Leftovers Quilt--Swirling Autumn Leasves

For one of her earlier quilts, my daughter C. made a pile of nine-patch leaf blocks from autumn-colored scraps. When the quilt turned out smaller than her first idea, there was a pile of blocks left that lingered around her house for several years, until one day we were inspired to see if we could come up with Quilt B. We pawed through the Odd Blocks Box and found four additional nine-patches, and after arranging and re-arranging the 28 blocks, we came up with a swirling pattern we loved. Judicious (and tricky!) addition of background brought them together.

After another period of incubation, I took it along on a recent Grandma gig as a project for spare moments. After layering and beginning to quilt, I realized, as I often seem to do lately, that another border was simply essential. The rust outer border and batting were added after the fact, which finishes the design, but makes smooth quilting difficult. It works, but no matter how much you trim the seam of the new border, there is a little ridge to catch the sewing machine foot. We live and learn!

We'll enjoy wrapping up on chilly fall evenings.