TUTORIAL: Lily Pad Baby Quilt

This happy little quilt is based on the Fresh Flowers quilt by Karen. (You can see the original here: http://piecesofcontentment.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/fresh-flowers-quilt.html ) She kindly gave permission for me to resize it and write a tutorial for the design.  I just love the happy shape.  Hers uses a charm pack (5″ squares), a great alternative.  This one is based on 4″ squares.

LILY PAD

Finished size: 32-1/2″ 32-1/2″

MATERIALS

36 4″ squares.  Use scraps to give variety.  On this one I used 6 different fabrics in the six colors chosen to match the backing fabric.  I like doing that with baby quilts.

1/3 yard for the outer “strip” and binding (not shown in picture above)

1  yard background fabric

1-1/8  yard backing fabric (or as required for quilting technique)

batting suitable

CUTTING DIRECTIONS

• Prepare your colored squares.  36 of them.
• Background fabric:
  • 36 4″ squares
  • 4 2-1/2″x 9-1/2″ strips
  • 4 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ strips
  • 4 2-1/2″ x 12-1/2″ strips
  • 2 1-1/2″ x 30-1/2″ strips
  • 2 1-1/2″ x 32-1/2″ strips
• Colored Strip:
  • 4 1-1/2″x9-1/2″ strips
  • 4 1-1/2″x10-1/2″ strips
  • 4 2-1/4″xWOF for binding

CONSTRUCTION

1. Pair the colored squares with background squares.  Draw a diagonal line across the back of the background square.  Stitch 1/4″ away from the line on each side.  Cut and iron open to create two half-square triangles. Do this 36 times.  It will create 72 half-square triangle blocks.

2. Square up the half-square triangles to 3-1/2″ inches. Yes, this does matter.

3. Lay it out in a pleasing arrangement.  You will notice that it is an arrangement of 8 by 8, plus 8 more in triangles outside the array.

4. Stitch the rows together.  I created strips and then sewed the strips together, nesting the seams for accurate piecing and to minimize bulk.

5. Now you are going to create the first set of borders.  Sew the 1-1/2″x9-1/2″ colored strips to the 2-1/2″x9-1/2″ background strips.  Do this four times.

6. Make a long border that uses a strip-background pair, two half square triangles in a pyramid shape, and a second strip-background pair. Make sure the colored strip is on the side that is at the base of the pyramid as shown below.  To this two times.

7. Attach the borders to the top and bottom of the quilt.

8. Now, you are going to create the borders for the other two sides.  The technique is similar, but there are extra pieces. First, attach the 1-1/2″x2-1/2″ background pieces to the 1-1/2″x10-1/2″ colored strip.  Do this four times.

NOTE: I thought for sure that I had pictures of each step. I guess I was caught up in the creative process.  I’ll have to make another one sometime soon and do better on photography.

9. Stitch the pieced strip to the 2-1/2″x12-1/2″ background strips.  Double check first to make sure the small background  piece will end up on the outer end of the larger pieced unit and on the base of the triangle.  Yep, I had to use my seam ripper here when I didn’t double check. 🙂 Do this four times.

10. Again, Make a long border that uses a background-strip-background pair, two half square triangles in a pyramid shape, and a second background-strip-background pair. Make sure the colored strip is on the side that is at the base of the pyramid.  Do this two times.

11. Attach the borders to the sides of the quilt.  The colored strips should meet, giving a continuous look to the corners of the colored border.

12.  Attach the 1-1/2″x30-1/2″ background strips to the top and bottom of the quilt.

13.  Attach the 1-1/2″x32-1/2″ background strips to the sides of the quilt.

14. Ta-dah!  You have a finished quilt top.

LILY PAD GALLERY

This is the first Lily Pad quilt I made, for a family in my neighborhood.

Your beautiful creations shared here…