Project 5 - Maple Leaf quilt

I was restless and unmotivated most of the weekend, but finally this afternoon I started working on a NEW quilting project. Yes, this is Project 5 and it's for me! I purchased the fabric for a Maple Leaf quilt a few weeks ago - mostly $1 scraps from Hancock Fabrics and a variety of calicos from JoAnn Fabrics that were on sale. I love Fall and all the colors associated with the change of season, so I've been anxious to make a Maple Leaf quilt since I began researching patterns and Googling images of quilts others have made. The Maple Leaf pattern I'm using is a 12" block from Marcia Hohn's Quilter's Cache. I spend a lot of time at this website looking at patterns and dreaming of which ones I'll use next. Most importantly, it's FREE!

The background color is an off white with tiny gold sparkly things that I absolutely love! The maple leaves will be in all colors Fall - red, orange, yellow, brown, and even some green. I have solids and prints and even a few rather exotic fabrics that are shiny and have a sort of Asian theme to them. I like them so much that I made two Maple Leaf blocks today just to see how the fabric looks in the shape of a leaf.



The pieces ready to be sewed together.

Completed blocks. Not sewn together though.

Oh, my, there were mistakes all over the place today when I was working on the Maple Leaves! First, I was using fat quarters so my fabric supply in these colors were limited so I couldn't afford to make mistakes. At least I measured the correct lengths and widths. I just got overzealous and decided to save time and just cut the entire piece of fabric into the correct sizes - forgetting that the same piece of fabric needed to be cut into THREE different sizes. Oops. Fortunately, I had a few fat quarters of the yellow and blue fabric and there were leftovers from the cutting I did with both fabrics so I was able to assemble these blocks. I have enough of the yellow and blue to make a few more blocks. I have to buy more of the orange (if I can find it) if I want to make more blocks.

And I really wasn't impressed with the results from the new method of creating the half squares. You put two fabrics together, right sides facing each other, and the draw a line down the middle to mark the correct square size (the fabric is rectangle). Then you draw a line across each square to divide each one, and you sew on both sides of the lines. The end result is four squares with two different fabrics sewn together. It seems easy enough and I could do it, but when I sewed the pieces together the points just didn't line up right. Next time I'm going to do it the old fashioned, pain-stakingly long way of doing it just to better line up the points. I'm sure it's not the method that's faulty as much as it's my novice and first time trying it.

I also added the remaining borders to the Man Quilt for my brother!

The batting has been on my bed "breathing" all day, so tomorrow after work I get to make my first quilt sandwich! Woohoo!



The full size batting sucking up some air.



I have safety pins since they were on a list of "must haves" for basic quilting supplies according to my Quilting Bible, but the Quilting Ladies both seem to prefer basting instead because it works better when you use a frame to quilt. I think I shall try the pins first because I have them, and if I don't like them I'll baste. I don't have elaborate plans for the quilting so I'm sure it will work out either way.