Wren on a Branch Christmas Wall Hanging

With different fabrics you can turn this fun modern pattern into a festive holiday wall hanging. And with the Baby Lock Cresendo you can do your piecing and quilting with one easy to use versatile machine that will make this Christmas project come together in a snap! Download printable instructions.

Materials:

• ½ yard Wrenly Christmas Wren Pine Wren fabric by Valori Wells for front
• ½ yard Christmas fabric for backing
• 9 pieces of small print fabrics for bird house squares
• Madeira® quilting thread
• Warm and natural batting
• Temporary spray adhesive
• Swarovski Crystals
• Hot-Fix Crystal Wand
• Machingers Quilting Gloves
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Straight edge ruler

Tools:

• Baby Lock® Crescendo Sewing Machine - Model# BLCR
• ¼” Foot with guide
• Baby Lock Walking Foot
• Free-Motion Quilting foot

Steps:

1. At the Cutting Table:

   1. For the top box cut two 1” x 3½” strips and two 1” x 2½” strips from the first fabric two 1¼” x 5” strips and two 1¼” x 3½” strips from the second and one 2½” square from the third

   2. For the middle box cut two 1” x 3½” strips and two 1” x 2½” strips from the fourth fabric two 1¼” x 5” strips and two 1¼” x 3½” strips from the fifth and one 2½” square from the sixth

   3. For the lower box cut two 1” x 3½” strips and two 1” x 2½” strips from the seventh fabric two 1¼” x 5” strips and two 1¼” x 3½” strips from the eighth and one 2½” square from the ninth

   4. Cut one section from the wren fabric (or similar fabric) that measures 5¼” x 25” two pieces 5” x 6” and one section 11½” x 25”.

   5. Fussy cut the sections so that there are at least one to two birds showing.

   6. Cut one section from the batting and backing fabric 4” larger around than the pieced top.

   7. Cut two 2½” wide strips of fabric across the width of the fabric for the binding.

2. At the Sewing Machine: To piece together the three boxes follow the next set of directions while using a ¼” seam allowance:

   1. Sew the 1” x 2½” wide sections to the top and bottom of the 2½” squares.

   2. Sew the 1” x 2½” strips to each side of the center square.

   3. Sew the 1¼” x 3½” strips to the top and bottom of the square.

   4. Sew the 1¼” x 5” strips to the two sides.

   5. Press the seams in the same direction.

3. On a flat surface lay the three pieced sections vertically and place one 5” x 6” section above and another below the sections.

4. Sew the five sections together and press.

5. Sew the 5¼” x 25” wren section to the left side of the vertical pieced section.

6. To complete the piecing sew the 11½” x 25” section to the right side of the pieced section and press.

7. Lay the backing fabric batting and pieced top in that order on a flat surface.

8. Lightly spray with temporary spray adhesive between the layers to hold in place during quilting.

9. Attach the Baby Lock Walking Foot and stitch-in-the-ditch through the seam lines.

10. Quilt across the three boxes from corner to corner.

11. To set the machine up for free-motion quilting attach the free motion quilting foot and lower the feed dogs.

    1. Select a quilting stitch. Place the Machingers Quilting Gloves on your hands to aid in moving the quilt during the quilting process.

12. Select a quilting stitch. Place the Machingers Quilting Gloves on your hands to aid in moving the quilt during the quilting process.

    1. In the sample the branches were outlined and used several rows of free motion stitches to fill. The bird was quilted while following the pattern within the bird shape.

13. If needed reshape the quilted section with a straight edge ruler

14. Bind the quilt to finish.

15. To finish the quilt fuse the colored crystals to the quilt front while using the Hot Fix Crystal Wand.