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Citrus Grove - Meet the Quilt

Missy Winona

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Construction Type: Traditional Piecing

Recommended Sewing Level: Confident Beginner

Quilt Size(s): Baby, Throw, Twin and Queen

One of the things we really miss about Phoenix is the smell of the citrus trees.  It doesn’t matter which variety; citrus blossoms smell amazing.  Kimie had two orange trees in her backyard and her neighbor had a very large lemon tree that hung branches over the wall.  I had a little lime that was just starting to give me limes when we moved back to Utah.  The year would start off with not only fresh oranges, lemons and limes, but would bring the blossoms too.  Citrus trees have ripened fruit and blossoms on them at the same time.  The big white blossoms against the waxy green leaves are so pretty.  And did I mention the smell?

Citrus Grove brings us back to just hanging out by the citrus trees to grab a snack and a whiff of their scent.  Instead of white blossoms which don’t really pair well with a white background, we brought the colors of the fruit into the blossoms.  With a few blueberries and grapes just to add additional color and up the scrappiness of this quilt.  Each flower contains two different fabrics and uses drunkards path piecing to create the curves of the petals.  Waxy greens for the leaves help the colors of the petals pop. 

This fun scrappy quilt is a great way to use up lots of leftover fabric treasures.  It can also be made with solids or even just two fabrics to focus on your favorite citrus fruit.

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FAQs:

  • How do I make sure that my templates are the right size?
    • We include a 1” square on all of our templates. This way if you purchase a PDF version and need to print it out, you can ensure that it is the right size.  You’ll want to make sure that your printer doesn’t default to the fit to page setting that some do.  Print it at actual size and then double check that square.
  • What’s the best way to cut out the templates?
    • We use a different variety of methods, you might want to try a couple and determine which is best for you
      • Cut out the template and pin it to the fabric to cut out just like you would in garment sewing.
      • Cut out the template and trace it onto chip board. Then you can carefully cut around the chipboard with a rotary cutter.  I prefer to use the smaller blade ones for this.  This is the method I use for all of our quilts to start with.
      • Acrylic templates. This is by far the easiest method and we do offer them for some of our patterns.  Then you can use a rotary cutter to cut around them.
        • I also like to try to cut through more than one layer of fabric at a time and can do more using acrylic templates than I can using chipboard ones.
        • You can find acrylic templates for Citrus Grove here.
  • How do I keep my curves flat?
    • There are a couple of things that can help you keep your curves nice and flat
      • Starch – starching your fabric before cutting it can help keep it from stretching which can also help keep those curves flat.
      • Pressing – a really good press can sometimes be all you need to flatten out those curves. Adding a wool pressing mat and a clapper helps as well.
  • How do I wash my finished quilt?
    • The first time you wash your quilt you’ll want to include a color catcher. This will gather any dye residue and keep it from bleeding into other parts of your quilt.  We prefer to wash our quilts in cold water on a gentle cycle and line dry.  You can tumble dry your quilts if you prefer. 
  • What stitch should I use for binding?
    • We don’t use a special stitch for binding, just a regular strait stitch. We also use a stitch in the ditch foot to get the stitches as close to the edge of the binding as possible. But if you want to add a little design to your binding, you can use any decorative stitch.  If you don’t want any of your stitches to show, you have two options, you can either hand stitch your binding into place or sew it to the front and then stitch in the ditch to attach the back.

 

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Here is a list of our YouTube video tutorials that may be helpful as you put this quilt together.  There are many others as well so you might want to check out our channel and subscribe so you are notified when we upload new videos.

 

Color ways

We love to play with color and have provided you with a few different color ways to consider for this quilt.  We hope it helps inspire you to create your own version of our quilt.

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