Swirling Leaves for Hello Fall Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop at the Hello Fall Blog Hop. When I saw Carla's button for a fall blog hop, I couldn't resist. I'm thrilled to be part of this fun event - Thanks Carla 😊

Making Swirling Leaves

Swirling Leaves

I have to admit that I had some pretty grandiose ideas for this blog hop....and then it was two weeks before the event and I got realistic! This wall hanging is a simpler version of my original plans. I'm really happy with the way it came out - and it didn't take months to make!

All along, my idea was to make a wall hanging with falling maple leaves. About a month ago, while walking with Chevy, I found a small bunch of maple leaves that had fallen off a tree. That was the first part!

I then made freezer paper templates from most of them, ironed them onto some gorgeous hand-dyed fabrics and Voila! I had a whole bunch of leaves to work with. Only the orange leaves are made from my own hand-dyes.

Freezer paper template

Once the leaves were cut, I rummaged into my neutral scraps and made up the background. These are from the last three neutral quilts that I've made in the last few years.

Choosing neutral fabrics for the background

I had a great time doing some improv piecing, my favourite kind of piecing. Since I wanted this quilt to be as simple as possible to make, I even took the time to square up the pieces so that it would be relatively easy to finish. It worked!

Choosing borders

With the background finished, I auditioned some fabrics for borders. Since these are relatively muted colours, I went into my civil war reproduction fabrics and found two perfect pieces.

On the weekend I added the borders and appliquéd the leaves. I found a perfect piece of batting and backing. 

A sandwich ready to FMQ

Then came my favourite part - free motion quilting (FMQ). I started by quilting-in-the-ditch around the two borders. I then chose different thread colours to quilt around each leaf and stitch in the veins, following my freezer paper template since my leaves had all dried up by then. Because the quilt is pretty muted, I took the opportunity to use some lovely variegated thread for the leaves.

Details of the FMQ

I FMQ the background with swirls and extended them into the first border. For the final border, I quilted some leaves.

Swirling Leaves with the Burning bush

What I learned

• I'm glad that I reduced my plans based on the limited time I had. Maybe one day I can make that original one, but like I said, it would have taken months!
• I love improv piecing. I kept it simple this time, using square and rectangular pieces of fabric that fit together easily. 
• My big lesson learned was taking the time to square up blocks as I was putting the improv pieces together. It really made a difference in the end.
• I like how the FMQ in the neutral background sort of makes it recede. I was afraid that some of the fabrics would overpower the piece.
• I even stitched down the binding by machine from the front. There was only one spot that I had to hand stitch down at the back. That was a huge time saver.
• Of course I lost that saved time when I stitched the sleeve to the wrong end of the quilt (sigh). 

Links to Carla's Creatin' in the Sticks

• Carla's posts for the Hello Fall Blog Hoop
• Carla's post for Monday, Day 1
• Carla's post for Tuesday, Day 2
• Carla's post for Wednesday, Day 3 
• Carla's post for Thursday, Day 4

Links to Wednesday's participants

• Quiltscapes
• Ms P Designs USA
• Stitchin At Home
• Just Because Quilts
• beaquilter
• Patchwork Breeze
• Selinaquilts
• Lily Patch Quilts
• Not Afraid Of Color
• Quilting & Learning: What a Combo! (You're here!)

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties around the virtual world of quilting. Lets see what's going on! Muv is hosting the Free Motion Mavericks linking party this week - visit and link up! Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, What I Made Monday, Colour & Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Long Arm Learning, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Friday Foto Fun, Beauty Pageant, Peacock Party, Oh Scrap!, Quilting & Patchwork, 

A reminder to join us on October 1st for the trans-Atlantic party! Find out more about this special linking party.