The crisper weather, colourful leaves and Hallowe’en make October my favourite month of the year. Grinning jack-o-lanterns welcome the season.

(***scroll to the bottom of the page for a printable PDF version of this pattern)

Cutting Instructions (for one 12” finished block- it will be 12 ½” before sewing on 1 ½” strips):

From a variety of orange scraps:

• cut twenty-four 2 ½” squares

• cut five 3” squares

From black fabric (.25 m / ¼ yd or scraps):

• cut two 2 ½” squares

• cut five 3” squares

• cut 2 strips 1 ½” x 12 ½”

• cut 1 strip 1 ½” x 14 ½”

• cut 2 strips 1 ½” x 6 ½”

• cut 2 strips 1 ¾” x 4” (nose)

Cut one 1 ½” x 2 ½” brown rectangle

Outer border fabric (.25 m / ¼ yd): *** you might not want to cut the outer border lengths until your block is completed with narrow background borders in case seam allowances are not consistent

• cut two 3 ½” WOF (width of fabric) strips (cut one 14 ½” and one 20 ½” length from each strip)

Binding: three 2 ½” strips (.25 m / ¼ yd)

Backing: one piece 23” square

Batting: one piece 23” square

Hanging sleeve: one piece 5” x 20 ½”

Sewing instructions:

*** ¼” seam allowances are used throughout. Refer to my Scant Quarter Inch tutorial for your own perfect ¼” seam.

Nose section: two 2 ½” orange squares and the 1 ¾” x 4” black strips

• place the 2 orange squares on top of each other with right sides together

• mark the centre point (1 ¼”) on the bottom of the top square (figure 1)

• mark a point 2 1/8” on the right hand side of the square from the right bottom corner (figure 2)

• draw a line from one point to another and cut that little section off (figure 3)

• you now have 2 units that are mirror images of each other (figure 4)

• stitch one of the 1 ¾” x 4” black strips to each cut edge and press seams toward the black (figure 5)...my strips are a little longer because they were already cut from scraps

• line up the 2 ½” markings from the ruler on the opposite corner and trim the excess off (figures 6 & 7)

• stitch the 2 units together to create the triangular nose, but don't press the seam until it's with the other squares in its row (figures 8 & 9)

Half Square Triangles (HST's): five 3” orange squares and five 3” black squares (the following squares are in different colours, but the technique is the same)

• draw a diagonal line on the back of all the 3” orange squares

• with right sides together place a black square with an orange square and stitch ¼” from both sides of the drawn line (repeat for all 5 sets) (figure 10)

• cut them apart along the drawn line and press towards the black

Trimming HST's: (the following HST's are in different colours...the trimming is the same)

• line up the diagonal line from the ruler on top of the seam line making sure that the entire 2 ½” area of the ruler is on top of the HST and trim the excess from the right and top of the square (figures 11 & 12)

• turn the HST around, place the 2 ½” markings from the ruler on the already trimmed corner and trim the final 2 sides (figures 13 & 14)...repeat with all HST's

Block layout:

• lay out the 2 ½' squares and HST's by following the photograph below for placement (figure 15)

• stitch squares in each row together and press seams in each row in the opposite direction to the one before it (figure 16)

• stitch all rows together lining up seam lines (sorry…forgot to take this picture!)

• press seams in one direction

Narrow borders (figure 17):

• stitch 1 ½” x 12 ½” black strips to the sides of the block and press seams toward the strips

• stitch one 1 ½” x 14 ½” black strip to the bottom of the block and press seam toward the strip

• stitch one black 1 ½” x 6 ½” strip to each side of brown rectangle and press seams to the black

• stitch this unit to the top of the block and press seam toward the strip

*** If you plan on making a calendar quilt, just stop with this completed block. If you want to make a wallhanging follow the instructions below.

Outer border:

• stitch 3 ½” x 14 ½” outer borders to the sides of the block and press seams toward the borders (figure 18)

• stitch 3 ½” x 20 ½” outer borders to the top and bottom of the block and press seams toward the borders (figure 19)

Finishing:

• layer the backing, batting and top together and either spray-baste or pin-baste the layers together

• quilt as desired, also run a straight stitch within the seam allowance all around the outer edge...this stabilizes the edge for applying the binding

• trim backing and batting even with the quilt top

• follow my Hanging Sleeve tutorial

• apply the binding using your preferred method (the hanging sleeve will be stitched in place as the binding is sewn on) or follow my Best Ever Binding tutorial