Hive 1 July Tutorial

Hello everyone,

Happy Canada Day! One of my best American friends married an awesome Canadian guy about 8 years ago in July and I've always wanted to make them a Maple Leaf quilt of some kind. I could never quite decide what/how to make it, but now I have you all to help me! These two friends have a happy busy life together and are two of the greatest folks I know, so I want to celebrate their family. They love greens and blues and being outside. Trees are a big deal to them since they live in Toronto and have less access to green space than they'd like sometimes- she's a biologist and loves growing things.

So taking color inspiration from Alanna last month and Jennifer a few months ago, I'm looking for your greens and maybe a few blues this month. Bright greens, chartreuse, grassy green, emeralds - greens of any kind but not so much deep olive-y tones. Blues should go more towards the turquoise/aqua spectrum, less toward deep royal/navy. But if that's what you have, use it!  Prints with other colors in them would be great - They have 3 little kids busily running around, so think happy/cheerful/bright! 

Here are the greens I pulled from my shelves ( I don't have much green, so this is actually ALL my green fabric!): 

For the background of the leaves, I'm looking for whites, and it would be great if you have whites with print on it in white/gray/black. Mostly I'm trying to tell you I love prints - Solids are okay if that's what you have, but feel free to share the prints you may not be as excited about with me.  Additionally, I used the same green for my leaf, but if you'd like to scrap it up and make the leaf out of different green scraps you have on hand, feel free to do so. I love scrappy quilts!  Please make the background fabric all the same.

Here's what I found on my shelves for the background: 

I loved how T asked for stars of different sizes, so I'm going to try that too - send me a Maple Leaf block in any size you'd like.  I went with a 12.5" for my sample block, but if you have a favorite Maple Leaf pattern you like, please feel free to use it! You know I dislike paper piecing myself, but if you love it and have a fancy Maple Leaf pattern already, please go right ahead! 

I found a few block directions online that seemed clear and reasonable: 

All Patched Up - 12" Maple Leaf Block

Quilts by Jen - 6" Maple Leaf Block 

Craftsy Tutorial - 8 1/2" Maple Leaf Block 

I followed Angela's directions from All Patched Up pretty closely, except for the stem part. You might notice the Craftsy tutorial doesn't make a stem, it's fine with me if you choose not to.

For the leaf fabric I cut: 

• 1 7.25" square
• 3 4.5" squares
• 1 2"x7" rectangle

For the background I cut: 

• 1 7.25" square
• 2 4.5" squares

I sewed the two big pieces at 1/4" seam all the way around to get 4 Half Square triangles by cutting both diagonals. I pressed and trimmed these guys to 4.5"

Then for the stem, I mostly followed Angela's directions by cutting one background square on the diagonal, and then matching it up and sewing to both sides of the stem fabric. I just eyeballed this, though, I wasn't quite as exact - there's a little extra wiggle room in this so plenty of room to trim.

I did press and trim this guy to 4.5" after sewing. Then it's easy peasy, laying out the shape of the leaf and sewing each row together, one at a time.

I pressed my seams open, because that's my habit and I'll be quilting on my machine, open seams seem to make this easier for me. I'd prefer open seams but if you are on auto pilot sewing and just press the way you like, I won't hold it against you.

There you go, there's my maple leaf block. This was a pretty fast one for me, I hope you enjoy making a leaf for my Canadian friends. Thanks so much for sharing your sewing, and if you have any questions, please let me know! I wasn't too detailed because I think you have all been sewing longer than me and this block is fairly simple, but please let me know if you need any clarification. Thanks again, I can't wait to see your leaves!

Happy sewing, 

Greta