Fall Leaves

Every year as fall approaches, I've admonished myself for not having made a quilt to reflect the showy, colorful leaves we enjoy here in south-central Ohio. This year, if all goes as planned, I am finally going to have my quilt. 

The 24 blocks above were all made at last week's quilt retreat. I had the parts cut out and ready to sew - a smart idea for every retreat project, I've learned. All the fall fabrics are from my existing stash. Since I wanted my background fabric to be consistent, I bought a couple more yards of Thatched, by Robin Pickens.

Now, since being home from retreat, I have 50 blocks completed. I needed to make more 'sub-units' - that is, stem parts and HSTs. It takes no time at all to get a block made if the sub-units are done up ahead of time. It's fun to pull random browns or golds out of a pile of 2.5" squares and then 'build' a leaf with ready-made parts. These blocks are 6.5" (6" finished).

Mostly, my efforts have been to be as random as possible with each leaf blending in a wide variety of colors and prints. Just for an experiment, though, this morning I made a leaf from all dark colors, and another leaf from all gold colors. 

I like these controlled looks, too, and they will meld effortlessly into the rest of the leaf blocks.  I don't know how many more leaf blocks I will make - perhaps I will stop at 72, for a quilt that will be 8 blocks wide by 9 blocks long. I have a full tub of brown fabrics, so a border is very likely, both to make it larger and to use more stash.

Happily looking forward to making more colorful leaves!

Happy Quilting, Friends!