THIS TRIO OF TREES WOULD LOOK FESTIVE PIECED IN RED AND WHITE, TOO!
YOU WILL NEED
■ Green fabrics: four (4)
fat quarters
■ White fabric: 21/4yds
■ Yellow fabric: one (1) fat quarter
■ Backing fabric: 3yds
■ Batting: 56in square
■ Binding fabric: 1/2yd
■ Three (3) copies of the
FPP Star template
FINISHED SIZE
■ 461/2in square
NOTES
■ Seam allowances are 1/4in
throughout, unless otherwise noted.
■ Press seams to one side, unless
otherwise instructed.
■ WST = wrong sides together.
■ WOF = width of fabric.
■ FPP = Foundation Paper Piecing.
■ For FPP, set your stitch length to 1.5.
■ Find the FPP template for this project at
www.gathered.how/lovequiltingmag.
■ FPP templates include seam allowance.
■ Label your cut pieces as noted for
easy assembly.
■ Quilted by Mairi Burns of Lismore
Quilting (lismorequilting.com).
■ Fabrics supplied by LoveCrafts
(lovecrafts.com).
FABRICS USED
■ Green fabrics are a mixture from Riley
Blake Designs, Moda and Makower.
■ Yellow fabric is Sunshine from the Studio
Pop collection by Dashwood.
■ White fabric is Bright White from the Cotton Couture collection by Michael Miller.
CUTTING OUT
1 From the background fabric cut:
■ Twenty nine (29) 2in x WOF, then
subcut these strips as follows:
■ Subcut three (3) strips into fifty two
(52) 2in squares (A).
■ Subcut five (5) strips into fifty five
(55) 2in x 31/2in (B).
■ Subcut three (3) strips into eighteen
(18) 2in x 5in (C).
■ Subcut three (3) strips into seventeen
(17) 2in x 61/2in (D).
■ Subcut four (4) strips into sixteen
(16) 2in x 8in (E).
■ Subcut two (2) strips into five
(5) 2in x 91/2in (F).
■ Subcut four (4) strips into eleven
(11) 2in x 11in (G).
■ Subcut one (1) strip into three
(3) 2in x 121/2in (H).
■ Subcut two (2) strips into six
(6) 2in x 14in (J).
■ Subcut one (1) strip into one
(1) 2in x 151/2in (K).
■ Subcut one (1) strip into one (1) 2in x 23in.
Also from the background fabric, cut:
■ One (1) 12in x WOF. Subcut as follows:
■ One (1) 121/2in x 20in ( WW).
■ One (1) 5in x 121/2in (XX).
■ One (1) 5in square ( YY).
■ One (1) 5in x 61/2in (ZZ).
Also from the background fabric cut:
■ Two (2) 31/2in x WOF. Subcut as follows:
■ Three (3) 21/2in x 31/2in (Section A1).
■ Three (3) 3in x 41/2in (Section A3).
■ Three (3) 21/2in x 3in (Section B1).
■ Three (3) 31/2in square (Section B3).
■ Three (3) 21/2in x 31/2in (Section C1).
2 From each of the four (4) green fabrics cut:
■ Six (6) 2in x 22in. Subcut as follows:
■ Subcut four (4) strips into 2in squares.
■ Subcut two (2) strips into 2in x 5in from each fat quarter.
NOTE: You will need a total of one hundred and thirty six (136) 2in squares and twenty five (25) 2in x 5in rectangles to use randomly within the rows.
3 From the yellow fabric cut:
■ Three (3) 11/2in x 21/2in (Section A2).
■ Three (3) 21/2in x 6in (Section A4).
■ Three (3) 11/2in x 21/2in (Section B2).
■ Three (3) 11/2in x 21/2in (Section C2).
4 From the binding fabric cut:
■ Five (5) 21/2in x WOF.
PIECING THE TREES
5 Begin with Row 1, laying out the pieces following Fig 1. Lay out Row 2 above, followed by Row 3. Working a few rows at a time will help with the randomness of the green tree pieces.
