A Scrappy Holiday Tree Quilt

A few weeks ago, I attended a reception for a quilt display at our local library. It was from one of our local guilds, Big Springs Quilt Guild. It was a fabulous display. This is a small guild of thirty or so ladies, but they make a big statement with their quilts. While I was there, the leader of the group, who is also my good friend Holley, asked me if I would teach at one of their meetings. I have not taught a quilt class in almost three years. My first reaction was...No. I don't have any idea what I would teach. Then, as I was looking at all of their work, I thought...I could teach a project. It doesn't necessarily have to be a skill. So I said YES, because really, there is nothing I wouldn't do for Holley.

As is usually the case these days, it all started with a picture I saw on Pinterest. The original source for this project can be found here in the Moda Bake Shop. I changed up the finished size and the design of the background but the original is the inspiration that started it all. There was also a pile of Christmas scraps on my sewing table that kept staring at me. The background from the inspiration picture was a single piece of fabric, and that was my intention too. Until I realized that I didn't have a big enough piece of fabric to do that. I really love the checkerboard background and it happened completely by happy accident.

This project is perfect for practicing matching corners and making half square triangles. I will talk about different ways to make half square triangles as part of the class. So a skill lesson developed after all. Decided to go subtle with the star on top by quilting it rather than piecing or appliqueing it.

The trunk in the border was a late addition when one of my sons commented that the trunk was missing. I thought about adding another row to the quilt top, but I like how it just sits right in the border. The quilting is all done with a walking foot. Diagonals for the tree and a grid for the background.

I used a red on the back. I also did the binding all by machine. I'm usually a hand stitch kind of girl for binding. With a little more practice, binding by machine might grow on me. It is definitely much faster.

This sample will be delivered to Holley next week so she can share it with the girls at their October meeting. Class is planned for the first Saturday in November. I am really excited to be teaching again. I need to get the supply list completed so that it can be delivered next week as well.

While this project was made using Christmas fabric, it could easily be adapted to other color schemes for seasonal trees. It finishes at 24" x 30" and as a bonus, I'll be sharing with the class how to make it bigger (all the way up to a king size quilt) and smaller (using tiny one inch squares).