Welcome back to another Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild season!
And it's Block of the Month/Block Lotto time! I'm Leslie Stobbart and I'm back as your Block of the Month coordinator again this year. I'm being joined by Theresa Cody, who has also volunteered to join me this year. I'll be setting the design for the September > October Block, and then Theresa will take reigns for the October > November design. Thank you, Theresa!
I thought I'd start our own OMQG tradition of having the first Block of the year follow a Halloween/Fall theme. Because who doesn't want to have help making their own Fall-themed quilt? Last year we did spooky houses, and this year, it's pumpkins!
I've adapted this tutorial from one I found on Craftsy. I made the dimensions slightly larger than the Craftsy instructions, and also expanded the instructions to allow for a single-fabric pumpkin, a stripey pumpkin, or a patchwork pumpkin. I think a mix of all three designs in one quilt will look very cool!
Colours:
For the pumpkins, you can go with standard orange fabric, or you can mix it up with white fabric. Solids or prints, whatever speaks to you!
For the background, let's stick with black(ish) fabric choices. Feel free to choose either solids or prints for these, too.
You'll also need a bit of brown fabric for the stem, and green fabric for the leaf on each pumpkin.
For a Single-Fabric Pumpkin:
- 1 square of pumpkin fabric, cut to 6.5" x 6.5"
- 1 brown 1.5" x 1.5" square (this will be the stem of the pumpkin)
- 1 green strip, cut to 1.5" x 3" (this will be the leaf)
For a Stripey Pumpkin:
- 3 pumpkin strips cut to 2.5" x 6.5"
- 1 brown 1.5" x 1.5" square (this will be the stem of the pumpkin)
- 1 green strip, cut to 1.5" x 3" (this will be the leaf)
For a Patchwork Pumpkin:
- 9 squares of pumpkin fabric cut to 2.5" x 2.5"
- 1 brown 1.5" x 1.5" square (this will be the stem of the pumpkin)
- 1 green strip, cut to 1.5" x 3" (this will be the leaf)
Background Fabric:
These pieces are the same for all three variations.
- 2 strips cut to 1.5" x 7.5"
- 2 strips cut to 1.5" x 8.5"
- 1 strip cut to 1.5" x 3"
- 6 squares, cut to 1.5" x 1.5"
1. Sew either the pumpkin strips together, or the patchwork squares together into a nine-patch, as shown in the photo below. If you are making a single-fabric/non-scrappy pumpkin, you get to skip this step.
2. Mark and sew the corners. Place a background square on each corner of the 6.5" pumpkin piece, right sides together. To shape the pumpkin, mark each square with a diagonal line from corner to corner. Sew on these lines.
3. Trim the corners. Using a ruler and rotary cutter, trim the corners ¼” from the sewn line. Press the corners away from the pumpkin fabric.
4. Make the leaf. Place the remaining two background squares on top of the green strip. Mark these from corner to corner as well, then sew on the lines, trim and press the corner HSTs out.
Sew the pieces together, then press both seams in toward the brown square.
6. Attach the stem to the pumpkin. Sew the stem and leaf row to the top of the orange strips. Press the seams away from the pumpkin.
7. Finish the block. Sew the 1.5” x 7.5" background strips on either side of the pumpkin block. Press the seams toward the border strips.
Sew the 1.5" x 8.5" background strips to the top and bottom of the pumpkin block. Press the seams toward the background strips to finish the block.
Very excited to see the collective pumpkin patch we'll all make for the lucky winner of the Block of the Month draw at the October meeting!
