Texas Tulip quilt block

Texas Tulip

June 8, 1933-The Texas Tulip quilt block dates back to the early history of Texas according to Nancy Cabot.  She wrote that it was one of the few quilt patterns that kept it's original name and "suggested that the Texas Tulip block be pieced of two shades of a color with a harmonizing or matching print."

The Texas Tulip block has been a difficult one for me to figure out the best way to put together. The 6" size seemed to complicate it even more.

I ended up piecing it and that worked okay but it was a little tricky to sew the heart shaped piece (large print fabric in photos) to the next arc shape piece (pink fabric in photos).  I think it would be much easier to piece if the block was larger.

I believe it would be an easy block to piece by hand however, even at 6".  An alternative would be to applique the heart shape section to the next arc piece and machine piece the rest of the block.

These are the pieces I used to make my 6" Texas Tulip block.  The upper right hand corner shows the individual pieces of that section and the lower right hand corner shows the order I sewed them together in.  The smaller picture shows how I sewed the wedges together in two halves before joining them.

To sew the heart shape piece to the one next to it, I marked both fabric pieces to indicate where the 1/4"seams intersect.  I then clipped the fabric down to the point on the heart shaped piece.  I sewed from the outside to the center, matching the center marks, as shown below.  I repeated this for the second side. It's easier after you figure out the first one.

 You can download a copy of my templates here. Here's an interesting video for making perfect circles for your centers.

Speaking of Texas, I have recently returned from Quilt Market and Quilt Festival that were held in Houston last week.  If you've never been to Quilt Festival, it can be overwhelming with so many quilts to see and even more vendors to look at.  I found some interesting products that I will be showing you in future posts when they can be used for the block that day.

I bought the fabric for this block in an antique mall on the way home from Texas.  They were part of a bag of vintage scraps that I found.  I hope to use more of the scraps in future blocks.

Tomorrow-Federal Chain