Hello from Raleigh, NC! This is my first time doing a stash bee and I've been having a great time and I certainly hope my blocks have been well received by all the previous Queen Bees. I've been sewing for a long time (like over a decade) but I've only been a quilter for about six of those years. Obviously, I took to it fairly well since I've now become a full time longarm quilter. (It's funny how life works) I'm actually writing this post at the start of May so I can be ahead of schedule since my quilting lineup has gotten quite busy and I don't want to fall behind on anything.
I debated back and forth about what I wanted my block to be. Halloween is my absolute favorite so I almost had everyone make a super spooky and fun block (like a haunted house) but I actually have over five Halloween quilts already and I do hate how I can really only keep them out one month of the year. (I could keep them out longer theoretically but then people tend to give you strange looks.) So I opted to keep it within the "Fall" theme and go with a pumpkin block. That way, I have a solid three months to keep this quilt out.
For color schemes of this block, I'm not too picky. Pumpkins are orange, obviously. I'd prefer more earth tones or deeper oranges because those say Fall to me more than brighter oranges. In my sample, I did a two fabric pumpkin, but don't feel like you need to do that. If you want to use six colors of orange, go for it. The stem can really be any brown you want and the leaf can be mostly any green (I would say nothing too bright though). And for the background, I'd prefer a cream rather than a white. Any of these colors can be a print or a solid, I have no preference in that regard. Here are a few color fabric pulls for "inspiration"
Orange- Cut 6 strips at 2.5"x10.5"
Green- Cut 1 rectangle at 2.5"x5.5"
Brown- Cut 1 square at 2.5"x2.5"
Cream Background
Cut 6 squares at 2.5"x2.5"
Cut 1 rectangle at 2.5"x5.5"
Cut 2 strips at 1.5"x12.5"
Cut 2 strips at 1.5"x14.5"
When you lay your pieces out, it'll look at little like this:
Step 2: Sewing the pumpkin body
Sew your 6 orange strips together. Everything in this block is sewn with a 1/4'' seam allowance. Press all seams to one direction (either left or right).
Take 4 of your 2.5"x2.5" cream background squares and draw diagonal lines on each piece, from one corner to the direct opposite corner. Then place the squares on the corners of the pumpkin piece you just made and pin in place (like the photo below). Proceed to stitch along the line you drew on all four pieces. Then trim 1/4'' on the OUTSIDE of the stitched line. Then press the corners outwards.
Step 3: Sew Your Stem and Leaf
Take the last two of your 2.5"x2.5" background squares and draw diagonal lines as previously done. Align them to left and right edges of your green rectangle piece, making sure that your diagonal lines are in the same direction of bottom left to top right. (See photo below). Sew along diagonal lines again and trim 1/4'' on the outside of the stitched line. Press corners outwards. Then sew the 2.5"x2.5" brown stem square to the LEFT side of leaf piece and press towards the stem. Lastly, sew the 2.5"x5.5" background rectangle to the left side of the stem square. Press towards the stem.
Thank you, everyone! Hope you enjoyed this block!
-Carrie
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