I remember birch trees growing along the road where I grew up and they always looked so beautiful all year round. This quilt has a lovely winter feel, with silvery birches and those bright red cardinals.


The pattern is by Gina Gempesaw, from the book Quilting in Black & White. I did a demo on Sewing Quarter today and used green fabric for the trees, which made it look like bamboo and more like spring!

Cutting the angles for the branches is a little different and well thought out, the piecing is simple and the instructions are really clear. The original pattern has four borders but I just added one on either side to make it wider. I do think borders look wonderful though and make the trees 'float'.


The little birds are sweet and just that little bit of applique gives life to the quilt. I did a small zig zag stitch around the raw edges. The eye is quite tiny so I used a locking stitch (which is like a small asterisk star) in the centre. 

I kept the quilting simple, straight-ish lines using Aurifil 50wt (not marked, just went for it with a bit of wiggle) and then some intentionally wiggly lines using a decorative stitch - this one is mode 1 #20 width 8 length 2.5 on my Elna 680.

It has made me want to have proper seasonal quilts for my house, it would be nice to change them and have totally different looks. I think monotone is beautiful for winter. 
Do you have seasonal quilts or change them throughout the year?