Autumn has always been my favorite season. Nice weather, orange leaves, football, pumpkin spice, Halloween, what’s not to like?! Now that I live in Austin I enjoy it even more because I know a frigid cold winter no longer follows. This past weekend we finally dipped down into the 80’s and I decided I just HAD to make an autumn quilt. I’ve been ogling the Modern Maples quilts the Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild has been working on from the Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays book by Lark Crafts. Maple happens to also be one of my favorite things on the planet, so this is a match made in heaven. If calories didn’t count, I could drink maple syrup straight from the jar like Elf, no joke.
I also happened to stumble upon THIS gorgeous quilt by Karen Black of Bungalow Bay Quilts. I can’t even descibe how in love with this quilt I am. I’d love a replica for myself, but instead decided to incorporate some of this inspiring quilt into a different version of the Modern Maples quilt. I’m going to call it my “Not So Modern Maples” quilt. My layout isn’t at all asymetrical, so I won’t even try to pretend it’s modern. I also picked out a bunch of non-modern fabrics this go round, I think it will be the most traditional quilt I’ve made!
This weekend I sewed up a ton of maple blocks, they work up very fast! I used a variety of oranges, with a few grey and maroon ones worked in. Not quite enough contrast if it were purely going to be maples, but perfect for what I’m ultimately going for.
I’m incorporating the black and white nine-patch blocks from the star quilt to make it a little more “Halloween.” I worked up a bunch of nine-patches last night using the neutrals I used in the background of the maples. I like where it is headed, but I’m not quite there yet. I either need to take out the darker neutrals, or strictly stick with white neutrals. I’m going to work up a few nine-patches following both of those ideas and see what I like best. The leftovers can go on the back.
See what I mean about some of them being too dark? I only have about half of my maples up on the wall for the photos with the black and white nine-patches.
This weekend I’m heading to a Sew-in with the Austin Modern Quilt Guild at Honeybee Quilt Shop up in North Austin. I hope to make some more progress then!
Linking up to WIP Wednesday by Freshly Pieced!
mustlovequilts 
It looks great with the nine-patch blocks! I like the variation with the different light colors, so my first impulse would be to take out the darker neutrals. It’s impossible to tell from pics, though. I’ll look forward to seeing how it ends up!
Thanks! I think we are on the same page. I’m going to cut up more squares and play around before I sew any more nine-patches.
It’s a beautiful quilt, I think it looks lovely as it is.
I like the darker neutrals. This might sound weird, but they give the quilt a “damp” feeling to me, making me think of wet leaves on the sidewalk. Whatever you decide to do I’m sure the quilt will turn out beautifully.
That doesn’t sound weird at all! I hadn’t thought about it that way, but you’re right. I still think I like the lighter neutrals, but b&w blocks with the darker neutrals will make an interesting quilt, and now it does remind me of damp leaves!