These simple trees used to be available only as part of the Woodland Critters pattern, but now they’re a free pattern that you can combine with any of your animal patterns.
Obviously, they’ll work great with the Woodland Critters bundles (Woodland Bundle #1 and Woodland Bundle #2), but they’d also be fun to add to the Shiny Happy Houses pattern, or the Bunches of Bears pattern, or the Backyard Birds pattern.
Or just use them on their own! I’ve always thought they’d make pretty placemats. (There’s a free pattern here.) And I’d love to see a four seasons set! Just change out the fabrics!
You could add more than one tree to a single square or to a double-size block. The samples you see above are made on blocks that finish at 5 x 10 inches – perfect for adding half-blocks to any of my patterns.
There’s a PDF here for Added Half-Block Layouts. I’ve done all the math for you – calculating yardage, providing cutting instructions and layout guides for six different quilt sizes, from Itty Bitty Baby to King Size. Here’s what that layout looks like.
And, of course, you could make an entire forest quilt full of trees and nothing but trees!
For this pattern I don’t provide as detailed instructions as usual. It’s just too simple a pattern!
If this is your first time doing applique with fusible adhesive, you’ll find detailed instructions here.
Here’s the nutshell version.
- Print or trace the templates onto the paper side of paper-backed fusible adhesive. (I use Heat & Bond Lite for all my quilts.)
- Roughly cut around each piece.
- Fuse to the back of your fabric.
- Cut the piece out neatly on the solid lines.
- Peel off the paper backing.
- Position a tree top onto your block.
- Position a set of branches on your tree top.
- Fuse in place.
- Outline stitch around each piece.
Done!
Here’s a video showing me assembling all four of my sample blocks.
You can use any tree top with any set of branches. You can even cut most of the branches off and just use the trunk. (If you do this, position the trunk piece behind the tree top piece.)
Download the templates here.
Have fun!