Autumn lovers, rejoice! The colors of fall last for such a short time, but with Terri Vanden Bosch's A New Leaf quilt, you can enjoy those bold hues whenever you want. Terri used Jackie Robinson's Autumn Leaves collection paired with a paper pieced tree block to make this fun quilt.
 |
"A New Leaf" by Terri Vanden Bosch;
featured in Quilty Sepember/October 2018 |
What attracted you to
Jackie’s fabric collection?
Jackie's fabrics are always so beautiful up close
–the tiny bit of metallic glitz just makes this line sparkle even more—like the
late fall sunsets shining through the half bare trees!! The collection has a
great variety of dark, medium and lights in it, which gave me plenty of options
for the trees.
Can you talk about this
quilt design came to be?
When I was a child, we traveled to my
grandparents’ house and we would pass through a small town with a maple tree-lined
street. The top branches of the trees on either side of the street would touch
each other and form a canopy of leaves over the road. Seeing those trees meant
that we were half way to Grandmas' house!! Only 45 more minutes to be carsick
and stuffed with three of my siblings in the back seat of our Dad's Ford.
Funny twist to the story--my daughter and her
family now live in this small town--and the Maple trees still line that
street!!
So I designed the quilt to be trees--Leaf Lane
was my original name. I think it would be fun to make a few of the
"trees" bare--then they might look more like trees and less like
leaves.
Why does paper piecing
work well for a design of this style?
Paper piecing gives me freedom to create
designs that are not based on the straight lines of grid based blocks--while I
love those too--sometimes it is just fun to play and create something
new!! I used to be scared of paper piecing--but once I started using the
Add-A-Quarter ruler to trim off the excess fabric to a 1/4" seam allowance
for easier placement of next fabric--I was hooked!!
Any tips for making
quilt?
Always make a test block when paper piecing. Each
person has their own way of doing this technique--so make sure the cut fabric
sizes work with the technique you use before cutting out the whole quilt. After
making sure the cut fabric sizes work for you, then stack the pieces to make
for easy chain piecing.
Can you talk about how
you quilted this, and why?
As a professional long arm quilter I find that
choosing the motifs for quilting is one of my favorite parts of the quilting
process. I am quite passionate about making the quilting design fit the feel of
the quilt.
I chose a greeny/gold thread color to do a
swirling vine and loop across the entire quilt top--mimicking the swirling
vines and leaves on some of the fabrics. This let the fabric and piecing be the
star of the quilt.
What do you like best about the quilt?
The simplicity and movement of the rows just feels
right and makes me remember the maple-lined streets of a childhood memory!!
Click
here to see the Autumn Leaves collection.
Click
here to visit Terri's website.
Click
here to purchase the kit for A New Leaf.
Click
here to purchase the A New Leaf pattern.
Click
here to find Quilty magazine.
