Another baby is coming into the world for one of my co-workers. I have a bit before the due date of October. They currently do not know the sex but did say they are doing the room in greens and monkeys. The greens for the trees. This couple is relatively religious and thought, yes I will make a tree. The monkey fabrics out there are not the route I wanted to go in my planning. Perhaps for the backing, but that will be determined later. I had a blue fabric for sky and lots of greens for the leaves. I selected grass and tree bark from the LAQS. I washed and dried everything. I was going to use the leaves galore template but I did not have any misty fuse. So I am making do with what I have.
Then to decide what kind of block to make. Since they were going with greens and monkeys, how about a Tree of Life block. I will make the block larger as I go but here are a few pictures of critical steps in the beginning.
First I cut strips 3 inches wide. And then cut those strips into 3 inch squares. I drew a line from one corner to its opposite corner and sewed 2 triangles 1/4 inch from the center line. I cut the apart with scissors.
I then went to the iron and set it on cotton and sprayed all those HSTs with starch. I ironed over them to set the seam, and the ironed them again to open the triangle. A must for doing HSTs and squaring them up. Because the original square size was 3 inches. When sewn into two HSTs they are around 2 5/8 inch and are not perfectly straight/square. So using a ruler on the diagonal sew line and using the grid lines, I trimmed the blocks to get a true 2 1/2 inch square. Starching the triangles will help you stiffen them for squaring up. Try both ways, with and without starch. See which you like best. I find even a dull rotary blade likes cutting through the starched fabric. Also, some starch the yardage before cutting into the strips. You are your own quality inspector and quilt police. If you want to skip any steps to save time, it is ultimately your project.
Now for the start of the layout. I have studied some Tree of Life blocks online and have layed a few out on the cutting mat. I have several to go, but like the effect of mixing and matching sky fabric with greens and green on green HSTs.
To be continued…..
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