Mariposa Lily quilt block

Mariposa Lily quilt block

February 24, 1933-Mariposa Lily, Noon Day Lily, and North Carolina Lily are all names for this lily block that Nancy Cabot introduced eighty years ago today.  She wrote that the block was originally "made of white flowers on a green background."  If the background is green, does that mean the leaves and stems were also white?  She goes on to say that "present day quiltmakers" (meaning 1933) have changed the original colors to fabrics that "suit individual favorite color schemes."

I believe that this block was originally hand appliqued.  At the six inch size that I made, I felt the pieces were too tiny to hand applique and decided to do fusible applique instead.



The pattern sheet includes a full size drawing of the block without seam allowances.  You can use it to place your applique pieces by laying your background fabric square on top of the paper pattern and then positioning your pieces on top of the fabric square before fusing them in place.  If you have a lightbox to put the paper on, it helps alot.  You can also use a window or your computer screen by taping the paper to the window or screen same as you would a lightbox.  I made the pattern with the fewest parts possible.  You may want to use stitching to outline the flower petals to give them more dimension.  I'm sure the petals were originally done individually which would give them more dimension than the fused ones.  Download your pattern here.

This block can be found in Electric Quilt's BlockBase program as #765.6.

Tomorrow-Blazing Star