Maple Leaf

I can see my maple trees from the window.  The seeds are off and the leaves are almost open.  This is block 56 according to the Farmer's Wife book.  I chose an alternate construction technique.  You are not surprised by this are you?

Cutting:
Color 1 (pink in my block)

• 1 - 2 1/2" x 6 1/2"
• 1- 2 1/2" x 4 1/2"
• 1- 2 1/2" X 2 1/2"
• 2- 2" finished half squares (cut with 2 1/2" strip)

 Color 2 (yellow in my block)

• 1- 2 1/2" square
• 4- 2" finished half squares (cut with 2 1/2" strip)
• 2- 2" squares

 I just love that yellow fabric.  Thank you to whomever brought that to the garage sale.  There was just a small piece of it, and it was perfect for this block.

1. sewing your half squares together
2. Use the cut away technique and cut away a triangle from both the 6 1/2" piece and the 4 1/2" piece.  Add the remaining 2 half squares to the corners.
3. Lay the 2" square on top of the 2 1/2" square right sides together and stitch corner to corner.  You can either mark on the diagonal, or use the cut away technique.  The stitch line should be lined up corner to corner.  Do the same thing with the last square and press toward the center stem.
4. Join the 6 units to make the completed 6 1/2" block.

Pressing- I pressed the top and bottom rows to to the left, and I pressed the rows toward the center row.










If you need help with the cut-away technique, you can refer back to this post.  If you don't want to do the cut away method, you can use 2 1/2" squares instead of half squares and mark them corner to corner on the wrong side of the fabric.

I hope you enjoy this block as much as I did.  We are about at the end of the quick and easy blocks.