growing trees

In one of my posts last week I showed a graphed diagram of a Tree of Life block. Over the weekend I got the three "leaf" sections put together in some scrap fabrics, and while I was happy with the layout and the colors, the size of the thing was huge! I knew that it would be big because I did all the calculations, but 17.5" square on graph paper doesn't look or sound nearly as big as it actually is in real life. So I skipped cutting and assembling the trunk section altogether and went to plan B.

I decided to revert to the original size called for in the pattern (Edyta Sitar - Friendship Triangles book) which is 14.5" square. Much better! And these are the real fabrics. After I finished this one yesterday, I kept stopping in and admiring it every time I passed by the sewing room :)

In the quilt I am planning, all the tree blocks will be set on point like this, and surrounded by a striped sashing. The leaf fabrics will be different in every block, and the setting triangles will be the fuschia funny birds from this line (Sarah Fielke - From Little Things for Lecien). It should be a fun, bright, funny quilt when completed!

I'd love to just keep making these tree blocks - I think there will be eight total. But there are at least ten other things that need to be finished (or started and finished) before this project can see any more work time. New babies this summer, remember? :-) No, not ten babies, but those two little guys are at the top of the list!

Which brings me to another topic. Just how many works-in-progress is too many? How many until you are classified as having "a problem"?