I love a good Dresden, but it's fun to think of new ways to use traditional shapes, in this case a tree-filled landscape on a sunny, snowy day. I made this thinking it could be used as a mini quilt or the first in a series of placemats. Finished size is 14 x 19". It's a scrap-friendly project; I had fun digging through my green pile! I used my Fabi, Dresden and Circle dies to quickly create the shapes. Sizzix is offering an amazing deal and a Holiday Gift Guide for the holidays - additional details are below.
You will need one 14 x 19" piece of background fabric, five green fabric scraps and one piece of yellow for the sun that's at least 4.5" square. 18 x 23" pieces of batting and a backing fabric, and 80" of 2 1/4" binding should do the trick.
To wind up with trees of varying heights, I had pieces of fabric in different sizes. From left to right, scraps were 10", 7", 8.5", 10" and 7.5" high. When die cutting the fabric, make sure the scraps are closer to the top, or pointy part of the die blades for the thin trees and closer to the bottom for more squat trees.
Make the Sizzix sandwich (cutting pad, die blade facing up, fabric, cutting pad) and die cut the five trees. Using the 4" circle die, die cut the sun.
Arrange the trees and the sun on the background fabric, keeping in mind that the edges of the background fabric will be covered up a bit by the binding.
Take the trees off one at a time, fold the edges under and press. Glue basting after pressing makes the appliqué go more smoothly.
Slightly clipping the corners before folding them under helps reduce bulk. I folded this short tree in more on the sides at the top than I did with the tall thin trees.
Time to make a nice, round circle. Create a 3" circle out of thin cardboard. I traced the lid of a ball jar.
Place a square of aluminum foil down on your ironing board. Place the die cut fabric circle wrong side up on the foil and then center the cardboard circle on top.
Carefully fold the foil around the cardboard circle a little bit at a time, pressing as you go. Press both sides and allow it to cool. Don't burn yourself!
When you remove the foil and the cardboard, you should have a nice circle that looks like this. If you wind up with bumpy edges, simply reinsert the cardboard and press with the foil again.
I used 505 Spray Adhesive on the backs of the trees (this works best if you place the trees and sun wrong side up on a rag towel before spraying). With a regular stitch length, sew around the edges of the shapes. Make a quilt sandwich and either use the 505 again or pin baste. Quilt as desired. A 2 1/4" binding makes a nice thin border to frame the piece. I used Chocolate Brown Metallic Quilter's Linen for the binding to add some holiday sparkle.
Sizzix is offering gift bundles for a limited time: This Fabric Lover's gift pack contains a Fabi die cutting machine with the Dresden and Circle dies. It's available for $100 - half the regular price! The are other value packs on their site if you are thinking about holiday shopping. (Gah - I know!).
I can't decide if this is a work in progress — it is if I need to make more placemats! Thanks so much for visiting; I'm switching into holiday project mode so be sure to check back!
