Block Four: Keukenhof Garden, Holland
Welcome to the third year of our exclusive Free Mystery Block of the Month by Pat Sloan! This year Pat's theme is 'The Secret Garden'. She has plans to share gardens she has visited, ones she has heard about and some that might be so secret they are hard to find! Block 4 is the 'Keukenhof Garden in the Netherlands'. Pat's visited this garden a few times, and found some photos from 'back in the day'. All the past blocks and supply list are at our landing page.
Download Secret Garden BOM Materials List and This Month's Block Pattern!
Click Here to download the PDF of Pat's materials list for the BOM. NOTE: If the document doesn't display properly for you, there may be a problem with your browser's PDF viewer. From the viewer window, there is a download button that will let you save the PDF to your computer, where you will be able to view and print it just fine.
Click Here to download the PDF of the pattern for Block Four: Keukenhof Garden, Holland
Pat Sloan on Block Four
When I was planning the theme for this year's mystery, my trips to the Keukenhof Garden in Holland were the reason for 'The Secret Garden'. It's certainly not a secret itself, but inside the garden are so many incredible paths that lead to gardens within the garden, it has its' own little secrets.
If you are looking for kits for either colorway I'm doing, you'll find a list of shops to contact, some have told me they have few kits left, lucky you!
For this month in my Video I show you the block units AND I have a tip on how to audition the corner HST using directional fabric. The video is quick and gives you all you need! I do declare April as 'Spring'… so the block is fast to do. At my website I share the 2nd colorway and how to lay that out, link is after the video.
With the nice large 16.5” x 16.5”, we will have a fun lap size quilt when done! Later this year you'll make extra blocks so we have a 3 x 4 structured block layout. The layout diagram is at the end of the pattern.
Inspiration
I have visited the garden several times, mostly as a child. I can so clearly remember the sea of tulips the first time we arrived. They seemed to go on for miles and miles.
Plus, along side the road were many vendors selling cut flowers. Since my mom loves flowers, I'm sure we took some home!
My most vivid memory from this garden is coming around the path and finding the windmill, I am sure it took my breath away! I was in love with windmills and still am to this day. At the time the windmill was sitting on the edge of the garden. On the other side were fields of tulips. You could climb to the top and see them, it was spectacular!
Photo credit Paul Haahr
Fast forward from my childhood, and my husband and I went to visit my family in Brussels, as they still lived there. We traveled all over the place and one of my requests was to visit the Keukenhof Gardens. We all piled into my step-mom's car, as my dad's sports car only fit two and we had five!
Off we went into the Dutch country side until we arrived in Lisse… and what greeted us? The flower stands! I had always wanted a flower garland to put on the car. I told my dad, and being the best dad in the world, he stopped and we bought one! It decorated the car for the day… I really loved being able to go back as an adult … I was still as enchanted as I was as a child.
There is nice history at the Keukenhof website.. the name means 'Kitchen Garden' and goes back to the 15th century. From the website I read that Countess Jacqueline of Bavaria, and Jacoba van Beieren gathered fruit and vegetables from the woods and dunes for the kitchen of Teylingen Castle. Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641. Then in 1949 a group of 20 flower bulb exporters came up with a plan to use the estate for a permanent exhibition of spring-flowering bulbs, signaling the birth of Keukenhof as a spring park. The magic was born!
Learn more about Keukenhof at their official site and on their Wiki.
Pat's Video Tutorial
Be sure to watch my video this month, I show you the block units AND how to figure out your directional fabric in HST units.
Visit my post and share a photo of your block at my quilt show!
Click here for my page about this block for our Secret Garden Mystery BOM
Join Pat at her quilting classroom on Facebook called Quilt with Pat Sloan. Share your mystery quilt! You can also join FreeQuiltPatterns.info on Facebook and join in on the active group commentary on FQP posts, tutorials, patterns, and videos you see on the site daily.
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