The Bee in my Bonnet Row Along - Row 7...Leaves!!!

Happy morning everyone!

Today is row 7 of the

Bee in my Bonnet Row Along

Around these parts we are in the tail end of the autumn season...

so I thought it would be fitting to make a cute row of 16 colorful falling leaves!

(Or swirling or twirling or blowing around in the chilly autumn wind leaves :-)

Start by choosing your leaf colors.

Choose 16 fabrics and pair them up in the same colors because each leaf is one color but with 2 different fun fabrics!

Cut a 3" square from each fabric...

and set them aside for a bit while we make the cute little stems.

From your stem fabric...cut 1 - 3/4" x 20" strip.

From the white fabric...cut 2 - 1 3/8" x 20" strips.

These are for the stems.

Now cut 32 - 1 1/2" squares

AND

32 - 1 1/4" squares

AND

32 - 1" x 3 1/2" strips.

(all from white)

Now onto sewing the stems.

Sew a brown strip to one white strip with a scant 1/4" seam allowance....

press towards the white!

Sew the remaining white strip onto the other side of the brown and press towards the white like this.

Your strip should now measure 2 1/2" x 20".

Now cut a 1" x 2 1/2" segment...

making sure to keep all lines straight with the ruler. 

And there you go!

One easy peasy stem done.

Continue cutting until you have 16.

Now set them aside and let's sew a couple of leaves.

Keep your 3" squares paired up and cut them each in half.

Now you have 32 - 1 1/2" x 3" rectangles.

2 rectangles make 1 leaf.

Sew the paired up sets together and press the seam open.

You will use 4 - 1 1/2" squares...

 and

 4 - 1 1/4" squares to sew Easy Corner Triangles for 2 leaves.

The larger squares go on the top and the smaller on the bottom. 

Sew from corner to corner on one side...

Trim ...and press towards the triangles.

Now repeat for the other side making sure you sew in the direction that will form the shape of the leaf.

Trim and press again.

At this point...your leaves should each measure 2 1/2" wide x 3" tall.

Now you can sew a stem to the bottom of each leaf.

Press seam towards the stem.

Now sew a 1" x 3 1/2" white strip to each side.

Press the seam towards the white strips.

Your leaf blocks should each measure 3 1/2" square at this point.

Now that you have sewn a few leaves and you know the drill..

You can chain sew the remaining leaves to make it even faster!

Turn each leaf in a different direction as you sew them into your row so that they are twirling in the wind;-)

Sew a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" white strip onto each row end and trim your row so that it measures 50 1/2" wide like all of the others.

(I unpicked the 1" x 3 1/2" strip off the end of the left side of the row and replaced it with the 2 1/2" wide strip before trimming up the row width)

YAY!!!

Now celebrate!!!

You have 7 rows complete...you are awesome!!!

I love these little leaves....do you?

The colors of autumn leaves are always so beautiful...

Our quilt is growing...

I'm looking forward to seeing all of your pictures on the

Bee in my Bonnet flickr group 

There is so much inspiration there!

I hope every one is enjoying the last little bits of autumn...I know I am.

What a beautiful world we live in!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving my friends...

xx

Lori