Freefall Quilt Along - Step 1 - Cutting

Welcome to the first installment of our Freefall wallhanging QAL!  I am so pleased that you are here.  Happy Spring Equinox, First Day of Spring, if you are in the Northern Hemisphere, Happy Autumnal Equinox, First Day of Autumn, to those n the Southern Hemisphere.  Who knew quilting would have me using so much geography and math!

I am even more pleased to announce that I have got yet another prize for finished flimsies or quilts!  Lara of Buzzin' Bumble has offered a copy of her book Crafted Appliqué (that takes you to her book on Amazon; I'm not an affiliate, just a great book and technique to check out) to one lucky winner!  

I got to know Lara through Pets on Quilts at LilyPad Quilting; we love all animals, but dogs especially.  We love good literature, from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling to the poetry of Mary Oliver. She lives at the northeastern end of 'our' lake, Lake Erie, I live at the southwestern.  I was so happy to be a part of her book launch last May.  This brings the total value of prizes to a little over $250!! Wow!

Here's a reminder of our quilt stats:

Quilt size:  38" (note that it has no borders; you can always add some if you prefer!)
Block size:  7.5" finished
Number of Blocks: 25

Abbreviations
WOF - width of fabric 
BG - background

Cutting

Background Fabric
1.  Cut an 8.5" X WOF strip.  Cut this further into two 8" squares.  Look at the bottom lefthand corner of the quilt photo where there are four squares; two leaf blocks and two blank blocks.  These are those two blank squares.  

Note! Set these two squares and the remainder of this strip aside for now; you will use it in Step 3 when we construct the big shadow leaf point in the top right corner of the quilt.

From the remaining fabric cut:

• (1) 4" strip by WOF; subcut into one 4" square, and (8) 3.5" squares
• (1) 2 3/4" strip by WOF; subcut into 9 rectangles 2 3/4 x 3 3/4"
• (2) 2.5" strips by WOF; subcut into (31) 2.5" squares
• cut (2) 2" strips by WOF; subcut into 14 rectangles 2x3.5" and (4) 2" squares

You may want to label each of these sets, as it will be over the next several weeks that we pull from them.

Shadow Leaf Fabric

• (1) 4" strip by WOF; subcut into one 4" square, and (10) 3.5" squares
• (1) 3.5" strip by WOF; subcut into 18 rectangles 2 X 3.5"
• (1) 2 3/4" strip by WOF; subcut into 11 rectangles 2 3/4 x 3 3/4"
• (3) 2.5" strips by WOF; subcut into (37) 2.5" squares
• (4) squares @ 2" 

Individual Leaves (multiply the following pieces by 20, for 20 leaves)
The pieces for each leaf can be cut from a scrap approximately 7x11" OR 10 different fat eighths will yield enough pieces for 20 leaves, two of each colour.  It is important to plan a bit here.  Lay out your 20 leaf fabrics atop the background fabric and atop the shadow leaf fabric.  Six leaves float on the background fabric and eight leaves float on the shadow leaf.  Six will float on half background/half shadow leaf.  Remember the photo from the previous post that shows is what I did:

I still moved a few around after I took the photo!

Cut the following for each leaf:

• (1) 3.5" square
• (1) 2 X 3.5" rectangle
• (3) 2.5" squares 
• (1) 2" square
• (1) leaf point - you will use the template made in the paper-piecing tutorial which you will find here 

You may want to organize your sets of leaves into ziploc baggies.

See you in two weeks. 😊

Freefall Quilt Along Schedule

March 14 - Fabric Requirements and Tips
March 20 - Step 1 Cutting
March 27 - Link-up #1
April 3 - Step 2 Construction of Leaves that Float on Shadow Leaf
April 10 - Link-up #2
April 17 - Step 3 Construction of Leaves that Float on Background and Shadow Leaf point
April 24 - Link-up #3
May 1 - Step 4 Construction of Half and Half Leaves  
May 8 - Link-up #4
May 15 - Step 5 Quilt top Assembly
June 15 - Final Link-up for Flimsy or Finished Quilt  

Linking up
Cooking Up Quilts
Patchwork Times