Welcome back to the 2024 Little Forest BOM! Can you believe you’ve only got 5 more blocks to go?! This month you’ll be focusing on stitching up the Fraser Fir quilt block.
I absolutely adored your Striped Pine quilt blocks from last month! Seeing all those colourful stripes was an utter joy!
So far in this modern skill builder, you’ve been small piecing, snowballing, FPPing, sewing curves, and needle turn appliquéing like a champ. Just look at all the techniques you’ve covered already:
- The importance of tracking your progress through the Little Forest BOM Journal.
- Small piecing in the Bonsai Quilt Block, which will set the foundation of your quilting skills.
- How to stitch and flip (aka snowballing) in the Stacked Pine Quilt Block, which is an introduction to piecing on the bias!
- How to achieve nice crisp points with Foundation Paper Piecing and how to piece curves in the Cherry Tree block.
- How to layer motifs with needle turn appliqué in the Little Forest block.
- Small piecing and FPP without as much wiggle room in the Lodgepole block.
- How to piece oval curves in the Poplar block.
- How to strip piece in the Striped Pine block.
You may have already tackled this technique as part of the Cherry Tree and Lodgepole quilt blocks, but it’s going to take it to the next level!
The Little Forest BOM Quilt Pattern is available for instant download!
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Story Behind the Fraser Fir Quilt Block
You might think I chose the Fraser Fir tree because it matches my last name. That was certainly a fun and cute bonus 😉
But the real reason I had to include this one is because it makes me think of Christmas and the lovely-smelling trees my mum used to get for us.
Not only do they smell delicious, but their needles are softer than pine trees, so you weren’t poking yourself all the time – ha!
I thought the shape would be a lovely addition to the Little Forest quilt.
Quilting Technique Featured
The Fraser Fir quilt block will have you do a deep dive on all things foundation paper piecing (FPP). You’ve already explored this technique in the Cherry and Lodgepole trees, but this one is going to challenge you even more.
The reason is, that you’ll be working with quite a few more FPP templates and most of them are working with sharp angles. You got a feel for how the fabric behaves when you pieced your Cherry Tree block, so keep that in mind as you dive in to piece your Fraser Fir block.
Materials & Notions
Here’s what you’ll need to have on hand to stitch up the Fraser Fir quilt block:
- Fraser Fir quilt block pattern – part of the Little Forest BOM pattern
- Fabrics in colours:
- Piecing thread
- Sewing machine
- Cutting mat
- Rotary cutter with these blades
- Rotary cutter for paper templates
- Scissors for paper cutting
- Ruler – long
- Ruler – short
- Small scissors
- Pin cushion
- Pins
- Appliqué pins
- Iron
- Wool pressing mat
- Cardstock (optional)
- Glue stick (optional)
- Erasable marking tool
To make the same version as me you can find the exact kit featuring the same AGF Signature Pure Solids in this quilt kit from Sew Curated.
Top Tips
Since there are a lot of templates to work with in the Fraser Fir quilt block, I encourage you to work systematically through the steps.
Here’s how that looked for me:
- I first started by cutting all of my fabric pieces.
- Once my fabric was cut, I focused on printing and gluing all my FPP templates. Refer to this tutorial for a refresher on how to glue paper templates.
- I then grouped my fabric pieces with their corresponding template.
- Once I was all set up, I then focused on placing and piecing all of my 1 and 2 pieces. Remember, FPP is all about working sequentially. So, to keep things organized, I find it easiest to piece together all of my A1 and A2 (B1 with B2, C1 with C2, etc.).
- After getting that first line stitched, I then batch-pressed them before moving on to attaching all my pieces ‘3’.
This helped keep the overwhelm at bay and meant I didn’t mix up any of my pieces. Plus, it was super efficient!
Caution
Don’t rush through this one. This one’s all about the prep work. By the time you get to actually piecing your branches together, you’ll feel like you’ve been doing a ton of piecing just to get you to this point. But then it all comes together in a snap!
So, the moral of the story, focus on taking this one step at a time and you’ll have quilty success!
August Little Forest BOM Giveaway
You’ve been cutting up a storm and that’s putting a toll on your rotary cutter and blades, and we both know how important it is to keep those in tip-top sharpened condition. This is why I reached out to Ursula from LDH Scissors to give you the chance to win (1) 45mm rotary cutter and (1) 5 pack 45mm Midnight Edition Rotary Blades
To enter the giveaway, you must:
- Be following @ldh_scissors and @shannonfraserdesigns on Instagram.
- Post a photo on Instagram of your Fraser Fir block between August 15, 2024, and September 14, 2024, at 11:59 pm Eastern.
- Instagram account must be public.
- Tag @ldh_scissors and @shannonfraserdesigns
- Include the hashtags #LittleForestBOM #LittleForestQuilt
This month’s giveaway is open internationally.
The winner is to be announced in the September 15, 2024, Little Forest BOM Newsletter!
Have fun seeing your Fraser Fir quilt block come to life! I look forward to seeing yours pop up on the ‘gram or in our Facebook group.
If you haven’t already, be sure to get your Little Forest BOM Quilt Pattern and sign up for the Little Forest BOM Newsletter so you don’t miss any of the quilt-along details 😊
Don’t forget to check in with your journal. It will feel good to track how you feel and you’ll love being able to look back and see how you felt along the way.
Happy stitching!
xo
Shannon
PS Don’t forget to share your Little Forest quilt block on the ‘gram to be entered into the giveaway!
PPS Did you see the Fraser Fir Pillow Pattern is now available in the shop?!
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Good morning Shannon!
The Fraser Fir Block that you are showing seems to still have the paper in the back: is that really so? And if it is, when do you remove it?
Thank you!
Jacinthe
Good morning, Jacinthe! I tend to leave my FPP papers in until I’m ready to trim the block down and ready to piece it into my quilt top. But you can remove them once you’re done piecing the block together. It’s really up to you! Since I tend to photograph and handle my blocks quite a bit after I piece them, leaving the papers in helps keep things from fraying too much. Let me know if that helps!
Thank you! Have a great day!