Welcome to Melva Loves Scraps and the Little House Sew Along. The first block is the Maple Leaf block representing the first book of the Little House series - Little House in the Big Woods.
In the Big Woods book we are introduced to Laura's family - Pa (Charles), Ma (Caroline) and their children - Mary, Laura and Carrie. They lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin in a little gray house made of logs. Laura said there were no other houses or people that lived nearby in the woods... only wild animals such as bear, huge wild cats, muskrats, mink and otter and foxes and deer.
The family lived off the land. Pa hunted the wildlife, they grew a garden, and they tapped the maple trees to make maple syrup. The inspiration for block one!
I remember as a child wanting to make the small molasses and sugar candies like Laura and Mary did in preparation for Christmas. Ma showed them how to pour the dark syrup in little streams over the clean white snow that was in a pan. The syrup would harden at once and become candy.
While growing up, my parents made lots of Christmas candy - Peanut brittle, cinnamon candy, butterscotch candies and more. We would put together a tray of cookies and candies and deliver to family.
I seem to recall that in addition to the use of sugar, a lot of Karo Corn Syrup was used in the candy making. I don't remember ever having real maple syrup as a kid. In fact, it wasn't until well into my adulthood that I started using pure maple syrup. Maybe it was because I grew up in the plains and river bottom area where we had primarily cottonwood trees. Maple trees simply didn't grow in the area. As a young couple with two children and a limited income, pure maple syrup was expensive compared to other pancake syrups. You know the ones... Auntie J and Mrs. B. ;)
After getting married and living in the Midwest I grew to love maple trees. So much so, that we now have two maple trees growing in our front yard. They are a special hybrid of maple to live in the higher elevations and drier climate. But they still turn bright red in the fall and that is what I wanted. There isn't much that I miss about living in the Midwest, but the brilliant fall colors that included reds and oranges is one of them. Sure, the golden aspens cottonwoods here in Colorado are nice, but there's nothing like the brilliance of the Midwest fall colors (in my opinion). (We have New England in the fall on our bucket list of travel destinations, as the photos are stunning there too!)
Laura's story tells of the process of tapping the trees, cooking down the syrup and how to tell when the cooking process was done. They had a family gathering and a dance to celebrate the extended sugaring season due to a change in the weather... and, of course, Pa played the fiddle. ;)
Times have changed and people simply go to the store to purchase all they need... Though there are an increasing number of people beginning to "homestead" and figure out how to live off the land.
Admittedly, I find the convenience of purchasing ingredients from the store more appealing than trying to grow and harvest what we need for life. I do have the skills and knowledge though.
Gardening was easy in the Midwest... and I did so much food preservation in the 1980s and early 1990s. Tomatoes, green beans, apples, berries, and so much more. The deer were numerous in the area and Dave had connections with the local police to obtain deer that were involved in a car accident. "Road Kill" can be considered a gross thing... but I'm not talking road pizza - Now that's GROSS! Dave would be selective in the deer he would bring home. We would grind for burgers (mixed 50/50 with 70% ground beef) and even make our own bratwurst and sausages.
Along with the meat from his deer and goose hunting, we ate well on a very small budget. How about you...
Do you have skills that could help you to live as a homesteader?
Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!
Now for the "math lesson." My original Maple Leaf Pattern was a 9-inch (finished) block. I needed this block to finish at 6-inches. My process for making this block the correct size was this:
Always take the finished size and then add your 1/2" seam allowance.
For half-square triangle units (HST) you add 1-inch to your desired finished size. Again, you want the HST to finish at 2" square - in this block you will cut the pieces to 3" square. This will make the HST over-sized - trim to size for more accurate piecing.
To calculate the size of strips for the log cabin frame I first determined that I wanted the finished blocks to measure 16" square. I had to calculate the width of each "log".
Step 1: 16 - 6 (finished size of the center block) = 10
I have 10 inches all around to fill. Divide that by 2. You are only concerned with side to side. What you do for the sides, will be done for the top and bottom.
Step 2: 10 divided by 2 = 5. We have 5" on each side of the center block.
Step 3: I knew I wanted to have 3 strips of fabric on each side... 5 divided by 3 = 1.66. You then add the 1/2" seam allowance which equals 2.16. I rounded up to (2.25) 2-1/4 inches. I made the final two strips of the block 2-1/2" to help those of us with a less than perfect scant 1/4" sewing seam. The blocks will be trimmed to 16-1/2 inches, unfinished.
I'll stop there with the math lesson. I hope that the steps are clear... if not, leave me a comment and I will try to explain in a better way.
If you skipped out on the math lesson, no problem! You can find the Maple Leaf and Log Cabin Frame patterns in my Payhip store.
The linky party is open for you to share your Little House in the Big Woods block. Participants that link up (blog, facebook or Instagram) will be entered for chance to win a fat quarter of Lady Eliza fabric from Connecting Threads.
If you are interested in making a purchase from Connecting Threads, you can use the code ACTMelvaLovesScraps to receive 15% off, including sale items. I am using the Butterfly Sonata fat quarter bundle in this quilt. You can find all the fabric requirements and additional info here in the announcement post.
The second block will be released on February 19th. See you then!
Keep Piecing,
Melva
