The pattern on this cheerful quilt looks so familiar to me. While I was mending it, I realized that it reminds me of Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs. I looked online, and saw more than a few hex signs that have the same style of tulips, elongated diamonds with the two pointy leaves. And then I learned from the owner that the quilt had been purchased in Pennsylvania.
The block combines two design elements that have been favored by quilters for many, many, many years - stars and flowers. It is entirely pieced, the circles being squared with 4 white corner quadrants. I especially like this block in a softer, rosy red.
I found names for the block in Jinny Beyer's book, The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns. It was published as Cottage Tulips in 1931 in the Kansas City Star, and as Olive's Yellow Tulip in 1958 in Mrs. Danner's Fourth Quilt Book.
