The secret to getting your point at the top of the tree is to be sure the stitch lines cross each other. Remember to keep your 1/4″ seams accurate!
Sew one side of the sky piece to the tree, press and then piece the other side. Open the cut fabric and place the widest side in the south position.Įverything is subcut and ready to piece! Let’s go!.With the rotary cutter, cut the fabric following the edge of the ruler.Place quilting ruler on the diagonal from the lower corner of the tree to the inside of the 1/4″ mark at the top of the tree.With the fold on your left, mark 1/4″ to the right of the folded edge.Fold fabric rectangle wrong sides together on the shorter side of the cut.To subcut the Tree portion do as follows: Now, let’s subcut the foliage part of our tree. Cut fabric which will yield a small tab at the bottom and sharp points on the top.Lay the quilting ruler diagonally on the fabric intersecting the upper right hand corner and just to the right side of the mark made next to the lower left hand corner.At the lower left corner, mark a small 1/4″ line.Take the two Fabric B – 10″ x 4 3/4″ pieces and lay them right sides together.Use the fabric cut on the left side of this cut.Now that all our pieces are cut, the next step is to subcut the 3 rectangles that become our tree top and sky.
It makes cutting accurate strips a breeze, and since I sew with 2.5″ strips so frequently, I found it a worthwhile investment. The specialty quilt ruler in the 2.5″ by 24.5″ size shines in a project like this. Additionally, cutting everything at the same time is a bit of a time saver. Trust me when I say it’s much easier to trim down than to wind up short. I find it’s easier to cut strips a little long, piece them onto the block and then trim down on either end to square up with the block. This makes the initial cutting instructions a little easier. Also, note that the strips differ in width but the length is all the same. This is because if you decide to make the mini hanging quilt, you will need one extra strip cut from the outer border fabric to sew the sleeve that is used to hang the quilt. Please note that the image above gives two different instructions for the outer border. Fabric E: 4 pieces at 2 1/2″ x 17″ (The outer border, or sashing).Fabric D: 4 pieces at 1 1/2″ x 17″ (The border, which I recommend using a bold solid to separate the tree from the outer sash.).You can see the bunny and deer print is clearly directional so it will be important it’s laid out correctly when we subcut later.Īdditionally, you will need to cut strips for the inner and outer border.įabric strips needed to piece the Tree Block: