The Poppy Quilt Block

It's currently November, which means the annual poppy campaign is under way and as a member of a Royal Canadian Legion pipe band, we're getting ready for the Remembrance Day parades.

The red poppy is a universal symbol of remembrance and sacrifice, worn to honor military members who have served and died in war. The tradition is rooted in the First World War, where bright red poppies were the first plants to grow in the churned-up, lime-rich soil of battlefields and mass graves across Flanders, Belgium and France, and were immortalized in the poem "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian military doctor and Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.

I've been wanting to create a poppy quilt block for a while, but it's a surprisingly tricky flower to create. I've finally managed it, so here's the Poppy quilt block pattern.

Scrappy quilt block

The Poppy quilt block is a 12" square (finished) quilt block that can be used for anything from a single block on a pillow or tote, to making a few for a table runner, to all the quilt sizes you may want to make.

It's a quick make that uses snowballed corners as the main method. They are a bit on the small side, which is why I've listed the pattern as being suitable for advanced beginners, but all it takes is a bit of confidence in, and maybe some practice with, snowballed corners.

It's meant for scraps, as each petal doesn't take a whole lot of fabric, and you can make a good dent in your scrap bins by picking out different reds for each petal. Although if you are making a larger quilt, you may want to purchase a few fat quarters or a bit of yardage to pad out your scraps.

Quilt ideas for the Poppy block

To make larger quilts, you can use the Poppy quilt block by itself and just repeat it, with or without sashing between the block.

Or you can add an alternating block between the poppies. Here's an option with just a plain green block alternating with the poppy blocks.

To add a little extra interest, the alternating block can also be pieced. In this mockup, I made an economy block (also known as a square-in-a-square) with a little border around it so the points of the darker square don't touch the poppies. 

Changing up the colours

Of course, the flower doesn't need to stay a red poppy, as this can also be a fun generic flower block that can easily be made in lots of different scrappy colours for a whole flower garden quilt.