Tippy Trees

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In the United States, this is Labor Day weekend.  It is the "unofficial" end of summer, and beginning of fall.  So I decided to play with a new fall fabric collection.

I chose The Awe of Autumn by Sandy Gervais for Riley Blake Designs.  If you happen to own the 2025 Stash Download 2 from the Electric Quilt Company, you can easily use the collection to color your project.

You can also download the fabrics directly from Riley Blake -- but that is a little more work.  You can find it under 2024 Storyboards Release 5.

The Awe of Autumn Fabric Collection from Riley Blake Designs

Tippy Trees EQ8 Tutorial

Ditch the constraints of Snap to Grid, with a new tree block.

Each tree block will be original.  And can be pieced as a single foundation. 

​Combine five trees for a fast and easy quilt.

Tippy Trees Block

On the Block Worktable select New Block>Pieced>EasyDraw.

On the Precision toolbar, set the block width at 6 and height at 48.

Set the snaps Horizontal and Vertical at 4 (this doesn't matter since we won't be snapping to grid).

Set the Snapping Options at Snap to Node Only.

Precision Toolbar Settings

With the Line tool, start at the center of the top.

Draw a slanted line to the right edge.

Draw a second slanted line to the left edge.

Draw a line over the two slanted lines.  Make sure the lines do not touch the outside edge.

Drawing Three Lines for each section of the Tree

With the Edit tool, select the 3rd line.

Select At Intersections.  This will split the line into three lines (with the center line between the slanted lines).

Select the center line and select Half.

Split Lines using the Edit Tool

Repeat the process, starting the next set of lines at the node created in the center.

Continue to repeat the process until you reach the bottom of the block.

For the last segment, rather than Half, select Thirds.

Draw lines from these nodes to the bottom of the block (for the trunk).

Creating the Tree Trunk

No tree will look the same. 

Consider varying the segments by drawing both longer and shorter lines. 

For the third line, some could go up, some could go down.  You can also raise or lower where the line is placed across the slanted lines.

Here are four versions of the Tippy Tree that I created.

Tippy Tree #1

Tippy Tree #2

Tippy Tree #3

Tippy Tree #4

For each block, select Print & Export.  Then Print>Foundation.

Make sure each block can be constructed with a single foundation.  You can check this if you go to the Sections tab.  You should see a see a single color covering the block.

If it cannot be constructed as a single foundation, go back and correct the block.

• If there is an inside corner, you may need to correct a slanted line.  (An issue I experienced in the video.)
• If there are multiple sections, you may have extended lines from left to right too far.  Delete and pieces of these lines that touch an outside edge.

Print Foundation

Tippy Tree Quilt

On the Quilt Worktable, select New Quilt>Horizontal.

​On the Layout tab, set the number of blocks at 5 Horizontal and 1 Vertical.

Set the finished size of blocks at 6 x 48.

​Under Finished size of Sashing set the Width at 1 and Height at 0.

Layout Tab

Borders:

Border #1:  Spaced Squares.  Change the lock size adjustment and set Left and Right at 0 and Top and Bottom at 1.  Set Blocks in Border at 4 Horizontal.

Border #2:  Blocks Aligned Inside.  Set Left and Right at 1 and Top and Bottom at 0.  Set Blocks in Border at 1 Vertical

Border #3:  Long Horizontal.  Set size at 1.5.

Border #4:  Long Horizontal.  Set size at 4.

​Border #5:  Mitered.  Set size at .5.  

Tippy Tree Layout with Borders

On the Design tab, place the blocks in the quilt.  Consider flipping some of the blocks.

​Recolor the patches in the blocks along with the sashing and borders.

Adding Blocks and Fabrics on the Design Tab

Check out the full video tutorial.

Here is the final quilt.

Tippy Trees Quilt

Here is my practice quilt.  I colored this one using On Your Mark by Free Spirit.  This fabric collection was designed by Seth Apter.

Tippy Trees Quilt using On Your Mark fabric

I am looking forward to seeing your Tippy Trees quilt.  Feel free to share your designs in the Learning EQ Facebook group.

Learning EQ Facebook Group - Tippy Trees Post

​Happy quilting.

​Kari

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