I had originally planned to do this triangle block later (let’s face it, I was not looking forward to the appliqué). But as I waited for the leaves to fall off my maple tree in the backyard this fall, it seemed like the right time to finally tackle this leaf block.

Too bad it is an oak leaf instead of a maple like the one in my backyard. The rounded leaf outline means there are no helpful points on the leaf to use for registration marks.

Instead, I planned a different method to make sure the leaf fell into place on the triangle block.

First, I cut out a triangle of the red background fabric. I know, this is a little wasteful, but it seemed simplest, and I can always reuse the pieces I cut out of this triangle later on in a different block.

Then I printed out a block outline of the block, and added the 1/4″ seam allowance on all three sides. I cut out the block outline with seam allowance, then carefully cut the oak leaf shape out of the middle of this paper triangle.

First, I worked with the triangle with the leaf shape cut out of it. I placed this pattern piece over the red triangle I’d cut out, and traced around the inside of the leaf cutout to mark where the leaf appliqué should go. Since I marked inside the cutout, the leaf shape I drew is slightly smaller than the appliqué piece that will go on top of it, hiding my marked line in the finished block.

Then I turned my attention to the green leaf fabric I was using for the leaf shape. I reused that triangle pattern piece with the leaf shape cut out of it, so that I could pick the perfect spot on the fabric to fussy cut out my leaf shape.

Once I’d found the spot, I nestled the cut-out oak leaf shape inside the triangle pattern piece, and then lifted the triangle pattern piece away, leaving my leaf pattern piece perfectly placed:

I traced around the outside of the leaf pattern piece to mark the stitching line. This way, the marked line would get turned under during the appliqué process. I just eyeballed the 1/4″ seam allowance outside the marked stitching line when cutting out the piece.

And voila! I have a clear guide for where the leaf shape should go, but none of the marking lines will show once I’m done.

I won’t pretend that this was an easy shape to appliqué, or that my finished leaf doesn’t look a little lumpy and misshapen, but it is done.

The one piece of advice I’ll give for others attempting this block is that you want to be sure to clip in the seam allowance on the inner curves, so it has room to stretch around those curves. And on the outer curves, you may want to clip out a little notch in the seam allowance, so there’s less bulk underneath the leaf points.

All the leaves have finally fallen off my maple, but this (lumpy and misshapen) oak leaf is perfectly in place!