Autumn Leaf Mini Quilt

Nov 6, 2023

By Sharon McConnell

Have you been sewing the autumn leaf blocks along with me?

Each week in October, I shared instructions to make a different leaf quilt block. If you haven't started, you can make them yourself any time. See previous blog posts for each tutorial.

Today is a quickie! We are going to add some sashing strips and start putting our leaf blocks together to make a little quilt to celebrate the season.

Each of the leaf blocks should be 10 1/2" at this stage. I'm making my quilt with just one of each leaf and setting them together four-patch style. The sashing is going to be the same navy fabric I used for the background of each block - this creates a pretty effect of the leaves 'floating' - and is cut 2 1/2", will finish 2".

Cutting

Navy fabric: Cut two strips 2 1/2" x 10 1/2"; three strips 2 1/2" x 22 1/2"; two strips 2 1/2" x 26 1/2".

If your blocks didn't finish exactly 10 1/2" square, adjust the length of your sashing strips to fit the measurement of your blocks.

Sewing

1. Arrange the four leaf blocks as desired. For my layout, I rotated the blocks so that the leaves are all oriented to kind of 'twirl' around the center. Note the position of the of the stem in each block. Leave space in layout between blocks for sashing strips.

2. Make two halves of the quilt by placing a 10 1/2" x 2 1/2" sashing strip between the two blocks on the left side. Place the second 10 1/2" strip between the two blocks on the right side as shown above. Sew the blocks and strip together. Press toward strip.

3. Reposition two-block units made in step 2 and place a 22 1/2" sashing strip on right and left sides of the layout as well as between the two block units in the center.

Sew the strips and block units together. Press toward sashing strips.

4. Sew the 26 1/2" sashing strips to the top and bottom to finish quilt center. Press toward sashing strips.

You can now finish your little quilt as you like! Baste, quilt, and bind now for a table topper or small wall hanging. Maybe you have scraps from the leaf blocks that you could use for a border to make the quilt a bit larger. It's up to you!