Maple Leaf Quilt Block

I'm in the middle of sewing a Farm Girl Vintage quilt using patterns from the Lori Holt quilt book called Farm Girl Vintage. 

I'm making the quilt blocks that relate to my own little farm, like a bee, black cat, chicken, strawberry,  pumpkin, and tractor. 

I have multiple sugar maple trees in my yard and in late winter I tap those trees to make real maple syrup. So, of course, I want a maple leaf block in my Farm Quilt.

There are many patterns of a maple leaf, the pattern is actually quite old. I almost used the one version from the Farm Girl Vintage book but decide to come up with one of my own. 

By the way, I love Lori Holt's books!!
Lori Holt's maple leaf is super cute and really easy to make, but I wanted a more realistic one. 

Here is the scrappy leaf by Lori Holt (Bee in my Bonnet).

And here is a link to another version posted in 2010, using mostly rectangles for the leaf pieces on  Rollen Blog   (Patchwork Geometry).  She has good diagrams of the maple leaf point template.

And here is what a real maple leaf looks like.

I decided to combine a couple of the online patterns to create my own scrappy maple leaf like that of Lori Holt's with mostly all squares, but that's shaped a little closer to the real thing. And with a stem, of course!

10-inch leaf

This diagram is working with a 2-inch grid.  If you have grid paper you can draw up nearly any pattern you want. You can change the size of the quilt block simply by making the squares larger or smaller. This is a 10-inch maple leaf and when finished, I added a 2-inch background border making a 12-inch quilt block

To make it easier to cut the correct fabric for each piece, I labeled the pattern.

Here is the labeled pattern.

• B is Background
• T is Template
• L is Leaf
• S is stem

When cutting out each piece, make sure to add a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
For example:
The L leaf squares would be 2 1/2 inch squares.
The larger rectangle background pieces are 2 1/2 by 4 1/2
The leaf side points are half triangle squares.

**Again, make sure you cut all fabric with a 1/4 inch seam allowance!

Different sizes, with or without border

And use multiple shades of fabric for that really cute scrappy look.
For a fall leaf, use various shades of yellow, orange, and red.
For the cute scrappy leaf-like Lori Holt's, use multiple shades of pastel and ginghams.

The stem is 2 background pieces cut at 3 1/2 inches and a brown square cut at 4 1/2 inches.
Here're the directions to make the stem.

My completed leaf stem 

For the top part of the leaf, you will need a template;
Draw a 4 inch by 4 inch square on a sheet of graph paper. Draw a line from the left top corner of the square to the middle or 2 inches down on the left-hand side of the square.
Now draw a line from the top right-hand corner of the square to the bottom middle of the square (2 inches over from the left).

Here is how the template should look when drawn on a 4-inch square.

Cut out the pieces.
You can either use these pattern pieces to cut out the top leaf fabric pieces, making sure to add 1/4 inch seam allowance, or you can make new pattern pieces with the seam allowance included, before cutting out the fabric.

A1 and A2 are backgrounds
B is the leaf.

Sew the pieces together and make sure to trim the edges.

The tip of the maple leaf

Here are all the pieces cut and laid out.  I used multiple shades and patterns of greens for my summer sugar maple leaf.

I have to tell you, I must have rearranged this pattern a million times to get just the look I wanted.

Wouldn't this look fabulous using fall colors for a fall maple leaf in a fall quilt!

Some of the quilt blocks for my Farm Quilt

I just finished a quilt to give as a Christmas gift (it's top-secret) and also just started an Autumn quilt for myself. It's a little late in the season for an Autumn quilt, but I should have it done in time to enjoy it a little before Thanksgiving.  

Elizabeth

Other Posts:

Farm Market Display Shelves

Camper Remodel, Part 1

Homemade Vanilla

Making a Patchwork Quilt