ESSENTIAL GUIDE

“There are many blocks on a tree theme and here we use a range of techniques to make four of them – perfect for a mini quilt.”
– Lin Clements

TREE BLOCKS

Trees are a subject that occurs frequently in pictorial patchwork. Many tree blocks, like the Basket blocks we looked at in Issue 77, use squares and half-square triangles to create the main design and several of the blocks shown in Fig 1 use these shapes. I’ve also included two blocks that use equilateral triangles and trapeziums, to give you some practise creating these shapes. The blocks are traditional ones, but I’ve redesigned them a little (so they are variations) to make them easier to sew or produce at 10in square. Techniques needed and described in this article include:

■ Making half-square triangle units.

■ Creating corners on rectangles.

■ Sewing equilateral triangles together.

■ Using templates.

I’ve sewn four blocks that I think work well together and have made these up into a mini quilt (see photo below). I chose to make the blocks with a finished size of 10in square, which is the same as the Basket blocks we made in a previous issue of the magazine. Thishas been used in a quilt that is appearing in Issue 84, called Norwegian Nights, so look out for that project. The block is also shown made up as a cushion on page 65.