Blue and Gray Sampler BOM: Fredonia Oak Leaf

Almost 30 years ago there was a quilt and fabric store in my town called G Street Fabrics. They began to offer something I had never heard of: a Block of the Month. It was simple: you could get a FREE block pattern once a month if you walked into their store to get it. (There was no such thing as a digital pdf gotten online). You had no idea what the other blocks were going to be (though you did know the theme: Baskets, Stars, etc). 

So, I waited until the final block was handed out in December and THEN started sewing my blocks! I imagine some of you may do that, except you can see what our final project is!

Our first block in this Blue and Gray Sampler is the Fredonia Oak Leaf. I made this before using wool and raw edge appliqué. It is a 12" block (and then I added borders).

12" Fredonia Oak Leaf

This is a vintage block pattern. The center is cut as a single appliqué. But the block I am offering here is the 24" center of our quilt.

24" Fredonia Oak Leaf

Let me show you some simple steps to my process for getting that huge red appliqué piece from a single piece of fabric. Yes, you can get this from a fat quarter. You may have decided that you want to use more than the 5 fabrics I have in the pattern. That's ok; it's your quilt!

I use freezer paper for my template material. You can find this in your grocery aisle with the plastic wrap, etc.

Reynolds freezer paper

I needed a 21" square and this is only 18" wide. I had to add a few inches to two consecutive sides. This was easy because I ironed them on (as opposed to glue). It worked!

Large 20" square of freezer paper

Then I folded it in quarters and traced the 1/4 template onto one quadrant (from the paper side). (Yes, I will be giving you this pattern in a few minutes)

Tracing the quarter template onto freezer paper

Now it's time to fold the paper back up and cut out the FOUR layers for the single appliqué. Notice that I used clips to keep all four layers from shifting as I cut. You can use paper clips or even staple them as you can see with another of my Hawaiian Appliqué patterns here: 

Getting ready for my Hawaiian Appliqué Blocks

The key is to keep them from moving as you cut through all four layers!

Cutting out the Fredonia Oak Leaf appliqué

Now, that's a really big piece of freezer paper, right?!  Here it is all cut out and ready to be unfolded.

Fredonia Oak Leaf center all cut out

Then I carefully placed it on a fat quarter of Uncorked and ironed it (paper side up; wax side down). If I was going to use raw edge machine appliqué, I would already have the fusible webbing attached to the wrong side. At this time, I don't want another 24" block!

Oak Leaf template ironed to right side of fabric

I have always used this technique for appliqué patterns that are made of 4 equal shaped units. Here's my Friendship Plume (an old Mountain Mist pattern) getting ready to be cut out:

Friendship Plume. Same technique used for our Fredonia Oak Leaf

Here is a link to an older blog post that shows these steps using my simplified Hawaiian Appliqué pattern: http://sewinlovewithfabric.blogspot.com/2016/03/technique-tuesday-using-veggie-fabrics.html. The link for the Fleur de Lis pattern is disabled. But you can find it with the Friendship Plume pattern above.

Here is the link to the 2 page pdf pattern. Please don't share it with others. Invite them to come get their own copy. Please note: THE SECOND PAGE WITH THE FULL SIZE TEMPLATE MUST BE PRINTED ON 8-1/2" X 14" PAPER.

Fredonia Oak Leaf Pattern, first block in our Blue and Gray Sampler BOM.