool… So I'm completely in the mood to make a spring quilt for snuggling in my favorite chair. Perfect while I'm doing handwork or watching Downton Abbey:) My quilt will measure 60" x 80"… big enough to pull over my shoulders and keep my toes covered at the same time:) ...a perfect snuggly size! It's always fun to sew with friends… so I decided to have a sew along! Do you want to play? I announced my new Flower Box Sew Along on my Instagram last week and have started a #flowerboxsewalong hashtag so that others can share thier progress as well. If you are joining in on the fun… of course you can use any fabric you want. "you are the boss of your own quilt" ***I do recommend using several different colors. ***For each color use a few different prints. Doing this will ensure that each block doesn't end up looking the same because you've only used 4 colors. I wanted to use fabric in happy colors and a style that represents spring... So I chose to use my current fabric collection that's in quilt shops now... FLOWER PATCH There are 33 different prints in this collection… 21 come on the bolt and … And 12 of the prints come in FQ's … (it's a way I have chosen to "GROW" each of my fabric collections) These come in the form of fat quarter panels. (3 panels = 12 FQ's) I'm using 30 of my Flower Patch FQ's for the block colors… and using the 3 remaining prints that have a lot of white in them for my background, binding and back of my quilt. I'm using my favorite vintagey text print from the collection for the background in each block. I will need 3 yards of background fabric. This "queen bee" print will be the back of my quilt. I'll use 5 yards and will have some leftover to trim off of the sides:) This large floral will be my binding:) 5/8 yard needed. The block I am using is an old traditional one and I love it! I've named it "Flower Box" in honor of spring! My block finishes at 10"square. In the past… this has been a very hard block to piece because of the needed use of templates and cutting out all 12 pieces on the bias. But don't worry! I will be showing you my easy peasy no template method… YaY! Here are a few tools I am using for this sew along. They are of course not necessary but make the process a lot easier! 6 1/2" square ruler 5 1/2" square ruler 1/2" x 12" ruler Pink Circle Rotating Cutting Mat I got all of mine at Fat Quarter Shop. Of course I think that a good stack of my mini design boards are completely necessary!!! CLICK HERE for my tutorial if you haven't made any yet. I promise you will LOVE using them! So hurry into your sewing room… turn on some music… tie on your apron… put a new blade in your rotary cutter and lets get started! From EACH of 4 different prints; Cut 1- 6 1/2"square and Cut 2 - 3"squares From your background fabric; Cut 4 - 6 1/2" squares ***Take note that you have just cut for 2 - FLOWER BOX BLOCKS You will need to mark TWO lines onto the BACK of each 6 1/2" background square. The lines need to be 1/4" on each side of the center. Using this 1/2" wide ruler makes it easy. If you don't have one… you can just draw a line down the center (from point to point) and then mark a 1/4" line away from that center line on each side. I use a mechanical pencil for marking. Place onto one of your 6 1/2"square prints (with right sides together) and stitch directly onto your marked lines. Now cut them apart… in-between the two stitched lines like this. Leave them closed and place your 5 1/2" square ruler diagonal line on top of your stitched line and square up with your rotary cutter... Like this. This is where the turning mat comes in handy because you don't have to move your ruler … just the mat:) Open it up and press the seams open like this. Repeat for the other one as well. You now have 2 - half square triangle units that each measure 5 1/2" square. (Repeat process for the other three 6 1/2" colored squares and three background squares) Now mark a center line from point to point on the matching 3" square and place onto the corner of the background like this. Stitch directly on that line. Repeat for the remaining half square triangles:) Trim off excess 1/4" past your stitching line. Press seams open like this:) Next…lay four different color sections out like this and sew together. One cutie patootie Flower Box:) YaY! At this point your block should measure 10 1/2" x 10 1/2" And because you pressed your seams open… it will be easier to line up points and you blocks will lie flat too! This is what the back of my block looks like:) Don't forget to sew the other block! For my quilt I will be making 48 different Flower Box blocks. I'll sew them together in a 6 x 8 setting. No sashing…no borders. I told you this would be fun and easy! You can make your quilt any size you want… you could make 20 blocks in a 4 x 5 setting and it would be a perfect baby quilt size! ***NOTE*** Here is some Flower Box quilty math for you! ***From one 10" square; you can cut a 6 1/2" and two 3" squares ***From one F8th; You can cut two 6 1/2" squares and four - 3" squares ***From one FQ; You can cut four 6 1/2" squares and eight - 3" squares ***From a 6 1/2" x WOF strip (for your background) You can cut six - 6 1/2" squares So choose your fabric and sew with me! Follow me on Instagram to see my progress on this sew along as well as all of my others:) Have a quilty kind of day! xx Lori