Planning a Quilt

Do you ever stare at fabric you purchased and wonder what you are going to do with it? Sometimes overthinking can completely kill creativity.

While driving around Saturday my partner and I stopped at Fibers & Stitches, a fabric and quilt shop in St. Helens, Oregon to see what they had, since it is quite well known that those small town quilt shops usually have the best fabrics. Or maybe that is just an insider secret? He decided to get a Layer Cake, which is a stack of 40 ten inch squares that are from the same collection, and I picked up a Scrap Bag, intrigued by the possibilities of using the selvage ends of what would normally be considered a Jelly Roll. I know I already went over this in Going for a Drive, but it is worth repeating.

With thirty different fabrics in the Scrap Bag, all from Moda’s Frolic collection, I tried to think of ways to utilize the yard length, two and a half inch strips. The first thing that came to mind was a simple scrappy 9-Patch, and I rearranged the fabrics into mixed threes, figuring I’ll cut each strip in half and arrange the other half differently to get a nice variety of patches once the strips are sewn and cut. Of course, part of me wants to get all crazy and try something super difficult, but I haven’t ever made a large scale quilt before and might just need to reign in my ambitions. Sure, I’ve started large quilts, but that’s as far as they go. Besides, something like these strips are perfect for a simple quilt, and I should just go with my original instinct of a 9-Patch, right?

Well, as luck would have it, Moda has a Bakeshop with Recipes for using your Layer Cakes, Jelly Rolls, Honey Buns and any other stack or roll of coordinating fabric swatches they sell. I just love how everything is food related because seriously that’s all we crafters ever think about! And also being a baker and cook, I find the Recipe Instructions quite easy to follow. Plus, Moda also has a section on their website where you can pick the fabrics you have or want and choose a pattern and it will give you the layout for whatever one you choose, which can be saved into your profile or you can print it out to start working on your project. Ah, technology is making the crafting life so much easier, isn’t it?

Now that I have an idea for what I want to do, which is a variation on a 9-Patch I found in the Bakeshop, I think it is time to just start working on building the blocks. Good thing I’ve got so much fabric from other projects, both finished and yet to be started, just lying around because I’ve got a ton of natural muslin which actually is one of the colors in the Frolic collection, and will work nicely to offset the bold colors and patterns in my chosen fabrics. I can’t wait to get started!