Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Mini Pumpkin Quilt Pattern

Remember the little door knob quilt I made for Valentine’s DayWell today I woke up inspired to make one for Halloween.  I love how it turned out and it takes no time at all.


Here's what you'll need:

Orange fabric:  
 2 ¼” x 2 ¼” squares
16 
 1 ½” x 1 ½” squares
 7" x 7" square for backing

Blue fabric:
 2 ¼” x 2 ¼” squares
 1 ½” x 1 ½” squares
1 – 2 ¼” x 25” strip  for binding (I actually used a small length of binding left over from another project – yes, I’m a scrap hoarder)

Brown fabric:
 1 ½” x 1 ½” square

You'll also need a 7" x 7" square of batting, a scrap of green wool, green perle cotton or embroidery floss, basting adhesive, and 12” twine.


And here's the pattern:

To make the orange/blue half square triangles, place an orange 2 1/4" square on a blue 2 1/4" square with right sides together and edges lined up.  Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of the orange square.  Stitch a scant 1/4" on either side of diagonal line.  Press seams.  Cut on diagonal line and press open towards the blue.  Trim half square triangle to 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".  Makes 2 half square triangles.  Repeat for remaining set of 2 1/4" squares.

Referring to the photo, lay out the 4 half square triangle units, 16 orange 1 1/2" squares, 4 blue 1 1/2" squares and 1 brown 1 1/2" square to form the pumpkin.  Join together half square triangles and squares to form rows.  Join together rows.  Press.  The pumpkin top should measure 5 1/2" x 5 1/2".

Cut a leaf shape from the green wool and pin it to the pumpkin top.  Appliqué the leaf to the pumpkin using green perle cotton and a whip stitch.  Stitch veins on the leaf using a big running stitch.  Stitch the vine using a back stitch.

To make the quilt sandwich, spray basting adhesive to the wrong side of the pumpkin top and with your hands press it to the 7” x 7” square of batting, right side up.  Spray basting adhesive to the wrong side of the orange 7” x 7” backing square and adhere it to the other side of the 7” x 7” batting square.

By the way, this was my first time using spray basting adhesive and I think I’m in love!  But I digress.

If you’d like to quilt the pumpkin by machine or by hand, now would be the time.  Trim the sandwich to 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" and use your favorite method to bind the quilt. 

For the hanging loop I found a length of twine, tied a knot at either end and stitched the knots to the upper back of the quilt.  And voila!  C’est fini!





If you’d like your pumpkin quilt to look a little more Halloweeny, try embellishing it with an appliquéd or embroidered jack-o-lantern face instead of the green leaf.  Either way, happy quilting and Happy Halloween!