Eva’s Garden Quilt Block Tutorial

Today let’s sew together an Eva’s Garden quilt block! The traditional coloring for this block is just two fabrics – a light and a dark – but, of course, I had to do my own thing and have four fabrics! There are a couple of different ways to construct this Eva’s Garden block and I’m going to show you how to do it in a nine-patch way. Let’s get started!

Fabric Requirements for a 12″ Finished Eva’s Garden Quilt Block:

Light/Ivory: 1 – 4.5″ square, 4 – 3″ squares, 20 – 2.5″ squares, and 8 – 1.5″ squares
Dark 1/Blue: 8 – 1.5″ squares
Dark 2/Green: 4 – 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles
Dark 3/Red: 4 – 3″ squares, and 4 – 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles

Sewing Directions:

Four Patch Units:

Step 1:

First off, you need to make four little Four Patch units using the 8 Light/Ivory 1.5″ squares and the Dark 1/Blue 1.5″ squares. You can find my Four Patch tutorial at https://quiltembroiderypdf.com/how-to-sew-a-basic-four-patch-quilt-block. If I were making a bunch of these blocks for a quilt, I would definitely use the strip piecing method for making these itty bitty units!

Half Square Triangle Units:

Step 2:

Using the four Light/Ivory 3″ squares and the four Dark 3/Red 3″ squares, sew together 8 Half Square Triangle units as shown in the picture below. My tutorial for making a Half Square Triangle block can be found at https://quiltembroiderypdf.com/how-to-sew-a-basic-half-square-triangle-block

Flying Geese Units:

Step 3:

Using 8 of the Light/Ivory 2.5″ squares and the four Dark 2/Green 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles, sew together four Flying Geese blocks as shown below. You can find my tutorial for making a Flying Geese block at https://quiltembroiderypdf.com/how-to-sew-a-basic-flying-geese-block

Step 4:

Now repeat Step 3 only using the four Dark 3/Red 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles instead of the green as shown in the picture below.

Step 5:

Pair up one Step 3 and one Step 4 Flying Geese block and sew together as shown in the picture below. Press the seam allowance toward the Dark 3/Red fabric. Repeat for a total of four Flying Geese units.

Corner Units:

Step 6:

This is a cute little unit! Lay out a Four Patch unit, two Half Square Triangle units, and one Light/Ivory 2.5″ square as shown in the picture below. You’ll be sewing them together just like a Four Patch block.

Step 7:

Now sew the four patches into two rows and press the seam allowances away from the Half Square Triangle units as shown in the picture below.

Step 8:

Sew the two rows together and press the seam allowance away from the Dark 1/Blue and Light/Ivory Four Patch unit as shown below. Repeat Steps 6 through 8 for a total of four Corner units.

Putting It All Together:

Step 9:

Lay out the Corner units, the Flying Geese units, and the Light/Ivory 4.5″ square as shown in the picture below.

Step 10:

Now you can sew the units together like a typical Nine Patch block. Sew the units into three rows as shown below and …

Step 11:

Press the seam allowances away from the Flying Geese units as you can see in the picture below.

Step 12:

Sew the three rows together and you’re done!

Step 13:

Except for the pressing! Press the seam allowances toward the center of the Eva’s Garden quilt block as shown in the picture below.

Layout Ideas:

Here’s the basic 4 x 4 layout using colors similar to the tutorial. While it looks a bit busy in this small illustration, I think a quilt would be quite stunning.

This example is the same layout as above but with narrow sashing and cornerstones added. The sashing would eliminate having to match points!

This is a monochromatic version with an alternating chain block. This layout also eliminates having to match points.

Here we also have an alternating design – this time with a large Hourglass block.

This example is a lovely on-point layout. Since the name of the block is Eva’s Garden, I thought flower applique blocks would be a nice touch.

And finally we have another on-point layout version using the chain block as an alternating block that extends out to the setting triangles. Kind of has a southwestern vibe to it.