WIP: Improv Christmas Trees

Ages ago- on Pinterest? Instagram? a blog?- I came across Diary of a Quilter's Improv Christmas Tree tutorial and I was charmed. I love the wonky trees and the clever construction. I pinned it and didn't think much of it for awhile. 

Then I bought a bundle of Violet Craft Brambleberry Ridge in Christmas colours even though a) I don't usually buy Christmas fabrics and b)I don't have traditional Christmas colours in my house at Christmas overall (Our tree has silver, white and turquoise/teal ornaments/decorations).  But I had to have it. And I knew that the combination of improv trees and Violet Craft would look awesome.

I finally got started! Christmas in August!

I made the first blocks as a test before I mass cut all my precious fabric. Good thing I did! The original tutorial makes very tiny blocks, way smaller than I was planning. I snooped on her site some more and found a tutorial for a much large block using the same technique. Now THAT is what I was looking for.

Tiny trees (4.5' x 3.5") in the middle, flanked by the big version that I ultimately went for which I ended up trimming to 8.5" x 7.5".

 This became my "pop into the sewing room and whip up a few blocks" project. My cat was very helpful, as always.

Thanks, Cyrus.

 The technique itself is so simple because there is no measuring in the traditional sense once you have the initial rectangles cut. You pair the fabrics and then slice first from the right and then from the left, as you can see below. This is a stack of four which I found the best for efficiency while also not having too many similar-shaped trees.

No measuring makes me happy!

The blocks started adding up, though I did have one "oops" when I cut on square upside down (print face down) which messed up everything for that block and resulted in that horrible tree in the bottom left of this picture. I have since removed that tree...and added many many more!

All the blocks are now made, including a few more small ones since I like how that looked up on the design board. I can't wait to finish this top up and show you the end result. And it should be done in time for Christmas!