Daisy Chain

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

1. From the yellow fabric, cut five 2in wide strips across the width of the fabric.
2. From the white fabric, cut the following:
   • Ten 2in wide strips across the width of the fabric
   • 168 2 x 5in rectangles
3. From the green fabric, cut the following:
   • One 9 1⁄2in square
   • Two 5 x 18 1⁄2in strips
   • Two 5 x 27 1⁄2in strips
   • Two 5 x 36 1⁄2in strips
   • Nine 5in wide strips across the width of the fabric. Join these strips at right angles, press the seams open and trim the ears. From this strip cut two 45 1⁄2in long strips, two 54 1⁄2in long strips and two 63 1⁄2in long strips
   • 336 2in squares

MAKING THE DAISY BLOCKS

1. Take a white and a yellow 2in wide strip. Place them right sides together, matching the edges carefully, and sew down one long edge. Then sew a white strip to the other side of the yellow strip. Repeat to make a total of five pieced strips. Cross-cut these pieced strips into 84, 2in wide slices. See Figure 1.
2. Take a 2 x 5in white rectangle and two 2in green squares. Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of each green square. Place a green square at each end of the rectangle and stitch just outside the marked line. Trim away the corners 1⁄4in from the stitching, open out and press the seams towards the corners. Repeat to make 168 of these units. See Figure 2.
3. Stitch a white and green unit to opposite sides of a yellow and white unit to make a daisy block. Repeat to make a total of 84 blocks. See Figure 3.

ASSEMBLING THE QUILT TOP

1. Stitch two pairs of daisy blocks together (see Figure 4), and join to the top and bottom of the 9 1⁄2in green square; press (see Figure 5). Stitch two rows of four daisy blocks and join to the sides of the quilt top; press. See Figure 6.
2. Stitch the 5 x 18 1⁄2in green strips to the top and bottom of the quilt top; press. Stitch the 5 x 27 1⁄2in green strips to the sides of the quilt top; press. See Figure 7.
3. Stitch two rows of six daisy blocks and join to the top and bottom of the quilt top; press. Stitch two rows of eight daisy blocks and join to the sides of the quilt top; press. See Figure 8.
4. Stitch the 5 x 36 1⁄2in green strips to the top and bottom of the quilt top; press. Stitch the 5 x 45 1⁄2in green strips to the sides of the quilt top; press. See Figure 9.
5. Stitch two rows of 10 daisy blocks and join to the top and bottom of the quilt top; press. Stitch two rows of 12 daisy blocks and join to the sides of the quilt top; press.
6. Stitch the 5 x 541⁄2in green strips to the top and bottom of the quilt top; press. Stitch the 5 x 631⁄2in green strips to the sides of the quilt top; press. See Figure 10.

QUILTING AND FINISHING

1. Give your quilt top and backing a good press. Layer the quilt by placing the backing fabric wrong side up on a clean flat surface, followed by the wadding and then the quilt top, centrally and right side up. The backing and wadding are slightly larger than the quilt top. Pin or tack in place. 
2. Quilt a daisy motif in the centre of the quilt; then quilt as desired. You could add circles in the centres of the daisies and rows of spring flowers along the green borders.
3. To bind the quilt, trim the excess backing and wadding level with the quilt top edges. From the binding
   fabric, cut seven 2in strips across the width of the fabric; join at right angles, pressing the seams open to reduce bulk. Trim the  ‘ears’ and fold the strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and press. Match the raw edges of the binding to the raw edges of the quilt and sew in place, folding a mitre at each corner. Fold the binding over to the back of the quilt and neatly slipstitch in place by hand. Finally sign and date your work.

First published in Popular Patchwork November 2008