Tulip Swirl: 2026 Leader & Ender Challenge!

It's July!
And you know what that means - Not only are we more than half-way through our year, but it's time to make good use of some scraps between the lines of our chain piecing and make something pretty in the process!
We've been doing these Leader & Ender challenges for many years now, and I absolutely love seeing where your creativity takes you as we sew little pieces together to keep our chain piecing not only continuous, but fun.

It all started here.

OH. MY. WORD.

This was No April Fools. Unless I was the April Fool for thinking I could make something wonderful from bags and boxes of gifted scraps.

I had sorted out all of the long strips and strings.  These are smallish hunks and chunks.  What could we do with this other than cutting it down into squares of different sizes and simply stuff them into drawers?  Out of sight, out of mind was not going to do it this time.

These pieces are big enough to use up - not just cut and put in a drawer.

From a previous Addicted to Scraps article -

I had made these Tulip Swirl blocks as samples - a couple of them are holiday-ish: one is Christmas, the other Halloween.  Another - just random everything.

It's the random everything I am focusing on for my Tulip Swirl project...those holiday ones? I'm going to take them apart and just toss them into everything else.

Click HERE for PDF version.

The cutting is simple.

You need pieces for 2 half-square triangle units, and two squares.

If you are making triangles with my Essential Triangle Tool You can get everything you need out of a 2 1/2'' X 6" scrap (or the equivalent if you have two matching pieces that are shorter.)

Just one neutral and one color per unit!

Place the two strips with right sides together, neutral on top - it makes it easier to read the lines on the ruler. 

Cut one pair of squares 2 1/2''

Trimming trick:  Instead of trimming a sliver off of one end of the strip set to get it straight before cutting my pieces, I'll over-shoot the size I need by a sliver, turn the pieces around and trim to size.  That way I don't have to "flip the strip" to cut on my right.

Here I'm now trimming off the uneven end and measuring by the straight cut end. LINE ON THE FABRIC, not on the mat.

For the triangles:

Place the 3rd red line for 2'' finished half-square triangles at the top of the strip set with the line ON the fabric, not above it on the mat. Cut one pair of matched triangles ready to sew.

Pivot the ruler and cut the second set, placing the red line ON the fabric.

Just a smidge is left over with these 6'' strips.

If you wish to use traditional rotary cutting measurements, Place a colored and a neutral 2 7/8'' square with right sides together and slice from corner to corner once on the diagonal to yield 2 pairs of half-square triangles ready to sew.  

You can use ANY triangle method that you prefer that brings you to unit size of 2 1/2'' unfinished, finishing at 2'' in the block.

The sewing is the same as with the Essential Triangle Tool cutting below:

Stitch the triangle pairs with a 1/4'' seam. Press toward the colored fabric (or open if you wish) and trim dog ears.  Measure the unit.

It should measure 2 1/2'' unfinished and will finish at 2'' in the quilt.  Adjust seam allowance as needed to achieve unit size.

Layout the units!

Yes, this looks like it is upside down, but this is how I sew them.  I want the top seam to press left toward the colored square, and the bottom seam to press toward the neutral square so I can spin the seams the way I want to spin them.

It doesn't matter - just be consistent with the way you are making them so that the seams will all spin the same way.

Join the units.

Because I pressed this way, the seam allowance on top is pointing up - which means the one on the bottom is pointing down. This helps to snug those seam allowances closer together instead of having them shift apart.

You can always pin here.  I don't because of the way the seams are pressed.

Spin press the seams like this!

Tulip units will measure 4 1/2'' unfinished and finish at 4'' in the quilt.

I've gone through my basket of scraps I've designated for these blocks and am really happy with how things are being used - that basket is getting LESS FULL!

Oh dear.

How old are these?!

I found a whole bunch of 2 1/2'' X 4 1/2'' neutral bricks....would this also be a good place to use these up even though it took two matching bricks to do one Tulip block? YES!

And all of the off-cuts  were then used in paper piecing the flying geese for my newly finished Goose Feathers quilt.  This stuff has got to GO and it's a great place to make it go to.

I did play with some possible layouts for quilts using the original Tulip Swirl block layout:

Please imagine this in scrappy everything!

I didn't have enough hours in the day to make the diagram scrappy.

This would be a simple easy layout.  I've set the blocks 9 X 9 and I like the way the tulips touch bases looking like bowties.  You can also add sashing and cornerstones.

I made a quilt in MORE Adventures With Leaders & Enders called Scrap Crystals with SMALLER half square triangles that were arranged something like this.  This takes it to a new level!

You can make this 16'' block by rearranging the Tulips and I love the rainbow look!  

A quilt idea set with 25 of these 16'' blocks with no sashings.

A quickie layout on the floor.

Or should I turn the blocks like this?

If I carried it through the quilt, it might look like this?

Again, imagine this ALL scrappy...I'm not going to individually color these.

But then?

What if we kept the center star and added this as an alternate block?

Something like this?

I did the alternate block in grey so you could see what it's doing and which block is which.

And yes, you could keep them all one direction and have a million cat faces!

Not sure how Hazel feels about that one as she came and plopped herself down in the middle of everything.

I know we haven't done a Leader & Ender with triangles for a while. It's been kind of nice! Still, I am excited to play with this one and watch that pile of largish scraps find a place to land in something fun and pretty, all while stitching units between the lines of other stitching.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this one! With the repetition, it's a good one to double check your precision and making sure that your units are coming out the right size by measuring your units as you go - not just the seam allowance by itself.

Correct unit size also includes everything from your cutting, to the thickness of your fabric and thread, how you place your ruler, where the seam is placed, pressing, all of it.

Let's go!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

My how the decades change us!⁣
⁣
I know why they call this our golden years - they are priceless beyond measure!

Happy Friday, everyone -