- Background (muslin)
- Dark (indigo)
- Accent (madder red)
Block No. 87 · pictorial
Tulip Quilt Block
Part of: Half Square Triangle Quilt Blocks
This pieced Tulip, known as Patchwork Tulips, sets four tulips around a small center square, with each flower pointing to a corner. Each tulip is a square, two half-square triangles and a little strip-pieced bud, a straight-seam alternative to the applique tulips in older books.
Version note: Version note: Janet Wickell's straight-seam Patchwork Tulips, not the applique tulip. The PDF gives no drawing text for which way each flower faces, so the corner orientation is medium confidence.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Grid
- 9 × 9
- Pieces
- 37
Chart
Cutting for a 9" block
9 × 9 grid. All cuts fall on 1/8" ruler marks. Unfinished block: 9 1/2".
| Fabric | Shape | Cut | Size | Then | Pieces used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Background | Square | 4 | 1 1/2" square | Use as cut | 4 |
| Background | Rectangle | 4 | 1 1/2" × 4 1/2" | Use as cut | 4 |
| Background | Rectangle | 4 | 1 1/2" × 2 1/2" | Use as cut | 4 |
| Background | Half-square triangle | 4 | 2 7/8" square | Cut once diagonally (2 triangles each) | 8 |
| Dark | Square | 5 | 1 1/2" square | Use as cut | 5 |
| Accent | Square | 4 | 2 1/2" square | Use as cut | 4 |
| Accent | Half-square triangle | 4 | 2 7/8" square | Cut once diagonally (2 triangles each) | 8 |
Method
Piecing steps
Step 1: Make eight HSTs from the accent and background parents; trim each to 2 1/2".
Step 2: Make four bud units: sew a dark square to a background square, then add a background rectangle beside the pair with the dark square at the inner corner. Each measures 2 1/2".
Step 3: For each tulip, join an HST and the bud for one row and the accent square and an HST for the other, with the accent triangle tips pointing toward each other around the dark square. Each tulip measures 4 1/2".
Step 4: Sew two tulips to either side of a background bar, flowers pointing away from each other. Make two rows, the second a mirror image of the first.
Step 5: Sew background bars to two sides of the dark center square, then join the three rows.
Step 6: Join the rows with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, matching each seam intersection. Press and check the unfinished block measures 9 1/2" square.