I was super excited for this block. Violets are probably my favorite flower. They are small and humble but are super fragrant. They’re a large and pleasant olfactory surprise in a sweet small package. What is your favorite flower?
Block #22 ~ Violet
It must have been the air of spring which made Nancy choose the violet for the “V” block. She had considered using a vine, but decided that the violet was easier to make, prettier when finished and more interesting to Joan.
Occasionally Nancy’s husband would send her violets and Joan had seen the bunch she received on Valentine’s day, so she was familiar with the flower and identified it at once.
“Aha, I see now why you did not want to have a violet umbrella. You were afraid there would be too much like color in one spot on the quilt. I’m glad I followed your example and made my umbrella soft rose. It affords such a pleasing contact to this block.” These in general were the comments of the other quilt makers in the club.
For the flower Nancy chose a polka dot material in white with lavender dots. She was sure that this was fast color, since she had washed a dress made of this material many times in the past summer. One club member chose a soft plain violet fast color cotton. Another woman used a scrap of a fast color English print with an ecru ground and violet design.
The stem as green and the leaves were of a darker shade of green. One member who had no green left, chose deep purple for the leaves. And one member went modernistic and made her leaves of rose.
The pattern square was cut from the paper. Over it was laid a 6 1/2 inch square of white gingham. By holding these flat against the window pane it was possible to trace the pattern onto the cloth. A sharp-pointed lead pencil was best to use. Nancy told them not to trace the embroidery at the centre of the flower since that would be covered up on the white back-ground by the flower itself.
After the pattern was on the cloth the paper square was pasted on to a piece of light-weight card or tagboard and dried under pressure.
Nancy embroidered the letter “V” in fast color embroidery cotton in green, using fine outline stitch. The color chosen is determined by that used for previous letters and also by color of connecting strips which will put the alphabet blocks together in the finished quilt.
In cutting out the paper patterns Nancy called attention to the fact that both leaves were alike. That meant that only one had to be cut and that the stem could be cut in the one piece.
The stem is best cut from bias piece and should b twice as wide as finished pattern. The raw edges are folded back to meet on the under side and basted in place.
Two leaves are cut with a quarter-inch allowance on all sides. This is turned under and basted in place.
With the rounding edges of leaves and flower Nancy advised the members to cut tiny slits around the edge. By doing this the raw edge may be folded under and basted in place without puckering the edges.
After the pieces were basted and pressed they were appliqued with the fine slanting hemming stitches.
The centre of flower is embroidered in fast color yellow embroidery cotton and the straight line at base of stem is done in green. Use satin stitch for centre of flower, running stitch for stamens and outline stitch for base.
“nancy page quilt club, alphabet quilt, #22, violet” Newspapers.com, Edmonton Journal, March 24, 1930, https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal-nancy-page-quilt-club/126527168/
If you’d like to purchase all of the alphabet quilt blocks as a block-of-the-month-club, you can do that here. This is NOT an affiliate link.
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