Bountiful Fall

This month’s theme is Bountiful Fall and the block is a basket block. The block introduces new quilters to a simple way to make half square triangles.
The basket block is also great for stretching.

Basic Basket Block

Read the whole directions before starting

Supplies:

• Fabric scraps for the basket, the background and some floral/fruit fabric inside the basket. There should be good contrast between the basket and the background fabric.
• A pencil or marker that shows up on your fabric
• 12″ square of batting and backing fabric if you are making a quiltlet.

Fabric Pieces	Background	Basket	Floral
5″ square		cut 1	cut 1
2″ square	cut 10	cut 8
2″ strips	cut (1) 11″ long cut (2) 9 ½” long cut (1) 6 8” long cut (2) 5″ long

Instructions:

1. Reference the table above and cut all the pieces as indicated.
2. On (8) of the 2″ background squares and on the floral 5″ square draw a diagonal line with pencil or marker going from corner to corner on the wrong side of the fabric.
3. Place the eight marked  background squares on top of the eight  basket fabric squares (right sides together).
4. Sew a thread’s width to the side of the drawn line.
   
   

   
5. Fold the top fabric over revealing a half square triangle. If you did not sew the diagonal perfectly (it happens) then when you fold it one way the top triangle will be skimpy and the other way it will overhang. Fold so it overhangs and trim even to the square. It will work fine, the diagonal line will just be a bit off.
   
   

   

   
6. Each half square triangle has (2) extra fabric triangles underneath. Trim these off leaving a rough ¼” seam allowance. These half square triangles should measure 2″ square.
7. Place the 5″ floral fabric on the 5″ basket fabric (right sides facing) and sew on the diagonal, just off the marked line. Make sure the part of the floral fabric you want to show has the extra fabric. Trim off the underneath triangles. This  half square triangle should measure 5″ square.
8. You now have (8) small half square triangles and one large one.
9. Lay out the patches to form the basket. Aside from the half square triangles, you need (2 ) 2″ squares and the (2) 5″ strips in background fabric. See picture below
10. Sew all the handle and base border pieces together according to the design in the picture. Be careful. It is easy to make the mirror of what you want.
11. Start with that shortest handle strip attach it to the center basket block, add the other handle and then the short base piece followed by the longer one.
12. Add the (4) border strips. Start with the shortest and end with the longest.
13. Lay the batting down. Cover the batting with backing fabric (right side up) and then top that with the quiltlet right side down. Pin and take to sewing machine.
14. Sew ¼” from outside edge of the quiltlet on all four sides, but leave a 3″ gap on one side.
15. Trim batting and backing fabric to ¼”. Cut the tips of the 4 corners at a 45º angle to just an 1/8th inch beyond the seam point.
16. Turn the quilt inside out, use a pencil point to gently push out the corner. Whip stitch the opening closed.
17. Quilt as desired. You are now done!

Stretched Basket Block

Make a basket block using any method you want. Try a free form basket and add a bias handle. Look at the work of Gwen Marston or Freddy Moran for ideas or here are more ideas from our Pinterest page.

Out of the Box – Bountiful Fall

Make a journal quilt with the theme “Bountiful Fall”