Tessellated Leaves Pattern Testing Blog Hop

I am beyond excited to help introduce a quilting pattern by Yvonne Fuchs, AKA the Quilting Jetgirl!  Yvonne has written her first pattern for publication and I want to share my experience in testing her pattern.

First, my finished crib quilt!  I love it, and I hope you do, also!

Tessellated Leaves has been carefully and thoroughly written.  I chose to make a two-color, crib sized quilt as it seems as if all of my coworkers are reproducing.  Fortunately, Hawthorne Threads was able to send me the most  beautiful fabric in baby girl colors, from the AMH line, Honor Roll.  

Yvonne's pattern gives detailed instructions, from how much fabric to purchase to precutting your fabric into the needed strips (very helpful).   There are 8 HST's in each block, and things will go so much more smoothly if you just sit down and construct them in advance.  I like the method that Yvonne uses, which produces two HST's from each set of squares. The pattern calls for 3.5 inch squares; however, I found too much fabric waste when I trimmed my HST's  I cut my next strips at 3.25 inch, and got perfect little HST's with little waste.  Yvonne immediately included that tip into her pattern!

One of the many things I truly liked about the Tessellated Leaves pattern was the use of the diagrams.  I took the page with the basic construction diagram (page 6) and taped it on the wall in front of my machine.  Then all I had to do was look at it as I sewed my pieces together.  Still, being me, I managed to do several things backwards.  

Note the HST's which are determined to go the wrong way.

Tips?  Again, makes your HST's ahead.  Also, be consistent in pressing your seams in the same direction.  They will "nest" nicely if you do. In this pattern, every piece that you have cut ahead and stacked in order will mean a very flowing and easy process for construction.

Double check the direction of your HST's before you stitch your rows together to avoid seam ripping or possibly missing a stray HST going in the wrong direction (see above photo).

I ended up with very little fabric left over.  Just enough backing fabric to let me cut some squares for my AMH scrap quilt (yea!) and then a small piece (not even a fat eighth) of the pink focal fabric, so the fabric requirements are spot on.  

I would make this quilt again, using the two-color or the four-color design.  

The Tessellated Leaves Pattern Testing Blog Hop continues through the week, and I encourage you to visit the sites below to see more quilts, more tips, and the wonderful color arrangements that are possible with this pattern!

Here are all the stops on the Tessellated Leaves blog hop:

• Sunday, January 25th – Introduction by Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl

• Monday, January 26th – Debra Harrison @Quilting Makes My Heart Sing

• Tuesday, January 27th – Audrey Dautenhahn @Hot Pink Quilts

• Wednesday, January 28th – Laurel Rosenberg @Drowning in Fabric

• Thursday, January 29th – Shauna Trueblood @Shauna’s World

• Friday, January 30th – Pamela Davis @PBarrettHill Fashion

• Saturday, January 31st – Wrap-up by Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl

By the way, the pattern is available for purchase!  To introduce Tessellated Leaves, the pattern will be available in Yvonne's Payhip Store for $6 during the blog hop (through January 31st) before it goes up to its regular price.