Our home is wonderfully tucked into an acreage of birches which fills our view from every window. We are blessed to share the space with many, many birds (we’ve named a resident partridge ‘Danny’) as well as an assortment of critters including turtles, otters, beaver, rabbits and fox. I’m delighted to catch a glimpse of any and all but most recently have been captivated by the sight of fox.

When I came across this adorable Foundation pattern for Sleepy Fox from Andrea Tsang Jackson of 3rd Story Workshop, I purchased the pattern and set about a plan to incorporate it into something special. Andrea explains the story behind the pattern and the quilt in which she made it. She also shared how she made improv birch trees. With all that information and the birch out my window for more inspiration, I ‘grew’ some of my own.

For the quilters out there, I decided to appliqué the trees on the background rather than piecing them in. My version of the fox pattern includes black and white pieces of Minky in the ears, black vinyl for the nose and white Berber stabilized with fusible interfacing in the tail. I reworked the tail section of the pattern to remove a seam so that a single piece of Berber filled the space.