6 Sew Row 1 together, Row 2 together and Row 3. Press seams, towards the green fabrics or open if preferred. Sew these three rows together into one unit.
7 Next, lay out Row 4, Row 5, and Row 6 (Fig 2). Again, stitch these rows into strips. Press seams towards the tree pieces. Sew these rows into a unit.
8 Work the same way, working through three rows at a time into units, up to Row 18 (Figs 3– 6). Work Rows 19 and 20 into a two-row unit (Fig 7).
9 Sew the units from steps 5– 8 together in numerical order, with Row 1 at the bottom and Row 20 at the top.
10 Following the same technique, lay out the shorter Rows of 21, 22 and 23 (Fig 8) and stitch them into a unit. Work rows 24, 25, 26 and 27 into a unit (Fig 9). Piece Row 28 (Fig 10). Set these three units aside.
MAKING THE FOUNDATION PIECED STAR BLOCKS
11 Take the Section A template and the piece of fabric for 1A. Position the fabric on the unprinted side of your template with the wrong side against the paper.
Make sure it covers the whole section plus at least 1/4in. Secure it in place with a dab of glue or a pin.
12 Fold your paper along the line between Sections 1A and 2A and trim the excess fabric to 1/4in beyond the fold. Position the fabric for Section 2A, RST with the first piece.
13 Without disturbing the fabric position, turn the template to the printed side
and sew along the line between Sections 1A and 2A. Make sure to begin and end your line of stitching a few stitches beyond each end of the line.
14 Carefully unfold the paper template. Make sure that when sewn, the Section 2A fabric will cover the entire section plus at least ¼in all the way around. You can use a pin to secure the fabric, or carefully hold in place, as preferred.
15 Turn the template to the fabric side. Press the Section 2A piece away from the Section 1A piece.
16 Repeat the process in steps 11–14 to piece Section 3A. Then continue piecing the remaining Sections in numerical order until all of the Section A template is pieced. Press well and trim along the outer dashed line.
17 Trim each section to the dashed seam line and then join Sections A and C together, using the red dots as a guide to matching seams. Once joined attach the AC Section to the B Section.
18 Repeat steps 11–17 to make three star blocks. These blocks should measure 5in square unfinished.
19 Pin and sew background piece YY to the left side of Star 1, referring to Fig 12 above.
20 Pin and sew Row 28 to the bottom of Star 2, referring to Fig 13 above.
21 Sew background piece XX to the left side of Star 3 and sew background piece ZZ to the right-hand side. Sew a 2in x 23in background strip to the top of Star 3 unit (Fig 14).
PIECING THE QUILT TOP
22 To complete the quilt top, lay out the pieces as in the layout diagram. Sew Star unit 1 to the left side of the Row 21–23 unit.
23 Sew star units 2 and 3 together and sew to the top of rows 24–27. Add the 12½in x 20in white rectangle to the left side of these joined rows. Press.
24 Sew the units made in steps 21–22 to the rows sewn in step 9.
QUILTING AND FINISHING
25 Cut the backing fabric in half across the width. Remove the selvedges and sew the two pieces together using a ½in seam. Press the seam open.
26 Press the quilt top and backing well. Make a quilt sandwich by placing the backing fabric right side down, the batting on top, then place the quilt top centrally and right side up. Baste the layers together using your preferred method.
27 Quilt as desired. This quilt was longarm quilted by Lismore Quilting with an edge-to-edge star design using Glide thread. Trim off the excess batting and backing fabric and square up the quilt.
28 Sew the binding strips together end-to-end using diagonal seams. Press the seams open. Fold in half lengthways, WST, and press.
29 Sew the joined binding strip to the right side of the quilt, creating a neat mitre at each corner. Fold the binding over to the back of the quilt, and secure temporarily with pins or binding clips. Hand stitch around the edge to finish.