A Little More About Autumn Leaves

Back to my leaves...

Organizing all of the pieces for Autumn Leaves proved to be a lot of fun (I like systems). I got to see which fabrics from the stash had already been used and which units and blocks were already sewn and then was able to easily assess what was left to do.

This fabric is gorgeous and really suits the pattern.

Here's an illustration of how the fabric is cut and assembled using the Thangles to make the 2" and 4" HSTs. You cut two strips of fabric, a light and a dark, the same width as the Thangles paper strip and lay them out right sides together. Pin the paper to the strips, sew along the dotted lines and then trim along the solid lines. Pretty easy, and the HSTs come out perfectly.

I kept my head down and sewed the remaining blocks as quickly as I could and in about a week they were all finished. Soon all of the blocks were sewn together and I had much of the flimsy together. On to the piano key border....M

Anna Levens Comes Out of Hibernation

After a very cold and miserable spring we finally seem to be into summer weather, and that means hand stitching on the deck, which also means that Anna Levens has resurfaced. I think the last time I posted about her was the August long weekend of 2024, so it's been a while.

I had picked it up very briefly over the winter and recently managed to get enough hexies together to sew another 42 to one long edge, so I'm hoping to keep the mojo going. I'm loving revisiting all these prints!

I still get a kick out of the basting papers that I use and the messages that they seem to send me. I punch my own papers from business reply cards that come in magazines and mailings so there's some interesting reading...

And some I take as prompts. There's still rhubarb in the garden so me thinks that it's time to bake a little something from them - scones, muffins, cake?....M

Autumn Leaves Falling Out of the Blue

You don't expect a quilt to fall into your lap, but recently one did just that. Helgard, one of our church quilters, showed up with a small box a few months ago and in it was a partially completed quilt called Autumn Leaves. Her daughter had started it but lately it had been going nowhere so she passed it on to us to finish, with the proviso that whatever we did with it would benefit the church.

We eagerly dug into the box and did lots of oohing and ahhing about both the fabrics and the workmanship, but nobody jumped in to say that they would finish it. So, into the cupboard it went. Fearing that it would never be touched again, I later took it home to see just how much was still left to do.  

Something that had given us pause was that it was made using 'Thangles' and only Jan had ever worked with them before so I wanted to get a bead on that too. 

It turns out that Thangles are preprinted papers with sewing and cutting lines designed to ensure perfect HSTs every time. The quilt pattern looks like it was created in 2007 so I'm thinking that is about when Thangles came to market; they are still available for sale. I'll say more about them in another post.

There were 14 completed 12" blocks of two different types, one with a single large leaf...

and a second similar block with two smaller leaves.

In addition, there were various components, including lots of stem blocks. 

These were the blocks that scared me most because from what I had seen in the first viewing they were impeccably made and I couldn't imagine trying to match them, especially without the matching thread. I couldn't believe our luck when I realized that they were all made. Whew!

We still needed to make 7 more pairs of blocks - 14 in total - so I pulled a selection from the remaining fabrics and decided to get those cut....M

A Diversionary Tactic Guaranteed to Work

Whether it's hand piecing or machine stitching, I much prefer working on projects when they are small and relatively close to 'block-sized'. As they grow larger and approach the flimsy stage I tend to get a little antsy, despite the fact that continuing to work on them would get me that much closer to a finish. Just don't like dealing with all that fabric!

Sooo, rather than stick to finishing up what might be on the design wall, I often go into squirrel mode: let's start something new! Works every time. 

That would explain this lovely star. It would also help explain the number of projects that I have on the go at any one time and the mess that is my sewing room.

I have a Happy flimsy on the design wall waiting for the sashing to be finished, and more recently a second star flimsy that needs 2 - 3 more blocks made (I'll share that in a bit) but instead, I scratched an itch and started digging through scrappy neutrals and creamy pinks to try out a block that I've been eyeing from afar. Luv, luv, luv!

Originally, I thought that this one would be for Quilts for Survivors, but it turns out I'm really not that generous after all. This one is hitting all the right buttons so me thinks it's going to stay with me. The idea of digging up and incorporating the last remnants of special fabrics to make this work is so much fun.

I haven't cut any more piece or made any more stars but that doesn't matter right now - I'm loving staring at this one. I think it's going to be called Strawberries & Cream....M