So You Want To Make a 'Tree of Life' Block Like Mine...

A few people have asked about the pattern for the Tree of Life blocks I've been making. I would love to point to you straight to a book, but no... I had to fiddle around and draw up my own. Mostly because I wanted a different style of tree trunk than I was finding!

13 1/2" Finished Tree of Life block

I drew up a larger style block as making hundreds of tiny half square triangles did not appeal. The picture below has the cutting instructions for making the bulk of the tree (units 1, 2 and 3), which include all of the leaves on the tree. If you want to use a mixed fabrics for the leaves as I did, then it's best to cut 12 squares instead of 11, mixing up your fabrics to reach that total. Or you can cut the 11 squares and then add in an extra triangle or two if you have orphan ones in your scrap bin.

Cutting Instructions for Units 1-3

I sewed all of the half square triangles with one of these methods. If you wish to achieve greater accuracy with your hst's then I suggest you cut your squares slightly larger and then trim down after sewing and ironing.

The picture below has the cutting and sewing instructions that I came up with for the tree trunk (unit 4). Mine actually finished up slightly larger than expected and so I just trimmed down after sewing. There was plenty of room at the edge to not worry about cutting off points.

Cutting/Sewing Instructions for Unit 4

After sewing a couple of these tree trunks, I determined that a certain sequence of sewing turned out a better looking unit. If you look at the picture above, I've tried to show you that particular sequence in a picture diagram there at the bottom of the graph paper. Following steps #1 through to #4 {and ironing after every step} produced the very best results for me. Sorry for  the cutting 'abc's' being out of order. The notes to myself were written like this and I chose not to rewrite later after I realized the weird order. Honestly, my handwriting tends to get worse the neater I endeavor to be. A second attempt would could have been fatal!

A closer look at the tree trunk...

As you can see, I chose to make every tree with at least two different leaf fabrics and sometimes three. Most of the trees seemed to look better with an odd number of different looking leaves, but this, of course, will be up to you.

Mixing up the leaves

Even after making all of these Tree of Life blocks, I find that my hst's are still quite the work in progress. When sewing the four units together, I ended up having to use a pin at every single seam and other places as well. Did my blocks all end up at a proper 14" minus seam allowances? Well, no. But they are definitely in the ball park and that's really all I expect {or need}. Trimming down over-large hst's just for accuracies sake is not something I enjoy these days so a less than perfect block is not going to be an issue I stress about.

Oh, and for those that wonder about ironing? I ended up ironing my hst's as usual, but then I didn't iron again on units 1, 2 and 3 until I had the entire Tree of Life block together. It's very important that you iron the Tree Trunk pieces as you sew, but the rest is just pointless. Leaves going every which direction makes for bulky seams no matter what. Just sew your small rows together in a consistent manner, unit by unit, and it all irons out nicely at the end.

My advice is to make one test block before getting in too deep. Best of luck!

Measuring For a Coping Border When You Want to Make Pieced Borders Fit Properly

As you know, my Muddy Creek quilt has not been made from a formal pattern. The lack of pre-planned measuring can cause issues when working with pieced border units, forcing me to find creative solutions. One of the best solutions I've found (and used over and over through the years) is adding a coping border.

1. First you need to find some important measurements, starting with the top width of your quilt.

Top width of quilt

 Next will be the measurement for the middle width of the quilt.

Middle width of quilt

And last, measure for the bottom width of the quilt. Make sure your tape is taut and flat when taking all your measurements! You want them to be as accurate as possible. In this case, my three measurements are 27 1/4", 27 1/4", and 27 1/8". Now I need to find the average which means I have to add those three numbers together (27.25 + 27.25 + 27.125 = 81.625) and then divide by 3 (81.625 divided by 3 = 27.208). Rounding up in quilty language, I get the measurement of 27.25".

Bottom width of quilt

2. Repeat that process to get the vertical length of your quilt. This is especially important if your quilt is not square! Measure the length of the left side of the quilt, straight down the middle and also the length of the right side. The three vertical measurements for this quilt are as follows: 32", 31 7/8", and 32". In this particular instance, I don't even need to do the math to come up with an average of 32".

Vertical length of quilt

3. The best way for me to keep track of which number goes where, is to draw a picture. It's a magic diagram that clears away all the confusion and keeps things simple. Trust me and just do it. Draw a rough looking rectangle and mark the numbers where they belong. One number per direction plus some little arrows is really all it takes. From now on, the current quilt will be called the quilt centerpiece.

