pocoellie

Welcome from NE CA. Glad you joined us. I have drafted a few of my kimono blocks, on just 8 1/2x11 graphing paper. I don't know if they make a 12x12 graphing paper. As for your sampler quilt, just use colors that "go" together, it'll look fine.

SharonC

Welcome from S. Arizona.
I just purchased EQ6 and have been reading the manual (something I never do :)), and doing the lessons for the past 3 days....love it so far.
In the past I've used graph paper and deviated as I was sewing if inspiration hit me :). This worked well so I'd definitely recommend it.

Lisanne

Thanks for your welcomes, everyone!

I guess I should mention that I'm in Central PA.
:::waving west towards Iowa, sw to CA, se to NC (twice), nw to WA, ne to NY, over the waters to Ireland and over the border to NE CA (assuming CA here means Canada and not California) :::

I'm so impressed by the quilt pics some of you have as avatars (Jim's Gem, Crafty1, Lacelady, Ninnie). dvseals, your little ones are just beautiful, and your cat is gorgeous, feline fanatic!

I found 12 x 12 graph paper at Jo-Ann's Fabrics, bought it, but so expensive! $6 & change gets you only 20 sheets. I had a 50% off coupon, but still....
Moonpi, thanks for telling me that printable graph paper exists online. My printer seems to be irrevolcably out of order, and I don't think it does 12 x 12 sheets anyway, but if I can save the graph paper onto my hard drive, I can design away in Windows Paint for now.
Crafty 1 and SharonC, I looked up EQ6 and am just drooling! I suppose since I'm just doing basic blocks at first it can wait, but it's on my wish list.

Feline fanatic, to me a sampler quilt is the quintessential learning project. It would be more ambitious for me to make a regular quilt, IMO. I can tell everyone that all the flaws are because each block was a learning experience for me. <g> Your beginner class must have taught you quite a bit! I see doing the LeMoyne Star as one of my later blocks, when I have more experience. I'm just awed that you're even attempting a Mariner's Compass! Do you have pics yet?

Btw, thanks for the link. I've been using this website's blocks, playing with them, choosing ones for y sampler.

Lacelady, I'll look for the Lynne Edwards book. I have one from the library, The Book of Sampler Quilts by Dorothy Frager. It has some good info and photos of sampler quilts, but not all the info I want.

As for my colors, the problem is that each block has its own color theme, but the blocks won't all coordinate color wise. Well, one step at a time.

Right now, I'm struggling with the triangles on the Fair and Square block, which I thought was as simple as you could get without doing all straight lines. It took me forever to realize I didn't need templates, just to measure and rotary cut. Then my triangle fabric turned out not to be 100% cotton, which I found out when the iron started to melt it. It's a hard-to-find color, too, the yellow-orange of a school bus or Crayola crayon box. Jo-Ann's doesn't have it in all cotton. I bought the closest shade, but it's just too yellow.

Lisa T

Welcome from Northern Michigan!

Kudos to you for jumping in and designing your own squares! I draw all my quilts on graph paper with colored pencils. Then I assign each square a value- usually 3 inches- and then add my seam allowance. I don't make each square on it's own piece of paper unless I am trying to draw my own applique design.

I attached one so you can see how I do it.

As far as each square having it's own color scheme, I think you will be fine- IMO your color choices are what make your quilt "yours". I do think that setting them on white or a solid color might help with letting the eye have some resting spots, but that is just me. If you go to Flickr and search for Sampler Quilts I bet you would get a lot of inspiration.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30239158@N05/2886035802/

For instance in this quilt they used a lot of different colors, but the black setting makes it look nice and tidy. (To me anyway. Tidy is a pretty subjective term- LOL!)

Welcome and you will have to show us pictures of your quilt when it's done, or even as you are working on it! We love pictures!

Butterflyspain

Hi welcome from Spain, I am sure someone if not several will be able to answer your questions, I mainly applique and PP so canīt help with all these HST, the drive me nutty.
Elle

SharonC

Lisanne
If your color is too bright soak in a couple of teabags until it's the color you're wanting :) This has helped me get different tans/beiges that I've had trouble getting exactly what I'm looking for.
Afterwards, soak in salt water to help set it.
Hope this helps
SharonC

Lisanne

Thanks for the suggestion, Sharon. In this case, it's not that the yellow's too bright, it's that it's not the orange-yellow I want. I suspect it would take a lot of trial and error to get it just right with tea, though I'll have to experiment with it sometime. I have considered getting some RIT dye and just making my own. Yeesh, so much trouble for such a little bit of fabric, but I really want that specific color.

Butterflyspain, hola! Spanish quilts, I imagine there are differences. I would love to see them.

Lisa T, thansk for the graph paper pic. That is just beautiful! I got regular-sized graph paper today for dreaming up designs, but went for markers instead of colored pencils. They're on sale now, though, what with back-to-school sales, so maybe I'll get some.

By the way, all, at some point I'll dig up my digital camera and show my class project, but until then, the avatar pic is the block I'm trying to work on. The quilt won't have those black lines in it, though I'm thinking I like them...

littlehud

Hi and welcome from SW Iowa. Have fun here.

Pats8e8

There are lots of sites for blocks of the month -- BOMs -- I used them for samplers for my 3 grandsons. I used coordinated colors for each. Started with each grandsons favorite color and added to it.

Pats8e8

Oh, by the way, welcome to our group.