The FIRST tree

Welcome to the FIRST month

and the FIRST block

of a wonderful Christmas quilt along!

Thanks go to Julia Rothman

for permission to use her designs

as inspiration for some of the blocks we'll be making!

I plan on giving instruction the first MONDAY of every  month.

 

To begin Cut eight 3 1/2"x 4" pieces

of your chosen background fabric.

You'll need a LOT of background.

Not sure yet how much

3 1/2 yards???

The quilt will be lap size...

no bigger.

This quilt is a work in progress.

Hopefully it will be a SMOOTH ride.

;)

Thanks for joining in the ADVENTURE of it all!

 

Cut TWO 3/4" strips. (width of fabric)

These pieces are 4" TALL

and 3 1/2" wide.

Cut your branches at an angle.

Begin cutting at least 1/2" down from corner.

Use ABOUT a 60 degree angle.

Imagine the tree branches hanging slightly DOWN...

not OUT.

 

These are FREE form cuts.

You are cutting two rectangles at the same time....

so each SET should MATCH.

But all three sets are slightly different.

 

This is the first matching set.

Open it up

Set it in front of you at the machine.

set in the first two branches.

I used a SLIGHT 1/4" seam.

That means it was a BIT smaller than 1/4".

Press seam into the center

ESPECIALLY if you're using WHITE.

 

Here are your THREE sets of tree branches.

Trim to 3 1/2" wide x 4" tall.

If they're not quite that size....

don't WORRY!

(some of mine came out shorter)  :)

The only thing to REALLY make sure of

is that each SET is the same HEIGHT!

Here they are ALL trimmed up!

Line them up with the solid 3 1/2"x4" background piece on bottom.

Sew them in two columns.

Add a long 3/4" wide trunk.

Here's your FIRST tree!

Mine measures about 7"x14"

 

No need to trim yours to THAT dimension YET.

We will not TOTALLY trim this tree until later

when we know how things are going to fit together!

 

The CURIOUS ME

wanted to know what using a ONE inch strip would look like.

 

Here it is on the left.

I cut the strips 1" and tried HARD to use a TRUE 1/4" seam

instead of my LESS THAN 1/4" seam.

 

Isn't it amazing what 1/4" difference can make???

 

If that first tree was a breeze....

Make another.

;)

I think we'll want TWO of these in our quilt.