The magic diagram with a drawing of the
quilt centerpiece

4. Hopefully you've already figured out what you want your pieced border to look like. Most pieced borders are a set of 'repeats' or units that are exactly the same width. These basket blocks with the corner triangles added on are 8 1/2" each which will never sew onto my quilt properly without add-ons or chopping part of a block off. If I sew four of them together, I end up with a horizontal pieced border measurement of 34" plus seams (34 1/2"), definitely larger than the 27 1/4" width of my current quilt centerpiece (see previous magic diagram).

Horizontal pieced border units

Okay, this is where some decisions need to be made about the coping border. For this quilt, I could have easily added four basket blocks together for the vertical pieced border as well, since the quilt centerpiece is only 32" long (see previous magic diagram). But this would make my quilt square. I don't want that, so I'm going to go with five basket block repeats or 42 1/2" plus seams (43").

Vertical pieced border units

At this point you might want to do a quick mock-up on the wall with your quilt centerpiece, the potential coping border fabric and your pieced border. Do you like it? Now's the time to decide.

Auditioning pieced border with Muddy Creek quilt

5. Vertical Coping Borders are next in this crazy, long tutorial. Remember the magic diagram? Draw a rough outline of your pieced borders onto the paper, leaving plenty of room to draw in the lines for coping borders as well. Don't worry about how precise or in proportion things are--this is just for reference. Take the measurements from your horizontal and vertical pieced borders (refer to number 4) and mark it onto your magic diagram. Use little arrows to keep it all straight.

Adding pieced border measurements onto
magic diagram

Time for the math. Take the horizontal width of the pieced border and subtract the width of the quilt centerpiece (34 1/2" minus 27 1/4") OR 34.5 - 27.25 =7.25. Divide this number by 2. That number (7.25 divided by 2 = 3.625) is the measurement of the width of your Vertical Coping Borders. Don't forget to add the seam allowance onto that number as well (3.625 + .5 = 4.125 or 4 1/8"). Okay, that's the width, the hard part! Now for length.

So you don't totally have a panic attack trying to keep track of all these numbers, quickly look at your magic diagram for visual aid. Draw in your Vertical Coping Borders (pictured in orange). Aha! Now you can clearly see that your Vertical Coping Borders need to be 32", the length of the quilt centerpiece. Easy peasy.

Magic Diagram with Vertical Coping Borders

6. Cut out two strips of coping border fabric @ 4 1/8" x 32". Pin thoroughly, matching middle point to middle point and sew onto quilt centerpiece. Iron and measure. Your new quilt centerpiece should be exactly as wide as your horizontal pieced border but don't sew it on yet!

Quilt centerpiece with Vertical Coping Borders

7. Still with me? You're making excellent progress! Go ahead and draw in the lines for your Horizontal Coping Borders (pictured below in green).

Now lets do the math. Take the measurement of the vertical pieced border length (43") and subtract the length of the new quilt centerpiece (still 32"). 43 - 32 = 11. Divide this number by 2. That number is 5 1/2. Don't forget to add seam allowances. 5.5 + .5 = 6. That number is the width of your Horizontal Coping Border. Referring to the magic diagram should quickly remind you that the length of this coping strip will be the same as your horizontal pieced border (34 1/2").

Magic diagram with horizontal coping borders

8. Cut out two strips of coping border fabric @ 6" x 34 1/2". Pin thoroughly, matching middle point to middle point and sew onto quilt centerpiece. Iron and measure. The left and right sides (or the vertical length) of the quilt should now be 43", the exact same length as your vertical pieced borders!

Muddy Creek with all coping borders added

9. Sew vertical pieced borders onto each side of the quilt. Match middle point to middle point as usual and pin thoroughly before sewing.

Muddy Creek with vertical pieced borders added

10. Sew one more repeat or unit onto each end of the horizontal pieced borders. Sew them onto the rest of the quilt, matching points and pinning as usual.

Muddy Creek with borders!

Wallah! Now you have perfectly fitting pieced borders! Feel free to run around the room and do a victory dance.*wink  I have another tutorial about pieced borders that might be helpful as well. You might want to try this first on a smallish quilt, but if your numbers are correct, the size shouldn't ever be an issue. Really, it's just about formulas. Insert the numbers and see your ability to make personalized quilts increase dramatically! I dare you. lol