Little Trees

Well, Sharon had asked and I had started my little trees working with the Pyramid Triangle foundation.  Like this little guy:

But I hadn’t quite gotten the technique down at that point.  Not only that, the Quilt Layout Diagram had errors!  Yikes.  Now, here it is: a new QLD.  With numbers!  (That’s a first for me.  All my foundations use letters, but numbers just make way more sense with this one).

This is a very scrappy pattern, and I could, of course, have simply drawn my patches at random for that authentic scrappy look.  I have never been good at the authentic scrappy approach.  I always cheat and lay them out first. 

Here’s the foundation with numbering.  That just looks so odd to me.

And with the seam allowance lines added.

I only added lines where I needed them, that made this go much faster.  Though I didn’t notice until I was adding patches at the end that I missed drawing the lines after patches 4 on the far right column.  Oops. 

Here’s the foundation partway through, looking very airy.

And with all the patches added: 

Which brings us to a little tree.

Times twelve.

Now, Sharon wanted these to make up little pincushions.  I looked at these, and much as I thought they would make up very cute pincushions, I knew I just didn’t have twelve little pincushions in me (remembering that I still have twelve little trees in process from my first take on this pattern).

However, a little quilt did sound quite lovely.  I love this Moda Fruitcake fabric, the one on the top of the charm pack.

About thirty years ago my brother came up with the idea that instead of exchanging regular presents for Christmas, that he, my sister, and I should exchange ornaments.  What a wonderful idea that was – and now, every year when I set up the tree, I have this great collection of ornaments that each have their own memories.  So, that’s why this fabric, with it’s collection of ornaments, just says Christmas and family to me.  Which is why it just made me happy to use it in the border of my Little Trees miniature quilt.

Yup, I just love this little guy.  Love the border fabric, and the little trees just make me happy.

Give me a day or two to get past Thanksgiving and I’ll have the project up on my website.

It’s cold outside but inside I have a warm hubby and a sweet dog, all of us in good health.  Tomorrow the kids are coming for turkey dinner.  My own true love has cooking the feast down to a fine art, so my job is to set the table and mash the potatoes.  I have more things to be grateful for than I can list.  I am truly thankful.

Wishing all of you a grand and happy Thanksgiving!