Hive 5 - May Tutorial - Oh Tannenbaum...

View from my front porch today - 29 April

Hive 5, ladies! Hope this note reaches you well! As I write this, two days before May begins, it is currently STILL snowing here in Colorado... this makes month SEVEN of snow for us and after five years here, I've officially hit my snow limit! So I'm moving to Florida! :) I'm moving around the 20th of May (I know, worst timing ever) so if you mail your block before the 20th it will be a Colorado address and after the 20th I will update the list with a Florida address. So sorry this is such a pain :(

Anyway, once my window view is of white sand beaches and not snowy mountains, I'm sure I will miss all the trees in this silly, chilly state. To remember this state by, I chose a Christmas tree block so that I can craft a cozy throw to celebrate the season with this year! I have a bit of a problem with hoarding Christmas fabrics so I have a TON. If you don't have any, don't worry, solids, batiks, or small print other fabrics in red & green will work fine :) Novelty prints are also fine (I included quite a few in my fabric selection) but please don't use any with licensed cartoon characters (i.e. no Fred Flintstone) :)

Novelty Prints and Christmas Prints in Red & Green 

Non-holiday Red & Green fabric selections

The pattern is a free wallhanging pattern from McCall's I'm making into a quilt block. The PDF does an EXCELLENT job of explaining how to assemble the block so I won't try to confuse what I think McCall's did right! :) McCall's Tiny Tannenbaum Pattern PDF

I love the scrappy look of the tree where no two fabrics are the same next to each other; if you want every green to be different feel free to deviate from the pattern to do that - get creative! I also love how easy this block is with easy half square triangles and regular squares! :) My only color requirements are that you keep the tree mostly green with a brown trunk, use a low volume or solid print in a true white for the background fabric, and use something true red (not burgundy) for the border. The border that appears to be in green floral in the tutorial, that should be a true red print or solid :) So true greens, reds, & whites... go to it, ladies! :) Christmas themed fabrics are a plus but again, not a requirement at all :) Have fun, use up your stash and be grateful that it's not snowing where you are!
All my love,
Erin
P.S. There are 237 days till Christmas... Not that my pre-schoolers are counting or anything ;)

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