Wednesday, April 30, 2014

May Stitch that Stash Block

Hello friends, it's been awhile. Today I am posting my pick for the May Bee Block for our sewing bee, Stitch That Stash. I am thinking ahead to Christmas and chose a simple tree block.

I usually put lots of colors in my quilts. Not this time! I am going with green and turquoise in any shade (value) from light to medium to dark. It can be solid or have a pattern, as long as it reads as one of these colors. I pulled a stack of my own fabrics to give you an idea of what I would chose if I make this many. The tree trunk can be any brown. The background can be white or cream...any low volume fabric will work.

Here is how it looks! I will be adding some solid blocks like this in between the tree blocks. About the pattern....I tried the measurements given on this purl bee post and though cute, it was too small for me. I made a larger pattern. Here's the difference:

Here is a link to the pattern. The block is very easy to make. The fabric cuts will yield two blocks so from your first cut to your last stitch you will be done with 2 blocks in under an hour. By the way, when they say to be sure to cut those diagonal cuts in opposite directions, they mean it! Otherwise, your triangles won't come together to form a "tree".

Just replace this page with the same page in the pattern ( you can see it on the left up above). I drew it just like the pattern page so that you will see exactly what to do. ** when you sew your bottom tree trunk strip to the tree portion, just center the trunk under the tree. It will all trim up nicely to 8 inches wide with plenty extra to square up. When I squared up the block, I left a 1/2 inch above the top tip of the tree, to preserve the points with "extra" space above them when joining the blocks.

I'm thinking of using the red trees in a Christmas pillow since I axed them from the quilt. I hope you enjoy the pattern! Super simple this month!!

Kris