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AUTUMN CELEBRATION BLOCK

by Sharlene Jorgenson
Courtesy of Quilting from the Heartland

Skill Rating: Beginner

Celebrate autumn's arrival with this fast, easy maple leaf block! You can make enough for a full quilt, or just a few to use in matching placemats and potholders!

Tools & Supplies

• Fall leaf fabric print
  

• Background fabric
  

• Rotary ruler
  

• Rotary cutter
  

• Cutting mat
  

• Templates E and F from Quilting from the Heartland's set Pandora's Box (QS15)
  

• Iron
  

• Pressing surface
  

• Thread to match fabric
  

• Sewing machine
  

• Small scissors

Instructions

1. Place your fall leaf print and your background fabric right sides together with the selvages aligned. Use your rotary ruler to even up the cut edge (on the left if you're right-handed, or on the right if you're left-handed). Now cut 3.75-inch-wide strips from your two fabrics. You'll need enough strips to cut four sets of triangles for each maple leaf block.
   
   





2. Use template E to cut four pairs (in our illustration, one black and one red) of half-square triangles for each leaf block you're planning to make. Use template F to cut one square from your background fabric (in our illustration, the black fabric) and three squares from your leaf print (in our illustration, the red fabric) for each block.
   
   





3. Keeping your triangle pairs with the right sides together, use a 1/4-inch seam allowance to sew each pair together along the long bias edge. Chain-sew all the pairs together, to save time and thread. Clip the threads between the pairs, then trim the "ears" at a 90-degree angle, as shown. Press the seams flat and then open, using an up-and-down motion rather than a side-to-side (ironing) motion, so you don't stretch the bias seams.
   
   





4. To make the stem section of the block, use template E to cut two pieces of your background fabric and use your rotary ruler to cut a one-inch-wide strip of your leaf fabric. With right sides together and the raw edges aligned, stitch one triangle to the stem strip and press the seam allowance open. With right sides together and the raw edges aligned, stitch the remaining triangle to the other side of the stem strip, again pressing the seam allowance open. Carefully place template F on the resulting pieced square and trim the square to a perfect 3 3/8 inches, as shown.
   
   





5. You're ready to sew your squares into rows. Follow the diagram to place two of your triangle-squares with right sides together, and stitch with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Sew one of your background squares to this row of squares. Now sew your two leaf-print squares together and stitch another triangle-square to the end of that row. For the third row, stitch your stem block, your remaining leaf-print square, and your remaining triangle-square together. Press all the seam allowances flat, them press them open.
   
   





6. With right sides together, use 1/4-inch seam allowances to sew your rows together, as shown. Press your seam allowances flat and then open.
   
   
   
   And you have a perfect maple-leaf quilt block!
   
   

Add the tools and supplies for this project to your shopping basket!

SewAndQuilt.com offers virtually everything you need to make this project! Check out these products in our Shopping Center.

Omnigrid 6- by 24-Inch Rotary Ruler

Fiskar's 45-Millimeter Ergonomic Rotary Cutter

Quilting from the Heartland Template Set QS15 (Pandora's Box)

June Tailor Quilter's Cut 'n Press

Metrosene #50/3 Mercerized Cotton Thread (547 yards/500 meters)

Gingher 5-Inch Craft Scissors

SewAndQuilt.com also offers a wide selection of products to help you mark and complete your quilts. Please proceed to the Marking Tools and Quilting/Sewing Tools departments of the Shopping Center.