It's time to celebrate and honour trees and the moon in this hand stitching class

2025 was the year of Jo's Moon Trees obsession and this year she is bringing this to the Academy with a brand new class.

Using freehand cutting and needle turn appliqué we will create organic tree and moon pictures which can be used for a range of different projects, from temperature trees to family trees and from framed pictures to art quilts.

Available to buy as a single class from mid June 2026.  Class goes live on 1 July.  

Settle in for some slow and spiritual stitching

Jo will show you how to use rotary cutters and scissors to freehand 'draw' trees. We will then use needle-turn appliqué techniques to create our moon tree panels, layering trees and the moon, before finishing with simple running stitch embellishment.

We will build up to more intricate trees that can be used for temperature and family tree projects and we will also look at how to create Jo's Moon Trees quilt.

Week 1

After a look at suitable fabrics we will begin our first simple moon tree panel and learn how to sew a perfect appliqué circle for the moon. We will explore how to freehand cut the tree layers and how to use needle turn appliqué for the branches.

Week 2

We will create a larger more intricate tree and explore embellishments.

Week 3

Jo will be demonstrating how to use the trees to create both a family tree and a monthly temperature tree.

Week 4

We will look at how Jo created her Moon Trees quilt using different sized blocks and how to create scrappy, embellished filler panels. We will also discuss how to machine quilt over hand stitched embellishment.