Freefall Quilt Along Step 4

There are three different styles of leaves that float on half-background, half-shadow leaf fabric.  Of course, you could choose to make all six the same; just know that you might have to cut more of either the background or shadow leaf fabric.

H1 Leaves
The first ones I've labelled H1.  Half and half (background and shadow leaf) is where the H comes from.  We will make two of these.

Note:  To avoid confusion between leaf fabric and shadow leaf fabric, I will refer to the shadow leaf fabric as green, which my big shadow leaf is.

Make the leaf point first, using background fabric for the side triangles.  Next make only four HSTs using two background (low volume pastel print) and two leaf (purple brick print) 2.5" squares.  Then make two HSTs using the third leaf (purple) 2.5" square and one green 2.5" square.  Finally make two HSTs, using one each of background and green fabric squares. Note that in the photo below I used the purple brick print as my leaf print because it has such good contrast with both to show you how to pair these up.

Press the background/green fabric HSTs to the green fabric.  Lay out as shown below, noting that you need a 2" square of green fabric next to each corner HST and also one 3.5" green square:

Piece as you did for both previous sets of leaves, squaring to 8".  The only difference is that instead of the two rectangles of background fabric, you have two 2" squares to piece with the HSTs in the top left and bottom right corners.  Hint: piece those first. 😉 Press the bottom one to the 2" square, and the top left one to the HST.

H2 Leaves

The second pair of leaves are constructed the same as the H1 leaves, but you reverse the placement of the green (shadow leaf) fabric and background fabric.  Pair your 2.5" squares to make the HSTs as shown below:

Lay out the leaf as shown below:

Here is what it looks like once you start to sew together the top sections, and the bottom sections.

Make two.

H3 Leaves
We are making two of these.

Take the one green 2.75" x 3.75" rectangle and the one background fabric of the same size that remain from the cutting step.  Lay them atop each other wrong sides together.  Use the template you made for the side triangles for the leaf point and cut two of these.  You will have two identical green (shadow leaf) side triangles and two identical background triangles.

Piece a leaf point as you did before, but using one green side triangle and one background triangle with your leaf fabric.

Next, pair your (3) 2.5" leaf squares as follows:
one 2.5" square with one background
one 2.5" square with one green
Then, cut the third 2.5" square in half on the diagonal.  Do the same with one background and one shadow leaf 2.5" square.  Pair one leaf triangle with a background triangle, and the other with a green triangle.  See below.

Stitch HSTs as before.  Press 2 of the leaf/green HSTs to the green, and one to the leaf fabric.  Repeat with the background ones, pressing 2 to the background and one to the leaf fabric.  Finally, pair the 4" square of background fabric with the 4" square of green fabric.  Draw a line on the diagonal and stitch 1/4" on either side; cut apart and press.  Square to 3.5".

You will have the following:

Piece and press exactly as you did for the leaves that float on background.  Square to 8".

Have fun! In two weeks we'll assemble the quilt top.  Please note that if you can't wait, and you want to go ahead, avoid having more than 2 leaf points pointing together.  I didn't even think about this when making Freefall, and ended up with 3 sets of points, way too many seams, coming together.  For Windfall I planned a bit better!

As usual, you can download a free copy of this step in my Craftsy Store (affiliate link).

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