A New Leaf

I was thrilled when Jan of Daisy Janie asked me to participate in her Bee Block Blog Hop to celebrate the release of her New Leaf line of fabrics. I am a real fan of her fabrics. She has put a lot of thought and research into her organic fabrics and has written some great articles on the impact of organic versus non organic.  

Here are a couple of her articles - GOTS,  Organic Cotton, and other links and Growing Organically

Did you know that each yard of organic fabric from Daisy Janie has prevented 1/3 of a pound of toxic fertilizers and pesticides from being used to grow cotton? That's almost 5 pounds per bolt.

The cotton in Daisy Janie fabrics is also harvested, processed, printed, and finished without the use of toxic silicone waxes, chlorine bleach, harsh petroleum scours, azo dyes, formadehyde or heavy metals. 

All that and she still comes out with fabrics with beautiful rich colors like these. 

Now, about the blog hop - There are fourteen participants in the blog hop. Each participant has made a 12 inch block from these fabrics and mailed them back to Jan who will be making a quilt. You can read more in Jan's blog post - there's also a chance to win a bundle of fabric so if you want to enter you'll need to read about the particulars on that.

The block I made is called Grandmother's Favorite. It's a traditional one but these fabrics really give it a new look.

Below are directions to make the 12 inch finished version of the block.

For the center, cut a 6.5 inch square. For this block it is fussy cut from one of the large scale print in the New Leaf line.

For the corner blocks cut two dark and two light squares that are 3 7/8 inches. Then cut them on the diagonal.

 

For the back ground on the sides cut four 3 7/8 inch squares and cut them in half on the diagonal.

For the side triangle sections cut one light and three dark 4 1/4 inch squares. Cut them twice on the diagonal as shown below.

Lay out all of the pieces as shown below.

Now, you can start sewing it all together. First, sew the corner halfsquare triangles together into squares.

Next, sew the center side sections together, starting with the two triangles in the center as shown below.

Next, add one of the other small triangles.

Then add the other small triangle.

Then add the larger triangles as shown below.

Now the block is in sections that can be sewn together like a nine patch. It's almost finished!

This was the point in the process that I realized I had the block arranged wrong. I needed to switch the corner blocks around. It would work this way but I like the look below much more.

Sew those together and ta-da! there's a great looking block.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the Blog Hop.

Mon, 1/14 - Becky Moyer, My Fabric Obsession
Tues, 1/15 - Lynn Harris, The Little Red Hen - that's me.
Wed, 1/16 - Candy Glendening, Candied Fabrics
Thurs, 1/17 - Holly DeGroot, Bijou Lovely
Fri, 1/18 - Melanie Thornton, Melanie Dramatic

Mon, 1/21 - Emily Cier, Carolina Patchworks
Tues, 1/22 - Rachael Gander, Imagine Gnats
Wed, 1/23 - Maureen Cracknell, Maureen Cracknell Handmade
Thurs, 1/24 - Leanne, She Can Quilt
Fri, 1/25 - Cindy Wiens, Live a Colorful Life

Mon 1/28 - Cheryl Arkison, Dining Room Empire
Tues, 1/29 - Jacquie Gering, Tallgrass Prairie Studio
Wed, 1/30 - Shanna Bailey, Fiber of All Sorts
Thurs, 1/31 - Katy Jones, Monkey Do

If you're playing along to win the fat quarter bundle-

The FQ Scramble letter here is R.