Tiger Lilies Quilt Tutorial

I first discovered this quilt block in Maggie Malone’s 5500 Quilt Block Designs years ago and fell in love with it. Tiger Lilies is block 5128 (in case you have the book) and no other information is given aside from it’s name. If you aren’t familiar with the book, as the name implies there are 5500 quilt blocks organized by patch type for the reader to reproduce the block on graph paper. There are no directions for piecing the blocks, it’s simply a book of blocks. Some blocks list where they were first published and then others with no information.

Every time I picked up the book I had to stop and admire it and wished I weren’t so darned intimidated by half square triangles. My book is permanently bookmarked and opens automatically to that page from repeated views. Fast forward many years. AccuQuilt is an industry partner of Island Batik and they generously sent all 50 ambassadors their very own GO! Qube. Well I finally gained the courage last month to make the block and I couldn’t stop with just one so I made 4 blocks to form a quilt. Aaand I had to make another and decided to write a tutorial while making my second quilt.

The fabric

Reference block diagram 5 below for color/patch placement. Dimensions shown below include the 1/4 seam allowance. All seams are sewn 1/4″ and all blocks finish at 4″.

If you have a GO! Cutter you can easily cut all the blocks you will need for this quilt in about an hour. I used the 4″ square and the 4″ half square triangle from the 8″ Qube .

Using the Accuquilt for hst’s,? Layer fabrics right sides together for cutting. This almost eliminates the need to line up the patches for stitching.

If you do not have a cutter my recommended non paper method is to use yardage (cut to 10″ squares), right sides together to make 8 hst’s at a time.

Diagram 1: Place your 10″ squares right side together, draw a line on the diagonals to form and X, I like to use Frixion pens.

Diagram 2: Next you will draw a 1/4″ line on both sides of the drawn lines, these will be your stitch lines. You may find it useful to tack the center and sides with a pin (or Elmers washable school glue) to prevent shifting during sewing. Sew down all 4 stitch lines.

Diagram 3: In this step you will draw horizontal and vertical lines . These are your cut lines. Again, I recommend you place a few pins (or glue) to keep the fabric from shifting.

Diagram 4: Cut diagonal , vertical and horizontal. Press seams open or towards the dark fabric, your preference.

Ready to begin stitching the hst’s together? Stitch using 1/4″ seam. The fabric I chose to use is QT and my favorite muslin. I was a little nervous about the green/blue directional fabric.

Layout

First we are going to stitch the flower sections into a 16 patch block.

The first thing I do is place the blocks on a design wall or on the table in front of me, I did both.

The photo above shows the blocks for the flower sections stacked in their layout position. First I began with the 2 left stacks in the bottom row because they’re closest to me and my machine. Join/stitch using a 1/4″ seam and press seams to the left.

Next, moving up to the 2nd row from the bottom (left) stitch these 2 stacks of blocks together using 1/4″ seam and press seams to the right.

Join these two together to form a 4 patch and press seam upwards. Continue moving up the left side alternating the seams to the left and right, and the 4 patch seam up.

Continue joining the remaining patches to form 4 patches. Join your four 4 patch’s together.

Next, lay the leaves patches out in piecing order and follow the same steps for piecing as you did with the flower sections.

Once complete, join the block quarters to form 1/4 of the quilt.

With no additional border, the 4 blocks and sashing will finish pre-quilted 68″ x 68″. Or perhaps you’d like to make 1 block shown above (32″) and use it as a medallion for a small quilt.

Sashing

From your background fabric cut or piece 4 strips-4 1/2″ x 32 1/2″.

For the center square, add a 4″ finished pinwheel, solid square or any 4″ block of your choice.

Join the 4″ finished block to the center of 2 strips.

Join 1 strip to the center of 2 blocks as shown below.

Next join a strip to each side of your center 4″ block (solid or pinwheel, whichever you chose) bottom blocks. And to the bottom.

That’s it, I’ll let you decide if you’d like to add a border. I finished my quilt with a 2″ border, then added 72 more 4″ hst and solid blocks in the corners.