Garden Bouquet Quilt- Month 6: The Trillium

Before the members of the Nancy Page quilt club began work on the trillium block they studied the diagram of directions for putting the quilt together. They did this because when they had finished the wild rose block they had made the first four blocks used in the top row of the quilt.

By studying the diagram they saw they needed to seam one of the smallest triangles at the upper left side of the first block, the tulip. This meant the twelve and one-half inch side of the tulip block.

Then at the upper right of the tulip block and joining to the upper left of the second block- the cactus- was put in one of the larger triangles. Another was seamed between the upper right of the cactus and upper left of the lily of the valley. A third was put in between the upper right of the lily block and the upper left of the wild rose. And at the upper right of the wild rose was put on of the small triangles. A large triangle went on the lower left of the first block, the tulip. Joining the lower right of the tulip to the lower left of the cactus went a large diamond- the first one to be put in thus far. Then came another diamond joining the right of the cactus to the lower left of the lily. A third went between the lower right of the lily and the lower left of the wild rose. And a triangle was seamed to the lower right of the rose. With that clear in mind the group was ready for the trillium.

First of all, to disarm all criticism, Nancy admitted that she “was shy one green leaf and the two which were drawn did not start from the right spot on the stem. But when you are an artist, you are entitled to use certain freedoms to make a design look well. And that’s what I have done.” “Explanation accepted and agreed with” said the group, “let’s start.”

The trillium is made just like the other blocks, using outline, appliqué with invisible stitches or button hole, or using colored crayons. Of course we all know that Nancy chose appliqué with invisible hemming stitches.

The method of taking off the pattern is similar to that used for other blocks.

The trillium may be developed on soft lavenders or pinks. The three small petals showing at the back may be green in a light shade or a deep shade of the same color used for the flower.

Since they are all exactly alike it is not necessary to cut more than one of them for a pattern.

In this block, as in the others, bias tape is used for the stem of the flower. The small circle in the center of the flower may be worked in a satin stitch using fast color embroidery cotton or it may be made of a tiny circle of material appliquéd.

The meek and the saucy birds are appliquéd in place and the fifth block in the quilt is finished.

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Below I’ve take a picture of the layout described above for piecing together the blocks. I’ve chosen to not piece them together until all the blocks are appliquéd. I’m doing it this way because the way that is described here you will have to deal with inset seams. The way I’ll be sewing the together will be in diagonal rows, therefore avoiding any inset seams. But I won’t be able to do that until all the blocks are complete!

Here is the pattern for the trillium. Just copy and paste it onto your computer & print it out. Make sure the 1” square that I’ve drawn on is actually 1” after you print it out. You may have to fiddle with the size settings on your printer to get it the correct size.


This past month has been extremely busy for me and I didn’t get a chance to make the trillium block. I’m very sorry that I can’t show you my completed block! I will come back when it’s complete and update this.

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Do you have any Garden Bouquet Quilt blocks to show off? Leave a link to your blog post about it in the comment section or email me a photo so I can share with everyone!

I hope you are enjoying this series!

~Heather

Quick Links to:
Month 1: Beginning Instructions, Urn, and Basket Instructions
Month 2, Part 1: The Tulip
Month 2, Part 2: The Saucy Bird
Month 2, Part 3: The Meek Bird
Month 3: The Cactus
Month 4: Lily of the Valley
Month 5: The Wild Rose
Hand Appliqué
Machine Appliqué
Alternate Method of Appliqué Tutorial
Biased Binding Tutorial