Block of the Month - October 2015 Patched Pumpkin

Okay, okay, I know that I said that the new regime for the BOM week was that it would be in the second to last week each month and then a relevant make the following week but this month is special. Halloween is the big event at the end of the month so, just this once I promise, we have moved the feast. I hope that is okay....*crosses fingers*.

This weeks big moment comes from Simply Homemade magazine here in the UK - it's Christmas pretties time! Christmas begins embarrasingly early in magazine land! Check this one out anyway...

I love using little squares up and this time a few squares and a few half triangles equals a patched pumpkin! Add a text print around the outside and you have a classic pumpkin block.

So what do we need? Scraps of orange fabrics and scraps of text prints. The scraps need to be large enough to cut a 9cm square plus a couple of 10cm squares - you will see why in a second. You need a small amount of brown too.

Just to clear something up - the 10cm squares are on the edges of the pumpkin and give it a rounder shape so two of them are cut from orange and two are from the text print and then you mix them up so that the pumpkin looks scrappy.

This is a larger than usual sized block at 47cm sq. and you can reduce it (or indeed increase it further) by adding or subtracting a centimetre to each side.

Okay, here we go. Construct this block in rows and to make your life easier, begin with the centre.

Row 1 :The centre row is constructed with four mixed orange squares 9cm x 9cm with a text block on each end like this...

Row 2: Add a row under that of two whole orange squares with a HST unit (from the 10cm squares) on each end and a text block either side of that....

Here is the HST unit by itself...

Row 3: The bottom row is text squares (9cm x 9cm) mixed up.

Row 4: Now go to the row above the centre one and repeat row 2 in mirror image....

Row five: Is the one with the stalk. The first and last two squares are plain text 9cm x 9cm. The two in the middle (browns) are 9cm x 5cm with half brown and half text...

Join them together and you have this.....

The brown 'stalk' adds up to 9cm x 9cm now with the magic of mathematics.

Now add the other bits of the row...

Finally, the top row is plain text...

Give it a good press and you have a pumpkin block! Here is a slightly closer view...

That's one purdy punkin! I think that I I had my time over again, I would make the stalk darker so that it stands out more against the newsprint. This way is subtle though so......

Consider some black applique to make it into a jack-o-lantern or leave it as it is. As I said, this is a large block and it is very likely that I will be cutting the outer rows down to make them fit better with the project that I have in mind. And this is perfectly alright. you can make blocks and then adapt them to all sorts of things.

Next week's post will show you how to quilt it and turn it into a cushion. Till then!

Love and hugs

Debbie xxx