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Mom, if you're looking at this page...
TURN BACK NOW!
really.
go away.
Okay.
If you're not Mom, here's what I'm working on -
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Here's the fabrics I'm using to make my mom a quilt for Christmas. I finally got the design spark for her quilt when I saw the main print. I like colors that comes in a box of 8 crayons: red, orange, yellow... Mom likes colors a lot more nuanced: taupe, coral, sage... I was stalled on an idea for her quilt until I saw the print above. Enough Mom colors and her favorite stargazer lilies for her, a Brandy enough print and bright enough to keep me interested and inspired through the project. Even better: ALL of the smaller, complimentary print came from my fabric stash! Only needed to buy solids and fleece for the backing. Woohoo! So... the plan was to make a big lap quilt, the width of my polar fleece 55-60" about 6 feet long. Nine patch blocks in 10 colors taken from the print: 2 reds, 2 yellows, 2 greens, 2 blacks, 2 whites.
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Hooray, Hooray, Hooray!
Hilary of Wee
Wonderfuls
found me 3 more yards of the main print! Yippee!
THANK YOU, Hilary!
Scale/Size
So the limiting factor for the scale and size of the quilt is the
polar fleece backing I'll be using. It's usally 60" wide. And I knew
I wanted about a 100 blocks. Or rather 50 squares of the print, 50 nine-patch
blocks.
Here's what that
looks like:
The big brown squares being the main print. The nice patches arranged to the be "purposefully random." 5 blocks of each of the 10 pairings of small print/solids.
To keep within the 60" width of the backing fabric I opted for squares that are 6" finished. A finished quilt that's 54" wide and 66" long; assuming I leave it borderless.
That meant 2.5" strips (with 1/4" seam allowances). So, I cut long strips of the smaller prints and solids into 2.5" wide strips. I sewed them into print/solid/print strips and a paired solid/print/solid.
Then ironing, ironing, ironing.
Then I cut those
into 2.5" strips:
They are pinned together into threes. Ready to sew together.
With the natural 45" width of cotton prints, and cutting 3 solid strips and 3 print strips, I had enough for 10 blocks for each pair of colors. This means 5 blocks with 5 squares of the print and 4 of the solid and 5 block with 5 squares of the solid and 5 squares of prints.
Got that? With 10 color combinations, that means I have 100 nine-patch blocks! Twice as many as I need for mom's gift. So, I'm planning on making two whole quilts. Not sure the fate of the second one.
With every project, I get a better sense of how much fabric it takes to make a quilt top. And better at buying fabric.