Happy Harvest Topper
Canning is a big part of a country summer. Here’s your chance to do canning the easy way.
SKILL LEVEL
Confident Beginner
FINISHED SIZES
Topper Size: 50" x 50" Block Size: 7" x 11" Number of Blocks: 12
MATERIALS
• 1/4 yard, fat eighth or 1 (10") square each of 12 different food prints • 3/ 8 yard lime green
• 1/4 yard gray
• 5/ 8 yard orange
• 1/2 yard turquoise
• 11/ 8 yards dark red
• 7/ 8 yard green with yellow dots • Backing to size
• Batting to size
• Thread
• Basic sewing tools and supplies
PROJECT NOTES
Read all instructions before beginning this project.
This quilt is made of a center square with four pieced borders made up of blocks interspersed between pieced background units. If you wish to make individual blocks that include the background, follow the alternate cutting and piecing instructions where noted by an *.
Stitch right sides together using a
1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise specified. Press after each seam.
Materials and cutting lists assume
40" of usable fabric width for yardage and 20" for fat eighth.
WOF – width of fabric
HST – half-square triangle
QST – quarter-square triangle
CUTTING
From each food print cut:
• 1 (71/2" x 8") A rectangle (12 total) From lime green cut:
• 2 (3" x WOF) B1 strips
• 2 (2" x 21") B2 strips
• 24 (2") B3 squares
From gray cut:
• 1 (41/2" x 21") C strip
From orange cut:
• 2 (31/2" x WOF) D1 strips
• 12 (3" x 71/2") D2 rectangles
From turquoise cut:
• 2 (6" x WOF) E strips
From dark red cut:
• 6 (21/2" x WOF) binding strips
• 4 (11/2" x 361/2") F1 strips*
• 5 (11/2" x WOF) strips, stitch short ends to short ends, then subcut into:
2 (11/2" x 481/2") F2 and 2 (11/2" x 501/2")
F3 border strips
*Alternate method: Cut 12 (11/2" x 121/2")
F1 strips.
From green with yellow dots cut:
• 1 (241/2") G square
COMPLETING THE BLOCKS
1. Mark a diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of all B3 squares. 2. Place a B3 square on each of the top two corners of an A rectangle as shown in Figure 1. Stitch on the marked lines and trim seam allowances to 1/4". Press open. Make 12 Unit 1’s.
This is for my nephew who grew up on a farm and was fascinated with the fabric illusion of canning jars on a similar quilt I designed and made years ago.” —Nancy Walhout Recker
3. Sew a B2 strip to the top and bottom of a C strip to make a strip set as shown in Figure 2. Press open. Subcut 12 (11/2"-wide) Unit 2 segments from the strip set.
4. Sew a Unit 2 to the top and a D2 rectangle to the bottom of one Unit 1 as shown in Figure 3 to complete one Jar block. Make 12 Jar blocks.
COMPLETING THE TOPPER
1. Sew a B1 strip to the top and a D1 strip to the bottom of an E strip as shown in Figure 4a. Press open. Make two strip sets. Cut eight each 51/2"-wide and 3"-wide segments from the strip sets to make eight each Wide and Narrow Unit 3 segments.* *Alternate method: Subcut 24 (3"-wide) alternate Unit 3 segments (12 from each strip set) as shown in Figure 4b.
2. Referring to Figure 5a, sew three Jar blocks, and two each Narrow Unit 3 and Wide Unit 3 segments together in a row. Sew an F1 strip to the top to complete a Border.* Make four Borders.
*Alternate method: Referring to Figure 5b, sew an Alternate Unit 3 to the left and right sides of a Jar block. Sew an alternate F1 strip across the top as shown. Sew three Jar/background sections together in a row to make a Border. Make four Borders.
3. Refer to Partial Seams and Figure 6 to partially sew a Border to the top edge of the G square, making sure the tops of the jars will be toward the G square when opened out.
4. Continue adding the three remaining Borders, working clockwise around the G square. Finish stitching the first seam to complete the quilt center.
5. Sew F2 strips to the sides and F3 strips to the top and bottom of the quilt center. Press.
6. Layer, quilt as desired and bind referring to Quilting Basics. QW