Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt #17 – Zinnia

Both the tulip block of last week and the zinnia of this week have been chosen for dual purposes. No grandmother’s garden would be complete without these two flowers and since they come in such varied colors the quilt club members had a chance to use up scraps of cloth left from other flowers. The zinnia of grandmother’s day was little more than a weed, but today they are large full fashioned and gorgeous ln their colorings. Tawny oranges, dulled purples, rose which has been grayed to a richness of dying embers are some of the colors in the zinnias of today. The club members decided to make the flowers using three tones of the same color ln each flower. That is, the outermost circle is the lightest, the next one is darker and the centre one is deepest. The deepest color is chosen for the one color of the bud.

The club realized that this was the last- flower of the quilt. They had sixteen flowers not counting the rose. That was to be repeated three times and put at each one of four corner blocks, making twenty blocks or baskets in all.

The members pasted pattern as given today on light weight tag board, dried under pressure. Then they cut out leaves, buds and stems. The flower Itself was left large until the first or outer petal had been cut. This extended from edge to very centre. In cutting this, as in cutting all the leaves the bud and petals, the quarter Inch allowance for turning under was made. When the first, or outer petal was cut the second one was cut from cloth. The third or inner part was left and used as a pattern.

The piece for stem was cut twice the width and edges turned back to meet, basted and pressed.

When all edges were turned the , pieces were pinned in place according to small insert In corner of pattern today, then the pieces were appliqued with fine slanting invisible hemming stitches. The outer petal, an entire circle with scalloped edges was appliqued first, the second one on top of that and then the centre or small one was put on last.

Edmonton Journal
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada23 Mar 1929, Sat  •  Page 41

Last Week: Tulip

Next Week: Bleeding Heart