little joys - trim the tree block

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It's week two of the Little Joys Quilt Along! Join me, some of my favorite bloggers and Fat Quarter Shop as we make the Little Joys mini quilt together. It was designed by Elea Lutz of Penny Rose Fabrics. We're making a tree block this week, a ribboned gift next week and a wreath the following week. Then we can assemble the quilt! I hope that you've gathered your Christmas prints and are ready to sew along with us. (The fabric requirements are here.)

I'm using the kit which includes red and green prints as well as the ivory background. I'll enhance it with Elea's pink prints next week.  (I need my pink and green!)

Could this fabric be any cuter? Nope, I don't think so. It has that perfect retro, vintage look that I love. You'll also want to print out a copy of the tree block pattern. It's available for free here for a limited time, so get yours soon.

This has to be one of the easiest, and most classic tree patterns ever. Simple stitch-and-flip corners form the tiers of the tree. I also did a small amount of strategic cutting when I cut my print strips. I wanted to get as many deer into my tree as possible without cutting off their heads. Decapitated deer aren't very Christmasy :-)

You'll make just three trees.

You can reuse your scraps in a future block or in another project. Here's how I store mine. Simple and not too elegant, but it works...

The bag serves another purpose. I lightly starch my fabrics right before I cut them. Now I know that the fabric in the bag has been starched, while the other fabric still needs to be treated. So, no guessing about which fabric I'm using. And see how great the red and green look next to the pink?

Next Wednesday we'll make the gift box block!

If you share your blocks on social media, be sure to use the hashtag #LittleJoysQuiltAlong. And look at who is sewing along! Such a talented group of ladies, and I'm happy to be included with them.  

bring on the snowmen!

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I love red and white quilts at Christmas. And I love the Winter Wonderland collection by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda with happy snowmen, stars and trees!

I bought a fat quarter bundle when it first came out several months ago. But I had no idea how to use it! Most red and white quilts seem to be in solid fabrics, or else they're in vintage turkey reds. I searched though photos from the Infinite Variety show of red and white quilts in NYC a few years ago. That didn't help... most of the quilts were done in solids. Then I bought several patterns but none of them were exactly right. Finally, while reading A Touch of Rosie Quilts by Carrie Nelson, I came across this quilt.

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I thought that this might look like shattered peppermint candy if it was done in red and white prints. And of course I love peppermint candy! So I had my pattern. 

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Once again, I'm using the Fit To Be Geese ruler to create accurate flying geese. There is very little wasted fabric when using this ruler, and even the trimmings look pepperminty!

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Winter Wonderland sold out quickly. There is some on the Bunny Hill website, and there is plenty of it on Ebay. If you're lucky, you might even find a few bolts at your local quilt shop. I'll need to buy yardage for my backing before it disappears!

The quilt will need 212 geese, and I've finished 152. The repetitive sewing and trimming is actually a nice break from my previous quilt project - no thinking involved! Just cut, sew, trim, repeat! The quilt will also have a sprinkling of twinkly stars.

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Oh, and in case you thought I just made 152 geese instead of sleeping, well, I didn't! I've been quietly working on these over the past few weeks, in between other projects.

A Touch of Rosie might be out of print, but Carrie has just reissued Due South as an individual pdf pattern. It can be purchased for download on her website