Under the Maple Tree: Week 1
let's sew pretty leaves
Greetings! After the busy summer months, October brings glorious autumn in the northern hemisphere. In The Netherlands, the leaves are turning red, yellow and fiery orange, and it will be rainy all week long. Sewing a canopy of leaves feels particularly fitting in this context. Their brilliant fading embodies the dignity and strength of nature’s cycle.
Come sew-along! Find out more about the Under the Maple Tree sew-along at the master sew-along post. It’s a digital pattern, so you can grab it in a flash and sew right along.
Hopefully you already have a copy of the Under the Maple Tree pattern and have zeroed in on a background for your quilt.
Still unsure about your accent color? Don’t worry. Why not just start with sewing leaves this week? You can audition a few accent colors when you can see how your leaves look with your background color. It’s always easier to choose well in real life!
WEEK 1 GOAL
Sew 15 Maple Leaf blocks
Ok, let’s get her started! In order to sew maple leaf blocks, you’ll want to do the cutting on page 4 of the pattern and some of the background fabric on page 5. From the background fabric for the patchwork blocks, you really only need the 2”, 2.5” and 4” squares. Of course, you could cut all the background fabric for patchwork blocks, which would includes lots of elements for the Breeze and Sunlight blocks. Then you’d be working ahead!
Personally, I don’t prefer to cut all background fabrics at once. I cut a few big stacks of background squares and then started making eyes at these gorgeous fat quarters, just arrived last weekend from Floyd the Fox, a German fabric shop. I needed more Art Gallery Sweet Macadamia (my background fabric) and these fat quarters somehow sneaked into my basket.
Since I am using a limited palette for my new version of Under the Maple Tree quilt, I figured that some fresh fabric in the ideal shades would be good.
Here are the fabrics from top left and moving clockwise:
These are mostly Art Gallery and Fableism fabrics. It’s my first time seeing Fableism fabric in person, and wow! Great quality and lovely colors. I’m super excited to mix these beauties in with my scraps.
Here I am sewing HST blocks from a bunch of my scrappy squares. Now that I have built up some supplies in terms of cut fabrics and sewn HST blocks, I will take a break from all this prep work to actually sew leaves.
My first maple leaf block is about to be born! How about you?
SHARE TO WIN!
This week share a photo of your Under the Maple Tree progress on Instagram or Substack chat!
Your photo enters you into a giveaway for the Trimmings Pattern Pack (€24). Deck the halls with handmade goodness! Use your favorite fabrics to make festive holiday decor to enjoy year after year. This pattern pack includes three patterns:
Zigzags in the Round Tree Skirt
Evergreen Pillow
Quilted Stockings
Giveaway open worldwide! Winners will be announced weekly in the sew-along newsletter and contacted via Instagram or Substack messaging.
Two ways to enter!
On Instagram, share your photo with hashtag #UnderTheMapleTreeQuilt.
On Substack (that’s where my blog lives now!), share your photo in the chat.
On the Substack chat your photos won’t be lost to the Instagram algorithm and we’re finding it easier to connect as a community. Why not try?
What are your pressing recommendations? Would you show the back of the leaf block?
Hi Rachel! Do you have any tips for sewing up these leaf blocks efficiently/quickly? I'm making so many trips between table, machine and iron that my steps are up but one leaf takes a long time and 15 will be challenging.