Leaf Block Tutorial

Hi everyone!  Hope your weekend is off to a great start.  :-)  Today I am sharing a quick tutorial for a pieced leaf block.  Since the leaves are changing and the weather is cooling down, I thought this would be a fun block to show you.  Ready?

I used five 5" squares from a Late Bloomers charm pack for this one. Two "background" squares and three prints for the leaf. 

Start with one leaf square and one background square.  Place right sides together (RST) and stitch all the way around - a quarter inch on all sides. 

Now slice the squares on the diagonal and press your half square triangles (HST) open.

Trim your blocks to 2.5" square.  Place the seam on the diagonal line on your cutting mat and trim. 

You'll have four 2.5" HST blocks.

Next, cut your second background square into four 2.5" squares.  Then cut a 1" wide strip off of one leaf fabric square.  Slice one 2.5" background square along the diagonal and stitch the the triangles to the 1" strip.

Once you have stitched both triangles to the strip, trim to 2.5" square like you did before with the HST.

Cut your third leaf fabric square into four 2.5" squares.  Layout out your block as shown below.

Stitch each row together - pressing top and bottom rows to the left and middle row to the right.

Attach rows matching seams between the blocks.  Press.

Admire your new leaf block! :-)

Sorry for the not-so-hot lighting.  The sun was going down.  You could easily make the block smaller or larger by using different size squares.  I happened to have some charm squares laying around and wanted to play with the prints so I used 2.5" squares.  If you have any questions, just leave a comment.

Also, there's a few days left to enter a fall-themed project in the October Stitch & Share Challenge.  :-)  Hope you'll join us!

Happy Sewing! :-)