Several people have written to me with kind words and interest in the “Harvest Festival” quilt top that I made and donated to Quilts of Valor-UK, so I thought I would explain the history of that top and provide some links for similar patterns.
I actually started this top about seven or eight years ago. When the QOV-UK lady said she was coming to my area sooner than expected, I had to get something ready for her very quickly, so I pulled this quilt top out of my UFO cupboard.
Most of the focus fabric came from a Benartex charm pack from many years ago and included country-style prints of apples and some plaids in various colourways. I also used some stash fabric that complemented the mix — some orange to represent pumpkins, purple for aubergines (eggplants), and a variety of greens.
The blocks were paper-pieced, and they came from the original version of the Foundation Factory software. The pattern is “Corn and Beans No. 3,” and the blocks were 4 inches square. I needed a block that only used a small quantity of focus fabric because the charms were only 5 inches square. That’s why this is such a brilliant pattern for using up scraps. The background fabric is an assortment of cream-on-cream scraps from stash.
When I had lots of blocks made up, I just moved them around until I found a pleasing arrangement. The borders are plain strips, and the colours are supposed to represent green cornfields and “amber waves of grain.”
I have found some patterns on the Internet to share with you:
Dawn Duperault has a similar paper-pieced block called Hen and Chickens that you can print out.
Marcia Hohn at The Quilter’s Cache has a nice pattern for a larger Corn and Beans block, and the outer corner elements are the same as the block I used. Her pattern is done by traditional piecing with some nifty cutting shortcuts, and her instructions and illustrations are clear and easy to follow.
Easy Quilting has a lovely pattern here which uses traditional templates, and Sally Schneider has a similar pattern called “Mary’s Triangles” that she teaches in classes.
I miss that quilt now that it’s gone. Maybe it’s time to make another one!
Happy Sewing! 🙂
Read Full Post »
