Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Trees Work in Progress

I've been pretty quiet here on the blog lately. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I've switched from making tea cosies to making trees. If you hop around Quilting Blog Land at all, you're probably aware of the last blog hop of the year for Island Batik ambassadors that started this week.

This is a theme near and dear to my heart! I've been giving some hints on Instagram as to my quilt.
The trees are foundation pieced. It's the first time I've done that; usually I just sew strings together and square up once the strata is about the size I need. Here, the angle is not 45° and the shape is rectangular, and you add in both pointy and crooked strings. So foundation it is, and it's not been that annoying to rip off the paper.
Glorious greens! I added in a brown from Basics for branches and trunk.

This line is yet another gloriously rich intense one.

As I said on Insta, the reason I quit paper-piecing, not to be confused with foundation piecing, is because I hated ripping off the paper, and then picking out the itsy-bitsy bits with tweezers. When I discovered about six years ago, paper-piecing without sewing through the paper, but beside the line, I was hooked again. Here is my tutorial on it, and here is the original from Canuck Quilter, Joanne, who showed me. Several quilters have since jumped on this bandwagon (we have lots of room!) and are raving about and teaching it.

The results of the above tree in progress:
Fall colours, so rich!

These are just start of the tree blocks; background needs to be added.

Here is a pink Spring tree. Think cherry blossoms, magnolias.
The colour is a bit off; it was taken in morning sunlight.

I'm so pleased with the way they are turning out. When I first spread apart the Sweet Hearts line, I certainly didn't think four seasons. However, once I tried grouping into the colours of the seasons, I thought my trees idea just might work...

The solid purple, black and grey are not part of the collection


I forgot to take the in-progress shot of the winter tree, so you get a bigger-than-sneak-peek at this one.

More background is still needed on the sides, but here is the sort-of-improv, strings-pieced tree block. The blocks are from the book Classic to Contemporary String Quilts by Mary M. Hogan. Who knew I'd be using her tree blocks when I got it out of the library for ideas a couple of weeks ago for next year's RSC quilt and/or H2H quilts! Serendipity strikes again! I knew I was doing a tree quilt for the challenge; it just hadn't formed in my head yet. The quilt still hasn't shown me the final direction...spent most of yesterday thinking, sketching, playing with ideas.

Pop back next Wednesday to see where these trees go! In the meantime here is the lineup for this week.
November 9


November 10


November 11



PS Did you see that Angela Walters is doing Midnight Quilter on her own now? Yaasss! Here is the link to today's episode:
"I have a bigger wine glass now."

"You can't cancel me; I cancel YOU!"

Full of snarky wit as per usual.

Also AccuQuilt has some pretty amazing sales and deals on throughout the month of November. One in particular to note is their Winter Wonderland Launch Party. (affiliate link for registration) It's a free event where they are unveiling three new dies. During the event there are giveaways and free patterns. You can register for it by clicking the link.
Several of their sales end tomorrow. From 10% of $100 to 50% off Studio Dies and Die Bundles and many more dollars or percentages in between, click below to check them all out. Might be a good Merry Christmas to me time, just sayin'.

Cut Time, Quilt More

17 comments:

  1. Oh, the line is perfect for creating the 4 seasons. I look forward to seeing more!

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  2. I have been admiring your trees on IG and love seeing them come to life with those glorious colours.

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  3. The trees are looking good. I am looking forward to a great finish on this one. I am curious about how you will tie it together.
    I am surprised that the new Craftsy didn't keep Angela. She was surely a good one to draw in people.

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  4. Oh, that fabric is gorgeous! Looking forward to seeing this quilt, Sandra! I need to go watch the new show!

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  5. Just watched the new Angela Midnight Quilter episode yesterday. I'm waiting to see what happens with Craftsy. My classes are back in my account, but if they don't start adding some new quilting content this will be my last year. Angela is a hoot and I'm glad she pursued producing her own series. So many designers got burned by both Craftsy and Bluprint that I'm not sure how successful Craftsy will be in signing up new talent. Looking forward to seeing your trees.
    Pat

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  6. Beautiful trees. Love the winter one. I’m going to try paper piecing without sewing on the line. Not cray about ripping the paper off.

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  7. Such lovely fabric and the trees are going to be AWESOME!! How serendipitous that you checked out that library book. I'm going to have to try paper piecing your way one day. I do hate tearing away paper and trying to get the last little piece of paper. Look forward to seeing more of this quilt.

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  8. I had a sneak peek on IG and have been waiting to see them all together; will have to wait a little bit longer :-) Looking really lovely so far.

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  9. Ooooh, pretty! Love your spring time tree. What a great idea for a quilt. Happy stitching!

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  10. Your trees are beautiful! I look forward to seeing the whole quilt.

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  11. Hi Sandra! I did watch and enjoy the heck out of Angela's new show. Listen to me - calling her Angela like I knew her and she is my friend. But she does come across and feel like a friend, you know?! I'd love to visit her shop someday sooner than later. I'm just a wee bit miffed that we have to WAIT to see the trees altogether. But okay, I can be patient. I guess. I guess I have to, huh?! Just saying that I think this is the perfect idea for these fabrics from what I can see. Final judgement to come on Wednesday . . . since we have to wait. And it might be Thursday depending on when your auto email reminds me. Geez! HAHAHAHA! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  12. Looking great. Can't wait to see more. I can't wait to watch the new video by Angela. Have a great weekend.

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  13. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea and your choices in fabrics!!!
    LeeAnna

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  14. I'm interested to see how the rest of your trees turn out, Sandra. I have a feeling this is going to be breathtakingly beautiful when done!

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  15. The trees are stunning. Thank you for the link to the paper piecing tutorial - I plan on giving it a shot very soon. I've been itching to get to my fall quilting project, which has been consistently pushed back. It is apparent it was simply waiting for you to give me that tutorial!

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  16. Not sure how I missed this post, so I'm late to the party! I love love love your improv string trees! What a super idea, and those fabrics are marvelous to use for it. The snow on the winter tree branches? Brilliant. Something a warm weather person like me would never think of :)

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