This charming flower shape made with hexagons is a common and favorite motif for quilters. Called "Grandmother's Flower Garden", it's one of the easiest and most recognizable shapes to make with hexagons (usually using the English paper piecing method), and there are so many varieties possible depending on fabric choice and placement. 

 

Did you know that you can do Grandmother's garden flowers 2 ways? 

For these appliques I used fusible leave-in templates by Hugs 'n' Kisses, but the traditional card method would work too. I first chose some prints from the lovely Blue Stitch line by Riley Blake Designs, then fused 1" hexagon papers to the back. I fused 7 for one flower, and 6 for another.

 

Next I cut them out with an approximate 1/4" allowance.

 

Then folded the edges over and glued them down. If you use craft glue like I did, make sure it is water soluble.

 

Once all the hexagons are glued, they can be assembled. You can either do it by hand or machine. I did mine by machine because that was fastest, but the stitches aren't as neat – I do prefer to assemble by hand. 

Assemble the 7 in a flower shape, and the 6 in a ring, leaving the center open.

 

The open ring method not only saves time, but allows for some fun customization. You can see here that it makes a good chance to do some variety in placement if you simply appliqué on a floral piece of fabric, which would be a super quick way to finish.

 

I decided instead to appliqué on a plain white piece, and freehand embroider the center instead, drawing inspiration from one of the prints in this fabric line.

 

I placed each appliqué on a center of a square of fabric and a square of cotton batting, appliquéing through both of those layers. You want to use the blind hem stitch on your machine, with the straight stitches right beside the EPP, and EPP caught with the swing over of the needle.

 

The solid flower can be just appliquéd around the edges and you're done. The ring flower needs to appliquéd in the center as well. It makes such a cute frame!

 

Next they can be trimmed to size – I did mine 7" square – and then placed against a piece of backing cut the same size and bound, just like any other quilt project. 

 

It's ok to not quilt through the backing since it's such a small project, but if you prefer to add more quilting that's up to you! It would look great with some big stitch quilting outlining the flower shape.

It's so fun how they coordinate perfectly yet are different. 

 

As you can tell, it would be a great scrap project to use up small pieces. And how sweet for a housewarming gift? 

 

I like the one with embroidery – it seemed fitting to use blue stitches to decorate a line called Blue Stitch. 🙂 You get the same overall look as the solid flower, but with less time and effort, plus a little more versatility for decoration. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial of how to make one of the favorite beginner EPP shapes two different ways! Of course you can use the appliqués on anything…quilt patches, bags, pillows, etc. The limits are endless.