Bountiful Baskets Applique State Flowers

A few years ago I started making P3 Designs Bountiful Baskets, by Pearl P. Pereria. The basket blocks all had the same basket, but each basket contained a state flower that represented each state. The quilt also had one large center block and the basket blocks surrounded it. Well the whole quilt was way too large for me to want to make it, but I really liked the little state flowers in a basket. I didn't want to make all 50 blocks, so decided I would only make the blocks of flowers that I really liked the best and some of those blocks happened to be where I had lived or visited.

I made 16 blocks in total. I machine blanket stitched around the applique pieces and added some hand embroidery touches to each block. Then the blocks sat for a couple of years as I wasn't sure how to set it into a quilt. Recently I had an idea about making each block and backing it with another block so it would look like I had 8 blocks instead of 16, and hanging it like a mobile. I tried to hang them from a round ring, but that didn't work well as it was hard to get it balanced and when it moved all the strings just kept wrapping around one another. So I decided a bamboo rod would be better to hang them from. As they gently move, you can see the back side of each block. This is hanging in my bathroom across from my sink in front of a window. I really like it and since wall space is getting scarce, I needed to start hanging from the ceiling, lol!

I added a narrow inner border and recently decided on the outer border when I knew this is what I wanted to create. All the fabric that I used for the outer borders was fabric I had painted one day when I was playing around. They were 2 different painted fabrics I used and the colors were painted differently. The painted fabric looks so much better in smaller pieces like this.

Here are 8 of the blocks. The very last photo I have turned the blocks so the other 8 show. It was hard to photograph as a mobile without having the blocks moving around, so the wall kept them still for their photo shoot.

I am showing each block and then a closer look at each so you can see the machine and hand stitching. This is the Sego Lily from Utah.

Sunflower from Kansas. I just liked this flower, so I made it. I never lived there or visited, but I love sunflowers!

Oregon Grape Flower from Oregon. I lived in Portland, Oregon as a young child for a few years. My younger sister was born there. These also grew well in Washington and we had some there.

This is the California Poppy from California. I remember seeing lots of these growing wild as I grew up in California.

This is the Rhododendron from West Virginia. Never lived or visited there, but just liked this flower. Having lived in Washington, I saw lots of Rhodies.

This is the Wild Prairie Rose from North Dakota (as well as from Iowa). Never lived or visited either of these places, but I like the flower. Plus I have a friend who has the last name of Prairie.

The Black-Eyed Susan from Maryland. Never lived or visited here either, but I had a grandfather who was born in Maryland. I have a friend named Susan too, lol. Love these flowers.

This is the Yucca Flower from New Mexico where I have lived for the past 20 years.

The Hawthorn Flower from Missouri, my birth state.

This is another Wild Prairie Rose from Iowa. (I showed the one form North Dakota earlier above). 

This is the Violet from Rhode Island. New Jersey also has the Violet. I have been to NJ once, but never to RI. I like this flower.

This if the Columbine from Colorado. I have visited Colorado several times.

The Orange Blossom from Florida. I have never been to Florida, but growing up surrounded by orange groves in Southern California, I saw and smelled the wonderful sweet scent of the orange blossoms! All those orange groves slowly were made into housing developments, many while I lived there in the 60's.

This is the passion Flower from Tennessee. I simplified this applique by not adding a lot of hand embroidery in the center of the flower. So that is why it may not loo so much like the passion Flower. I have never been there before.

Apple Blossom from Arkansas. I have never been to Arkansas before, but have seen many apple blossoms when I lived in Washington.

The Coast Rhododendron from Washington, where I lived for 17 years and where both of my children were born. 

These are the flowers on the flip side of the ones in the very first photo.

On some of the white background fabric I had used a glow-in-the-dark fabric and since this is hanging in my bathroom, it acts like a night light with some of the backgrounds glowing.

Pin It Now!