A Little Halloween Treat

In the Thrifty Quilter’s Facebook group the other day, I shared a color inspiration photo that generated a bit of conversation. It was a Jack-o-Lantern. The pumpkin was painted orchid purple, Pantone’s Color of the Year. The orchid paired with the bright orange of the pumpkin’s insides made my color sensor jump and cry “eek!” After my initial shock, however, it occurred to me that we see orange and purple a lot in sunrises and sunsets, so it’s not as outlandish as it seemed.

I wasn’t sure I could commit to an entire purple and orange quilt, but I happened to have a block in my sketchbook that I was willing to try it on.

I call it “Double-Framed Double Dutch.”

Here’s how to make this totally TQable 12″ (finished) block:

For each block, you will need:

Dark Purple: Four 2.5″ squares

Light Purple: Four 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles and twelve 2.5″ squares

Light Orange: Four 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles

Dark Orange: Four 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles and four 2.5″ squares

White: Four 2.5″ x 4.5″ rectangles and eight 2.5″ squares

Construction:

Step 1a – Sew and Flip

For this block, we’re going to use the “stitch and flip” technique to trim corners on the rectangles.

To do this, you will draw a diagonal line on the back of your squares, align the square with the end of your rectangle, sew on the line and trim away the corner 1/4″ from the seam. When you press the seam open, you will have a rectangle with a contrasting corner.

Step 1b

Make two light purple rectangles with white corners on the upper left and two with white corners on the upper right. In the Thrifty Quilter system, we call these “wedge” units.

Step 1c

Make four white rectangles with dark orange corners on the upper right.

Step 1d

Make 4 light orange rectangles, with a white corner on the upper left and a dark purple corner on the lower right. This is a “blade” unit in Thrifty Quilter terms.

Step 1e

Make four dark orange rectangles with light purple corners on the upper left and upper right, a.k.a. flying geese units.

Step 2

Sew the white & dark orange wedge units to the blade units as shown to make one quarter unit. Make four of these.

Step 3

Now sew the four quarter-units together to make the Double Dutch pinwheel. Set aside.

Step 4

Sew the light purple and white wedge units to the ends of two flying geese units.

Sew the remaining 2.5″ light purple squares to the ends of the other two flying geese units.

Step 5

Sew the shorter strips to the sides of the Double Dutch unit.

Step 6

Sew the longer flying geese strips to the top and bottom of the Double Dutch unit to complete your Double-Framed Double Dutch block.

I have to admit, by the time I finished this block, I was thinking  that an orange and purple quilt wouldn’t be bad at all. I don’t think I’d even use sashing…just set the blocks together side by side, so the Double Dutch pinwheels and their dark orange frames “float” on a light purple field. I’d probably add a 4″ white border and bind it in the dark purple. 12 blocks would make a 44″ x 56″ crib quilt, and 20 blocks would make a cozy 56″ x 68″ lap quilt.

I can also see this block in Christmas reds and greens. Or, a scrappy quilt with the pinwheel and inner border in different colors from block to block, tied together with a black and multi-colored print in place of the light purple border.