Welcome to the Tulip Patch

Hi Quilting Friends,

Welcome to the tulip patch! Nothing says “spring” like the colorful blossoms in a patch of tulips. Our Grandma Passmore had a lovely tulip patch in her flower garden, and we loved to visit and admire the variety of colors and types of tulips that popped out of the ground each spring.

Tulips don’t grow well in Houston. The reason is probably because it is way too hot and wet here, and our soil tends toward clay. We’ve seen pretty tulips in a few gardens, but they tend to be annuals so the gardener would need to plant new bulbs at the right time every year in order to enjoy their gorgeous flowers. That seems like a LOT of work to us!

Susan finally found a way to have tulips that come back, reliably, every spring! Here’s the “Tulip Patch” that she designed-

Tulip Patch Table Topper by Ms P Designs USA

Sharon used the batik fabrics that Susan selected, and made this brightly colored patch of pretty flowers. The piecing is simple, with some flying goose units, and stitch & flip squares and rectangles to make the tulips and leaves. The outer border reminds us of the horde of butterflies that visit the tulip patch when the flowers are in full bloom.

Rosie (Susan’s Gammill quilting helper) did a wonderful job of quilting flowers and butterflies in an edge-to-edge design using light gray thread. Here’s a quick video of Rosie at work in the “Tulip Patch”-

This quilt finishes up at 26″ x 26″, so it is suitable for use as a table topper or a small wall quilt. “Tulip Patch” is available as a PDF from Ms P’s Pattern Shop, if you’d like to make a patch of pretty tulips for your place too!