Rhonda

What a wonderful version of my quilt block Emma! Love the colors you chose. I enjoy seeing pics of what people have done with my designs. Thanks for sharing this!

I imagine I will keep this going at least a year or so. maybe more. it really depends on if I get feedback. as long as anyone is paying attention I love to share. but if noone is following and I feel like I am doing it for nothing then I usually fade it out and quit doing them.

Posting pictures of what you make of my designs is a great way to know someone is getting some good out of this BOM.

JuanitaBean

Rhonda if we are going to do a quilt for the whole year how many fabric colors will we need to have and how much of each fabric(about). If we stay in a color family. ( light fabric, Med. fabric, dark fabric) Will this work with all the block patterns your going to use or should we do scrappy? I have done some of your blocks but they are scrappy and Love them, looking forward to doing these blocks. Oct. Nov. Dec. will be hard time for me to do this but I'll try to keep up. That is why I'm asking about fabric so I can have it ready and in one place at all times. Hope this makes sense. Thanks Juanita

Rhonda

I imagine the numbers I gave above will be close for each quilt block but there may be some variances.
I do like to use the 6 rows of 6 blocks alot so most of them will be in that range.
There could be more than 3 colors tho in a quilt block. just depends on the design and right now I only have 4 designed so I really don't know what the rest will be til I sit down and play with it.

But the general rules I use are 3 - 4 colors per block and the 6 x 6 grid.
When I use other types of shortcut blocks that may need a bit more fabric per shortcut block tho.

Rhonda

I am using 4 fabrics on the next quilt block but I also have a little bit of a fifth color also. so if you are wanting to put aside fabrics then you should plan on 5 diff fabrics.

I'd have to stop and think how much of each one for a whole year of blocks. I don't have them all designed yet. I usually just do them along the way through the year.

It's not the same as a published sampler quilt.

twirlingjudy

I have wanted to learn to quilt for years and am just now getting around to trying it. I made my first block last week, not perfect but not to shabby for the first one. I am interested in your technique and plan to try it soon. l Looking forward to your new block next month. Thank you for sharing your experience and talent with the rest of us.
twirlingjudy

Rhonda

glad you joined us judy! I hope you enjoy my methods and my quilt blocks.

Emma S

Hope you don't mind Rhonda, but I notice there have been a lot of questions regarding colors and fabric amounts. This was my reasoning. First of all I have a lot of small pieces of calico (less than a yard) that I have accumulated at garage sales etc. I figured that alone will establish kind of a theme, then I decided I would use a single color for the "background" of each block (ecru). If I add sashing it can be either the ecru or another color that goes with all of the blocks. In the first block the colors are pink, dark rose, brown, blue and green, probable colors to be used in subsequent blocks. Thinking of the quilt this way, it isn't necessary to know the amount of fabric, except for the Ecru. I have a very large chunk of it. If you did want to go with a limited palette I would just start with the size of the quilt. For instance I usually make a queen size, which takes approximately 9 yards for the front. Then I would divide that by the number of colors. I've used this method many times and it always works for me. Hope this makes sense and helps someone.

Geri B

Just "found" this thread.....intriguing, but my question is....re: Boston star block.......all the edges are bias? That. Ignite not be a prob with mini...I don't do.....but with larger squares for some who may have a difficult time handling bias edges, could this be a problem.

Another question........I am going to try a block......I have a thicker plastic 2-1/2" template....that should be ok, right?

Rhonda

Thanks Emma the problem I have with giving you amts of fabric is that I design these quilt blocks as I go. I dont' have them already to look at and tell you you will need x amt of brown and x amt of red for a queen size quilt. I am only giving you the designs. this month might be a Boston block and has 4 colors. Next month might be a Kansas Dugout with 6 diff colors. I don't know til I sit down and design it.

This is not a sampler with a definate quilt designed. I love to play with designing and love to share. So this is the outlet of my play time on my EQ LOL

I dont' make big quilts so I also have no idea how much fabric you will need. I can do a fabric assessment for one quilt block but that is all

Also you may or may not include all the quilt blocks I will be sharing. Someone may take one quilt block and make enough of that one quilt block for a queen size quilt. then your fabric numbers would be different from the quilt you make with all of the different quilt blocks.

I just offer these to get people interested in trying out my shortcut methods and I believe quilting is sharing.

Sorry I can't really answer the fabric question.

Rhonda

Your 2 1/2" should be just fine. My templates are acrylic and 1/8" thick.

Yes some people are worried about bias. I sewed 2 1/2" blocks together and did a trial run one time. I use a method I call tacking. Tacking is sewing a stitch across where the seam will come through to hold the fabric in place. then I put a pin in the center to hold the egdes together. If you tack the ends and put a pin in the middle you have controlled the bias and it will sew just fine.

I am working on a doll quilt now that uses 2 1/2" Bostons. I haven't had any trouble with them at all.
Here is a picture of my tacking two blocks together. It doesn't matter what kind of blocks the method is the same and it works for all of my shortcut blocks.

It may be a pain to take time to tack but it does help tremendously with accuracy. The fabric can still slip a bit with a pin but if you tack it holds the fabric in place better. I use tacks whenever I am matching two seams or on the ends as I show here.