Thursday, March 6, 2014

Rows of Tulips

 Several springs ago,
Running Man and I went to
La Conner, Washington
to admire and be awestruck
by the beauty of  millions
 of  blooming tulips.

There are thousands of rows
of colorful tulips filling the landscape.
It's like looking at a 
row by row quilt made up
of wonderful fresh spring time colors.

That was my inspiration when I 
gathered some quarter yard pieces
of  bright cheerful fabrics
and decided to make a chevron patterned
"get me out of the gloom of winter" quilt.

We all know, there can be many ways to get 
to the same conclusion.
In this case, in making a chevron design,
I chose to use only strips of fabrics,
no half square triangles 
to get a zig zag pattern.
I cut 2 strips of each of the 19 fabrics,
 each 3 inches wide.
Then arranged them in an order
to achieve some balance
between the colors.

Then it was simple straight strip sewing.
has a great tutorial on how to do use
this variation of a rail fence
to create a chevron.

You can see how the  duplicate strips were 
matched up. 
 

 Each strip was subcut into 5.5" squares
(Don't mix up the order of the strips or 
it gets WAY to confusing.)

Then on my design floor
the first set of blocks were laid out.
By turning set 1 one direction
and the second set turned the other direction
you create a chevron pattern.

I added an extra piece at the beginning of each
row so I wouldn't have to cut off so much
when it came time to straighten the edges.

The  diagonal rows of blocks
 were simply sewn together,

 then the rows were sewn,
and finally the jagged edges straightened.

The quilt top is finished

looking like colorful bands
of springtime tulips.


Until Next Time-

13 comments:

  1. Pretty!! I have always wanted to see those fields of tulips...someday!!

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  2. Looks just like the tulip fields in La Conner! So fresh for spring!

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  3. Have not seen the tulips I. Washington, but have seen them flying in over Amsterdam - you've captured it! Welcome break from snow and cold. Do,you have tulips planted at the new place?

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  4. What a delightful, fresh Spring quilt.
    Have never seen the tulip fields, but have enjoyed a similar experience at the Iris fields of Shreiner's in Oregon.

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  5. Just what we needed.....some beautiful springtime color! Thanks!

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  6. Very pretty! Perfect for spring :0)

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  7. What a beautiful Chevron quilt!
    Your fabric choices are so fresh & lovely for Spring.

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  8. If only the tulips were blooming in Michigan. I love your quilt. Hugs

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  9. What a great quilt! thanks for the tutorial. The inspiration certainly fits the quilt - enjoy Spring!

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  10. beautiful! those tulips are amazing
    Your chevron quilt is lovely and so much easier than how I did mine!

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  11. Gorgeous quilt. I have made this pattern before but always with white in between the colours. I love this variation, reminds me of easter egg wrappers. Thanks for the pictures and link, will be checking it out.

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  12. Gorgeous quilt!! Love the tulip photos.

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