Postage Stamp Tree Block Tutorial for Quilting Gallery’s Glorious Autumn Block Party & A Giveaway!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I’m super excited to be sharing with you some fun things today – a free block tutorial for the Quilting Gallery’s Autumn Block Party AND a Giveaway!  All in one post!  Be sure to read all the way to the end so you can find out how to win some fun goodies from me!  (Don’t worry – it’s easy!)

You’ll find a great ‘Super Deal’ from The Fat Quarter Shop and be able to read my ‘Designer Profile’ be sure to head over to the post at the ‘Quilting Gallery’. 

 

Postage Stamp Tree Block Tutorial for Quilting Gallery’s Glorious Autumn Block Party

Finished Block Size – 12” x 12”

As usual, I had lots of fun and lots of ideas when I was thinking about what my block should look like for Quilting Gallery’s Glorious Autumn Block Party. I knew I had to do some sort of ‘tree’ block for two reasons:

1. My family owns and operates an apple orchard in Wisconsin.

2. This year the quilt along on my blog was focused on houses and trees and I am still loving tree blocks. (PS – next year’s theme is: My Favorite Block Quilt Along)

I finally decided on the ‘Postage Stamp Tree’ Block. Recently I’ve been having lots of fun enjoying the challenge of limiting myself to using ONLY my scraps for certain quilts – like my ‘Amazing Technicolor Dream Quilt’ and my ‘BOM/QAL Quilt’ (still a work in progress). The block I’m about to show you is a GREAT way to use up your scraps! And yes – there are a lot of pieces but hopefully I’ve simplified it somewhat so you don’t get scared away. Trust me – if the end result wasn’t cool, I would never deal with all these pieces!

For a downloadable PDF please click HERE.

 

Cutting Instructions

Autumnal Colors/Postage Mosaic Tree Foliage:

40 different scraps of autumnal colored fabrics – 3” x 1.5” (or if you want to go crazy super scrappy – 80 – 1.5” x 1.5” scraps)

Blue/Sky:

1 – 1.5” x 10.5”

2 – 1.5” x 9.5”

2 – 1.5” x 5.5”

Brown/Trunk:

1 – 3.5” x 2.5”

Green/Grass:

2 – 2.5” x 5.5”

Piecing Instructions:

Above is a picture of my 40 scraps of fabric. I used lots of reds, oranges, purples and a few yellows for my autumnal palette.

Sew into pairs along the 3” edge of the strips. Iron to one side.

Cut pairs into new 1.5” x 2.5” strips.

When you lay out your paired strips, make sure you have matched them up with the ironed seams opposite each other. This will make it easier to sew accurately with your points matching in the middle.

You can see in this picture how the seams are going in opposite directions. When you finger press this as you’re sewing you should feel no overlap and no gap at this intersection. It will make for an accurate seam and less bulk in your block.

Sew strips together along the 2.5” side. Press to one side.

You now how 20 four patch blocks. Lay them out in a 5 x 4 grid with seams once again going opposite each other.

At this point there aren’t really any tricks left to sewing this together. The one thing I like to follow when I piece is that I always like to sew the shortest seam possible. If I strip piece I tend to get more wonky and skewed. In this situation I sewed the four patches. Then I sewed them into four 16 patches (there are still two 2 x 4 strips). I sewed these pairs to two of the 16 patches. Sewed the two 16 patches to make two 6×4 chunks.

I then sewed along the 8.5” side for the final piecing. That was my longest seam. You now have the hard part done! Way to go! Next – let us add the sky!

Sew the 1.5” x 10.5” blue strip to the top of the ‘tree’ and iron towards the strip. Next – sew the 2 1.5” x 9.5” blue strips to each side of the tree. Iron towards the strips.

Sew the 1.5” x 5.5” blue strips to the 2.5” x 5.5” green strips along the 5.5” edge. Iron towards the green. Sew these strips to either side of the 2.5” x 3.5” brown trunk fabric. Iron towards the trunk.

Finally, sew the bottom strip to the tree mosaic strip. Make sure the blue sky fabric is toward the tree mosaic so the sky encircles the tree. Iron towards the smaller strip.

Congratulations! You have a beautiful ‘Postage Tree Block’. I think I may make three more of these blocks but instead of using autumnal scraps I’ll use scraps in colors reminiscent of winter, spring, and summer. I think it would make a cute seasonal wall hanging.

For a downloadable PDF please click HERE.

Check out blocks made from previous tutorials by going to the Glorious Autumn Block Party Flickr Group!

Two more great block tutorials are coming this week – don’t miss them!

Wednesday, Dec. 5
Heather – Olive and Ollie
http://www.oliveandollie.com/

Thursday, Dec. 6
Dana – Old Red Barn Co.
http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/

You can easily go back and see other blocks and their tutorials by heading to the Glorious Autumn Block Party’s Headquarters.

Alright – I’ve made you wait long enough…

GIVEAWAY!

So – what am I giving away? I typically give out gift certificates to be redeemed at either of my etsy shops – Persimon Dreams or The Apple – but this time I’m going to give away one of my newest jewelry items AND one of my most popular jewelry items.

First – I will be giving one lucky winner  this unique, hand-dyed fabric wrap bracelets as shown in the picture. These bracelets are a new style of jewelry that I came up with. I love the look they have on a wrist alone or stacked with other bracelets. It has also been a great way to use up my strips of fabric and it’s a perfect ‘take along’ project!That same lucky winner will also receive this fun and quirky ‘Q is for Quilting’ Vintage Typewriter Ring.  These typewriter rings have been hugely popular in my etsy shop as well as local craft fairs.  I thought it was appropriate to give a Q away for this Quilting fun.

 

How do you win these fabulous prizes? 

Required for ENTRY:  All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me has been your favorite block in the Glorious Autumn Block Party thus far.  Be sure to include your email in your comment so I can notify you of your prize!  If I can’t get a hold of you I will redraw!

If you want to be entered more than once – these are some bonus entry options:  You MUST leave a comment for EACH bonus entry option you do.

• subscribe to my newsletter
• Like PersimonDreams on Facebook (I would love it if you said ‘Hi!!)
• Like Project QUILTING on Facebook  ***Season 4 starts in January and there’s currently an off season challenge happening now!
• follow my boards on pinterest
• Pin this tutorial on pinterest and tag it #PersimonDreams
• follow me on twitter AND tweet about this giveaway
• Leave a comment telling me what you like best from my etsy shop, Persimon Dreams
• Leave a comment telling me what you like best from my etsy shop, The Apple
• BONUS – finish a Postage Tree Block Tutorial and post it to PersimonDreams’ Flickr Group!

That’s it – just let me know you’re favorite block thus far for your entry.  If you really want my prize and are going for bonus entries – there are nine opportunities for you!

***Giveaway OPEN to everyone – I will ship internationally!****

Giveaway ends at 11:30 pm on 12/10/12. 

 

Thanks for following along and I hope you enjoyed this block tutorial (don’t hesitate to ask questions)!  Be sure to share the blocks you make from my tutorial not only in the Glorious Autumn Block Party Flickr Group but also on my Persimon Dreams Flickr Group!