Lollypop Trees

While some think it takes courage to climb Mt. Everest (and yes, I agree), it also takes courage to finally open the Lollypop Trees pattern by Kim McLean and admit that yes, it’s time to begin.  So I played it safe today.  I cut apart the life-size pattern pieces and jotted down where the trees are in the Grand Scheme of Things.  You can see my penciled-in numbers in the grid on the right. But before I explode the fabric shelves and get crackin’ here’s some background on this pattern.

This is a published picture of the quilt, circa 1855 from New York State.  In the notes they allude to the quilt looking like “Lollipop Trees.”  But McLean’s quilt is titled Lollypop Trees, a different spelling.  The original is basically done in three colors: an olive green, turkey red and deep green, and a zig-zag border.

McLean’s version.  You can see some overlap in the design, which I really like.  It’s interesting to have the origins of a quilt paying homage to the past; however, with the use of Kaffe Fasset fabrics, it’s become a different quilt entirely.

Here’s a view without those borders–a twist as well, because of the use of more solid fabrics.

This quilt is huge–nearly queen-sized.  Hmmm.  My friend Rhonda (who is doing this at the same time) suggests we choose our favorites and made it smaller.

This one is not 16 squares huge, but only 12 squares.  I like the use of the circles in the border, apparently a design taken from another McLean quilt.  This size gives the punch of the large one, but it more suited to what I want to accomplish.