I tidied my workspace from head to toe this weekend. Desk, fabric shop area, and sewing room. My husband and kids thought I’d been been abducted and replaced by aliens. Yes, it’s been that long.
I’d hit the wall on finding things. That brochure? I know I put it mid-way down in the third stack from the right. the Indygo Junction patterns? I’m certain they came in that last shipment. Scissors, seam ripper (OK, I admit a clean up will most likely not alleviate the misplacement of this item), ruler, and rotary cutter? I just used them 15 seconds ago! It was pretty bad folks.
After I cleaned up I felt like making it messy again and started in on a project I’d been pushing to the side for too long. A virtual quilting bee block for Melissa. Melissa was September and she chose a tree theme. I’m feeling very holidayish, that definitely influenced my design on this block. I love it so much I want to make an entire Christmas quilt with different trees.
The details:
- Finished size of the block is 12 1/2″.
- I drew a picture of the block on graph paper.
- Pieced strips for the green part making sure it was big enough to overlay the picture I’d drawn.
- Pieced strips for the tree trunk and then sewed on white background fabric to either end making the unit about 14″ long.
- Paper pieced the design starting with the tree. Sewing on background fabric on either side of the tree. Sewing on the trunk unit. Finishing up by sewing on the bottom background fabric.
- Tear off paper. Press block with a good spritz of water. Leave on ironing board to set.
- Use my 12 1/2″ square ruler to trim the block to size.
Kathy Mack
Carrie + Diana
I love that tree and I also love those cowboys lasso-ing Christmas wreaths.
I love the tree and what a great holiday quilt that would make…great idea. I’ve never paper pieced, and even when well-described such as yours, I just can’t get my head around it. LOL
I love the idea of making a Christmas quilt out of all different trees! I’ll put that on the list for next year. (Let’s be realistic, there’s no room left on the “this year” list!
That tree is very cute and so inspiring!
Here’s to cleaning up! I packed up a big bag for Goodwill this weekend and I took a stab at the Studio mess too. I really like the dot at the top of your tree – it looks like a little Christmas star!
A quilt out of those cute little trees would be incredible! It would be hard to put it away at the end of the season though!
Congrats on all the cleaning!
Gorgeous tree. I am loving all the holiday crafting out there at the moment! Congrats on the clean up of your studio. It is a constant battle but always worth it in the end!
Aw, that’s a cool tree block! I love the scrappy strips for the tree and the trunk. A quilting bee sounds so fun!
That is super cute and already I am getting into the holiday spirit!! It really is the most fabulous time of the year!!
That is a darling block!
What a cool tree block, it’s perfect for Christmas. Have to admit to not liking the look of paper-pieced blocks too much but that one is very cute. Congratulations on cleaning out the workspace! I tend to do that after big messy projects. Not only the satisfaction of finishing the project, but of having a clean room! And also, by that time I can’t stand seeing the fabrics/items I’ve been working with
. That’s when I also clean out and oil my sewing machines. All set for the next project. I love that feeling. Better than cleaning the entire house and enjoying it for the 5 minutes before one of the kids manages to mess something up. 
Such a cute block!
Lovely, Kathy! This block would also be a great candidate for free piecing. I just love the fabric and color combos you choose! I just did a major clean up after weeks and weeks of sewing for my kids’ CampFire holiday craft fair. I’m exhausted and crafted out. I can’t wait to get back to my own projects.
Bekhyt & Kristin: I really dislike paper piecing although I’ve done several projects. I think I like the end result better than the process. I think it offends my compulsive nature to watch my stitches be tucked at as the paper is torn away. And all those little extras that always hang around!
After I finished it I was thinking free piecing would have been a good alternative.
beautiful design.
i’m just wondering if you have any suggestions/pics on how to organize a creative work space!!! perhaps a few pics of the cleaned up version would be good:)
maria
very sweet. I think Christmas quilt of trees would be fantastic.
Love it! The tree quilt is going to be so cute!
That is super cute Kathy!!
I have made tree ornaments before, but got inspired by your strip tree. Here are what I came up with:
http://artquiltmaker.blogspot.com/2008/12/merry-christmas.html Thanks for the inspiration.
[...] if all that wasn’t enough to impress, I took all these blocks along with September’s block (yes, it’s been on my design wall for two months, embarrassing!), put them in an envelope, [...]
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