Frosty's Forest Quilt Finish

Hello Quilty Friends!   I finished this quilt on December 15th but I haven't had time to take pictures and write a blog post.

In an earlier blog post I mentioned how I searched high and low for the quilt pattern because I didn't want to waste time doing quilty math.  But I came up with nothing so I did the quilty math.  On the last of quilting this monster, I took a break, went to Pinterest to search for cookie recipes and what popped up on my home feed?  Yep this quilt!  The designer is Stash Bandit.  It was designed for Quilt Maker Magazine several years ago.  Funny thing... I named my quilt Frosty's Forest, made the label, attached it to the backing before I quilted the quilt.  Then after it's quilted, I find out she named her quilt Frosted Forest!

I'm not sure if my quilt is exactly like her quilt but it's pretty darn close.  My quilt has an on-point setting and finishes at about 94 x 97. 

 Her quilt looks a tad bigger, don't you think?

The quilting on mine was kept simple so I could finish it quickly. Lots of free motion because it's faster than ruler work.

Of course there's always a little ruler work in the ditch and I used rulers in the borders.

The backing fabric on this quilt makes me so happy.  I only wish I could have gotten more of this fabric to make a couple of pillow shams.  Maybe next year Joann's will reprint this Christmas plaid.  Wishful thinking.  

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Quilting The Tree of Life Quilt

Maybe I should have called this one The Redwood Forest.  Measuring 94 x 98, it's one of the largest quilts I've ever made.  And I'm pretty sure it's the largest I've ever quilted on the frame.

As with all of my quilts, I'm quilting using Superior Threads Microquilter 100wt. thread.  It's lightweight, strong and allows the quilting to shine without a heavy look of thread.  Not everyone likes this look, it's a personal preference thing.  Most quilters use this thread for stitch in the ditch or on quilts with lots of backtracking.  I find it easier to use the same thread all the time so I don't need to worry about tension adjustments and I just love the way  it looks on a quilt.

The quilting will be kept fairly simple.  My first thought was to feather her to death but my quilter only has a 15" throat.  These blocks are 16".  Feather quilting, when breaking up the design, is a little more time consuming.  It would require I do a ton of premarking before loading her onto the frame.  I'd really like to have this one quilted by Friday.  So I chose to go a different route.  I still need to do some markings but I can do them as I advance the quilt and straight lines are easier than partial feathers.  Well, at least for me.  To speed things up a little I'll be doing a free motion background fill in the body of the quilt and mixture of free motion and ruler work on the on the trees. Hopefully she will be done and on the bed by this time next week.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

Just a reminder...You can get my Snow On The Farm quilt pattern as a FREE PDF. 

CLICK HERE to go the blog post where you will find the link to the PDF.

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Design Wall Monday ~ Tree Of Life Blocks Finished

 Hello Quilty Friends!  I can't tell you how excited I am to have these quilt blocks finished.  I love this quilt and can't wait to get it completed and on the bed.  After it's finished I will need to make a couple pillows to complete my vision for the new Christmas bedroom decor.

There's something about two color quilts that make my little ole quilty heart go pitter-pat.  When the two colors are red and white that's even better!  These blocks were a little tedious to piece.  Lots of pinning to make sure all the points stayed pointy.  I worked on one block at a time.  One block took up every inch of of my sewing table.

I had to work in sections and rows.  The colored squares below show how I divided the block into sections/units.  Each row was marked with a numbered pin. The pins are hard to see in the picture so I added numbers to the side of each row for you.  Once a row was completed  I would add the larger squares.  Example....I pieced row 1 and 2 then sewed 1 and 2 together, then added the large square to the left of 1 and 2.  Then I added row 3 to the bottom of the 1 and 2 unit.  Paying close attention to my pressing.  All odd number rows were pressed to the left, even number rows to the right.

The three sections completed and ready to become a block.

If I were to make this block again I would probably press all seams open due to bulky seams.  I'm not a fan of open seams but they can make quilting easier.  So I ended up pressing the last few seams open.

Would you like to make a Tree of Life block?  I put some cutting measurements on the units below.  To make the HST's I used the Magic 8 method.  But you can make them however you want as long as they end up 2.5" before sewn into the quilt.  At the bottom the block you will need to know how to do flippy corners.  The numbers on the units are the size squares needed for that unit.

Today's plan is to start sashing the blocks and wash the quilt backing. 

This post is being linked to the following.

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2023/11/design-wall-monday-november-27-2023.html

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Tree Of Life Quilt Blocks

 A few weeks ago I saw a quilt on Pinterest that I thought would be the perfect Christmas quilt for my bed.  Let's be honest, it's the red.  Y'all know how much I love red!  And in this quilt red is the background fabric.  

I recognized the quilt block as a variation of the Tree of Life.  Many hours were wasted searching the internet for the quilt name and designer so I could purchase the pattern. 

I'm convinced a pattern doesn't exist or the designer needs help with marketing her patterns.  So what else could I do but draw it up in EQ8 and do the quilty math.  In EQ's block library I found the block but it had some odd shaped patches in the tree trunk area.  This would need to be paper pieced or template pieced.  UGG...not going to happen.

So, I made a few quick changes to the block to fit my quilt piecing style. 

It takes about an hour to piece one 16 inch block.  And that's about as long as I can sit at the sewing machine without needing to get up and move around due to back pain.  Can I get this one finished before Christmas?  Maybe.  I'm going to give it my best shot.  Wish me luck!

  Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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