How to Sew the Traditional Mystery Flower Garden Quilt Block

So today let's learn how to piece the traditional quilt block called Mystery Flower Garden. The block is fairly easy to sew with only two basic units - an Hourglass unit and a Half-Square Triangle unit that is done a bit differently. Let's get started!

The block is attributed to Aunt Martha Studios. Aunt Martha Studios has an interesting history starting back in the early 1930's as the Colonial Readicut Quilt Block Company. Now they were ahead of their time as Colonial Readicut made precut quilt blocks and patches! The company has evolved to what is now Colonial Patterns - an American, family-owned business. You can read more about Aunt Martha Studios at https://colonialpatterns.com/about-us/.

Fabric Requirements for a 12" Finished Mystery Flower Garden Quilt Block:

• Light/Ivory: 4 - 5.5" squares, and 1 - 4.5" square
• Medium 1/Light Aqua: 1 - 5.5" square
• Medium 2/Dark Aqua: 2 - 5.5" squares
• Dark/Brown: 1 - 5.5" square

Sewing Directions:

Hourglass (or Quarter-Square Triangle) Units:

Step 1:

Using two of the Light/Ivory 5.5" squares and the two Medium 2/Dark Aqua 5.5" squares, make four Hourglass units. You can find my tutorial for making an Hourglass block at: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-hourglass-or-quarter-square-triangle-block. Trim units to 4.5" square.

Half-Square Triangle Units:

Step 2:

Using the Medium 1/Light Aqua 5.5" square and the Dark/Brown 5.5" square, make two Half-Square Triangle units. My tutorial for making Half-Square Triangle blocks is at: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-half-square-triangle-block. Do not trim or square up these units. Mark a diagonal line perpendicular to the seam line as shown in the picture below.

Corner Units:

Step 3:

Match up one of the Step 2 Half-Square Triangle units with one of the remaining Light/Ivory 5.5" squares. The Half-Square Triangle unit will be smaller than the Light/Ivory square but that's okay as you will trim this unit up in a later step. Sew 1/4" from both sides of the marked line as shown in the photo below.

Step 4:

Cut on the marked line as shown below.

Step 5:

Open up the two units to reveal this mash up of a Half-Square Triangle and a Quarter-Square Triangle unit as shown in the picture below. Note that these units are mirror images of each other.

Step 6:

And press the seam allowance toward the Light/Ivory triangle as shown in the photo below.

Step 7:

Repeat Steps 5 & 6 for a total of 4 of these Corner units. Trim/square up the units to 4.5" square as shown in the picture below.

Putting It All Together:

Step 8:

Lay out the Hourglass units, the Corner units, and the Light/Ivory 4.5" square in a typical Nine Patch layout as shown in the picture below. 

Step 9:

Now you can sew the units together into three rows as shown below, and...

Step 10:

Press the seam allowances away from the Hourglass units as shown in the picture below.

Step 11:

Sew the the three rows together as shown in the picture below. You're all done except for...

Step 12:

Pressing the seam allowances toward the center of the Mystery Flower Garden block as shown below. That wasn't very difficult!

Conclusion:

This was a fun little block to make. Not very hard and I especially liked that the mirror images of the Corner unit were used so that there weren't "bonus" units left over. I encourage you to give this Mystery Flower Garden quilt block a try!

If you like this tutorial and want to see more as they come out, simply click HERE to sign up for my newsletter plus receive a free PDF pattern called "Chained Weathervane".

Happy Quilting!

Elaine