Turning Tulips Block Tutorial

After sharing my pattern in a quilting  group, I decided to  make a tutorial for the block and this baby quilt. So I hope everyone enjoys Turning Tulips.

Turning Tulips Baby quilt

Yardage Required:

Red - 1/4 Yard

Pink- 1/4 Yard

Green- 1/4 Yard

White- 1/2 Yard

Yellow- 3/8 Yard

This is also a great project for scraps or charm packs! I made mine from scraps. This project is perfect for a baby quilt or wall hanging.

Cutting:

Red:

4- 2 1/2 inch squares

2- 4 1/2 inch squares

2- 5 inch squares

Pink:

4- 2 1/2 inch squares

2- 4 1/2 inch squares

2- 5 inch squares

Green:

4- 2 1/2 inch squares

4- 5 inch squares

White:

9- 2 1/2  inch squares

4- 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangles

8- 4 1/2  inch squares

8- 5  inch squares

Yellow:

For sashing and border
6 - 2 1/2 x WoF (width of Fabric)

Block Assembly:

All seam allowances are 1/4 inch

Step One 

Pieces required - 8 white 2 1/2  inch squares, 2 pink and red 2 1/2  inch squares, and 4 green 2 1/2  inch squares.

Sew the white squares to the colored squares. Press seam to the darker fabric

Step 2

Pieces required- 8  2 1/2 x 4 1/2 rectangles and units from step 1.

Sew rectangles to the units as shown below.

Press seam to the white rectangles

Step 3

Pieces required- All the 5 inch squares

Pair each colored square with a white square right sides together. On the back of the colored squares line up the 1/4 mark on your ruler from corner to corner.

Draw a line. Using the same corners, flip your ruler and mark the other side out 1/4 These will be our sewing lines to make half square triangle units. It should look like below.

Sew exactly on these lines. 

Cut them apart inn the center aiming for 1/4 seam allowance. 

Press to the dark side Luke Skywalker! I can't help it any time anyone says dark side you just have to say it.

Now they need to be trimmed down to 4 1/2 square. Using a square ruler line up the seam with the diagonal line on the ruler. Be CAREFUL to line it up on the 4 1/2 inch lines. I have done it myself and thought I was on the 4 1/2 and was a sad puppy later. I had cut them 4 1/2 X 4 1/4.  

 At this point all the hard stuff it done! Woo hoo that wasn't so bad was it.

Step 4

I like to lay out my pieces to form the block. It goes together like a nine patch.  

Sew in rows. For pressing I press my top and bottom rows out and the middle row inwards. Sew the rows together to complete the patch. I press these seams outwards. 

This is how my pressing looks

And our finished block looks like this.It should measure 12 1/2 inches square. Trim down if need but be careful not to lose your points

Sashing:

Arrange your blocks as shown or as desired.

Cut 3 12 1/2 inch strips from 1 of the yellow strips. Cut one strip 12 3/4 . To the 12 3/4  strip sew on the remaining white 2 1/2 inch square. On the bottom of the top 2 blocks sew on a 12 1/2 inch strip. Press to the yellow.

Sew the strip that has the white square to both of the top blocks. I pressed these seams inward. My picture is upside down here.

Next sew the remaining strip to the inside edge of one of the blocks. Sew the remaining block to the other side of the yellow strip. I pressed these seams outward. This allows for nesting of the seams to get that center square centered nicely.

There is probably an easier way to do this. This is what worked for me. If you know another way please feel free to leave it in the comments. I am always looking for short cuts.

Press your top nice and flat. In a happy quilt world our quilts would be magically square. I wish mine were but I live in the there goes a cat, the baby is crying and who is at the door world. So stuff happens. If you need to trim/square up do that now.

Apply borders in your preferred method.

I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial. This is the first one I have written. I am open to pointers. As soon as I quilt and bind this piece I will post pictures of the final quilt. I will also be working on a larger project using this block just waiting for the fabric to come in.