A Jewel Tone Forest for December

For December, we are making PAIRS of tree blocks.  in various heights--here are Kathie's blocks:

(It's almost a virtual quilt all by itself, isn't it?)

BLOCK PATTERN

The basic directions for making a PAIR of tree blocks are here:

Free-style Tree Block

Your blocks should be 6-1/2 inches wide (to finish at 6 inches when it's sewn into a quilt) and can be 6-1/2, 9-1/2 or 12-1/2 inches tall (to finish at 6, 9, or 12 inches)

To add "boughs" to your evergreen tree, you simply start with multiple horizontal cuts, then add the angles in each tree section and finish with a point on top.  (Life got in the way of me putting together some step-by-step directions and I apologize for that ... and may still get to it in a day or so.)

FABRIC GUIDELINES

For each pair of tree blocks, you will begin with one black fabric and one jewel tone fabric. 

• The black fabric may be solid or a black-on-black print.  You may use the same black fabric for all your blocks.
• The second fabric should be a tone-on-tone print in Jewel Tone colors. You must use a unique Jewel Tone fabric in each pair of tree blocks. For examples of what jewel tones are, check out the Flying Geese blocks we made last year and my photo of a set of jewel tone fabrics.

Since we are making PAIRS of blocks in December, the maximum number of blocks/chances is 5 PAIRS (10 blocks).

BLOG POST LABELS

For blog posts related to this month's block, please add the label, trees.  If your post includes a photo of your blocks, also add the label dec 2010 photos.

HOW LIBERATED CAN I GO?

Your tree blocks must:

1. Be a pair that have opposite fabric placement for tree and background
2. Be an abstraction of a pointy topped Pine Tree, like this little bonsai, and have a trunk.

If you would prefer to make the tree blocks by some other method (paper foundation piecing, traditional templates), that's OK, as long as it will look like it belongs in our wonky jewel tone forest.

You may also take a bit of artistic license with your interpretation ... like this pair of "Charlie Brown's Christmas trees" by Caroline--and that's my impression/name and probably not hers ;-)

Here are some more trees that push the design a little, from Caroline and Kim:

MORE EYE CANDY FROM THE SNEAK PEEKERS


Life got in my way and I wasn't able to put together a virtual quilt, so I will just share more blocks made by sneak peekers. June had fun mixing up her short and tall block pairs for the photos (and had me worried at first, that she hadn't made them in pairs ;-)

Sorry for the side-ways photos--they were all upright when I looked at them on my Mac, go figure?

And here are some more block photos from Caroline, Ginny, Janet, Linda, Maree, Ramie and Rho.  (I'm uploading the originals through blogger--not my favorite approach--and will likely edit this section later--it's late and I have to get up extra early tomorrow ... sigh)

 

 

If you ever wondered what the "before" photos that I receive from sneak peekers look like before I edit them and put them into the virtual quilt ... now you know ;-)

As you can see, so far we have made lots of simple blocks and a few taller and more complex ones.  I hope everyone makes a variety of trees for our jewel tone forest.

I apologize if I've left out any of the sneak peek photos you have sent ... and promise to find and add them in the next couple days.