I found myself with a little spare time this last week and knew I needed to make an autumnal wall-hanging for my living room. I have a Halloween Wall Hanging. I have a Christmas one. I have a Valentine's Quilt, and who knows how many more, but dang it, I need one with falling leaves...for Fall. That's now. I need it now!
But it had to be pretty, falling leaves. I am partial to the maple leaf. I have several friends who are Canadian. The lovely, Feral Turtle, comes to mind, so that could possibly be why I love the maple leaf as much as I do. The Mister loves hockey, so that could be it...naw, that's not it at all. I'm sure it's because of all the lovely Canadians in my life.Or maybe the maple leaf is just a naturally pretty leaf? Whatever reason, the maple leaf was what I desired.
Quilting a maple leaf is a bit tricky, though. It has this long, pointy bit in the middle, and a stem. I mean, to be fair, most leaves have a stem, and I guess they would cause just as much trouble as a maple leaf stem, but forget about all that. My point is this, it's tricky with patchwork quilting. Trust me. Maple leaf or birch. Even an elm...
So, I did what any quilter would do. I got an idea, and I made it my own. I decided to design my leaf using half paper-piece for the middle pointy bit and the stem and patchwork for all the rest. Half -Square triangles to the rescue.
Pretty good! Need to change the stem up a bit, but by George I think I've got it!
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I assembled all my prettiest, fall-ish fabrics and got to work. I wanted it to be scrappy and fun.
Because I'm wild, I decided to use burlap for my trim. But then realized I wanted a kind of, white on white effect and so put corner squares in using my main fabric. I think I love it.
p.s. burlap loves to unravel. Be aware. I would recommend using a 1/2" seam allowance, except I didn't have enough burlap to accommodate that. Living on the edge over here! Unraveling bedamned.
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Uggghh!! Now I need new pillow cases. Hi, cute niece.
I hope you like my new Fall wall-hanging. I'm pretty darned pleased. If you are interested in buying this pattern, I will have it up on My Etsy soon
Thanks for reading!
But it had to be pretty, falling leaves. I am partial to the maple leaf. I have several friends who are Canadian. The lovely, Feral Turtle, comes to mind, so that could possibly be why I love the maple leaf as much as I do. The Mister loves hockey, so that could be it...naw, that's not it at all. I'm sure it's because of all the lovely Canadians in my life.
Quilting a maple leaf is a bit tricky, though. It has this long, pointy bit in the middle, and a stem. I mean, to be fair, most leaves have a stem, and I guess they would cause just as much trouble as a maple leaf stem, but forget about all that. My point is this, it's tricky with patchwork quilting. Trust me. Maple leaf or birch. Even an elm...
p.s. burlap loves to unravel. Be aware. I would recommend using a 1/2" seam allowance, except I didn't have enough burlap to accommodate that. Living on the edge over here! Unraveling bedamned.
I hope you like my new Fall wall-hanging. I'm pretty darned pleased. If you are interested in buying this pattern, I will have it up on My Etsy soon
Thanks for reading!
Heather
Hahaha...I saw the title of your post and I thought I would say, "Hey...maybe you're really Canadian, eh?" Then you started talking about the Canadian maple leaf and realized you beat me to that....
ReplyDeleteYou are a leaf-quilting goddess.
You are.
-andi
Wow. I mean, for real...wow! You are so impressive. That stem. That stem is perfection. Now I can't wait to see the pillows you make.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing! I'm also partial to mapple leaves... I love Canada, reminds me so many sweet memories... But, I'm not as patient (or gifted) as you are... I just collect them when they fall!
ReplyDeleteLast week you decided to do that?? You clever little chick, etsy is going to be on fire the quilt is gorgeous, how did you get it done in a week??
ReplyDeleteThat is one beautiful quilt Heather! I love how the white corner squares set each leaf off. Yes, Karen is one awesome Canadian! I haven't had time to play with my new machine yet, but I'm watching you!
ReplyDeleteYou really are amazing with your quilting talent Heather! You really captured the maple leaf in this quilt! and I love how the leaves pop right off the quilt! Excellent color choices! I knew you wanted to move here! I will call you my neighbor soon....just think we can build snowmen, go ice fishing, ski, cross country ski....no we will just ski (too much work to cross country ski) We will ice skate, eat ice cream without it melting, wear toques, say eh a lot, make snow angels, walk with snow shoes, go dog sledding, have snowball fights, wear winter boots and coats pretty much year round, and then say eh again! And drink hot chocolate!
ReplyDeleteHeather, this is awesome!!! You look right at it and you can see that it is a maple leaf. You need to start selling your stuff, girl!! Keep up the beautiful work!!
ReplyDeleteYou got that beautiful wall hanging done that fast????????????????? I love it. :) And your niece is cute too. ;)
ReplyDelete