I want to just make a block quilt - nothing fancy. I found a seller on ebay who sells batches of 20 4x4 blocks sorted by color for cheapycheap. would it be better to buy my fabric this way, or to just go to a fabric store and pick out yardage? (part of) the problem is that our apartment is very very small, nowhere near enough room to even pull out my sewing machine, let alone spread my cloth out, measure, and cut my own blocks. but i'm worried that if i get these mix-n-match blocks, it won't look right.
also, i just got the "Block Tool" app for my iphone, which i love for all the inspiration - but how do you all go from pictures of inspiring blocks to deciding how to use a particular block pattern with colors and all? i spared $4 for the iphone app, but i can't buy quilting software. how do you plan out quilts??? i found this lovely website too, but it's kind of limited: http://explorer.quiltstudy.org/quiltmaker.html
and here's a quilt i planned using it:
http://explorer.quiltstudy.org/userq...5110e2e247f364

Thanks so much!

--Isis, from Boston

Isis, I wouldn't stress too much about space, my quilting and cutting is all done on two wooden TV trays. I have them side by side in my bedroom, one is covered with a towel for ironing. I just shift things around as I need to, put my big cutting board on there when I need to cut, put that away and use the towel when I need to iron. Sometimes I will even put the sewing machine towards the back of the table with the towel on it, and use the space in front to iron small pieces as I go! It's actually a great set up in a very small space.

As far as designing goes, I find plain old paper and pencil and crayons work great. I have also recently started using excel by resizing the columns and rows and coloring them in to do simple designs.

Happy Quilting!!
Rachel

Try googling scrap quilts, there are many different patterns out there using blocks like these. Once you get all of the blocks, then you can pick out sashing or borders from more solid looking fabrics that will tie all of your blocks together.

Isis, first of all, welcome to the board. My sister has an efficiency appartment so is VERY limited on space. She works like Rachel. She does one project at a time and only takes out what she needs for each step. She uses her very small kitchen table for everything. She has created some beautiful things in that small space. When you cut your fabric, all you have to lay out is exactoly what you need to cut, such as 5 or 10 inches at a time. The rest can remain folded. If you want to buy blocks already cut, that is fine. I use charm packs a lot. You can make some beautiful quilts using an assortment of colors. The nine patch block comes to mind and there are so many more. As far as inspiration, you can go online and google quilt blocks and find thousands of them free. Rachel is also rite about paper and colors. Find a quilt block you like and then draw it out and use different colors to find the combo that you like. Is your machine a portable? If not, rearange things so you have a small corner for it. If it is and you want to leave it up, use a tv tray. If this is something that you really want to do, you will find a way to do it. You didn't say if you have ever quilted before. No matter if you have or not, keep coming to this board and asking questions. Someone will always be willing to help and have an answer for you.

Athenagwis, amma, and Honey, thank you so much for your responses! I did introduce myself in one of the forums... i have quilted before, but only under guidance from either a teacher or a kit & instructions.
as to space, I meant it when I said tiny... we don't have a kitchen table. flat surfaces = kitchen counter (2'x3') and my desk, which would work except there's no light over there, and no electrical outlet to plug a lamp into! it's less than 400 square feet - i'm counting the days till we get out!

as to designing, i'm finding a combination of the iphone app + colored pencils and paper to be working out pretty well. another question: should i alternate blank squares with patterned blocks? or just make my 5 x 6 block (or whatever) quilt with all patterns? i'm concerned about it looking too "busy" lol

When you get your blocks if you have a piece of flannel you can throw over a door you could put the blocks on the flannel for a design wall and then I like to take a picture of things that I am not sure if the design will work or not. But you can just stand back and look at it on the door. Then you can move things around and audition(put on or take off) differant colors til it looks right to you. If you take a picture it is easier to have a differant perspective on things. If you don't have flannel you can throw a plain white sheet over the door and use pins to hold the blocks in place while you decide. It would give you a differant way to look at it.

I always alternate my blocks so that they wont be to busy. That's just the way I like it. Any way you do it will be fine. Hopefully you can get into a bigger place soon.

I am space-challenged, too. I put a square of plywood on the bed to do cutting, and set up my sewing machine on a folding table. The litchen gets the ironing board. Lots of running around, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

When I designed a trip around the world for a friend, I created a table in Word and filled in colors from the fill part. Can't explain it better, brain is fried. This way, I could rearrange colors easily (works also in excel but table comes already with squares) and wrote notes about what I did as I quilted that worked or didn't work and how to improve on the next trip wallhanging. I also sent this to my sister who wanted to see both apttern and notes regarding a trip quilt.

There are lots of places that sell pre-cut fabric squares. Could you post a link to the ones on eBay you are looking at? I think it's fine to purchase pre-cut fabric squares.

Pamela beat me to it! After posting, I decided to figure out how much quilt top you could make with 20 5" squares -- not much! It would probably be considerably less expensive to buy yardage and cut it yourself. And I hadn't even thought about postage costs.....

Isis, I have bought those squares on ebay before for a good price, but haven't used all of them yet. By the time you pay shipping and handling on these squares though, it doesn't end up being a bargain. 20 squares won't make much of a quilt, so you'd have to order several sets (depending on how big you want your quilt.) If you stick to the same color, it would make a really pretty scrappy quilt, so don't worry about using them. Sometimes, I pick fabric first and then find a pattern I like that I think would look nice for those colors and fabrics. Other times, I find a pattern I love and then pick fabric for it. One way that I use (and recommend for my beginner students) for choosing fabrics is to pick a print, maybe a nice floral, that you love with several colors in it, then match those colors in other fabrics. You can mix a large floral with small florals, or a plaid or stripe, but if you like quilts that are less busy, choose fabrics that are tone on tone or small prints. But the bottom line is that you must love your choices! Then you can't go wrong!

Isis -

20 squares @ 4 x 4 end up being almost 1/4 yard. You can buy a fat quarter for $1 if you get a good price, and around here they typically run $2 in the quilt shops. If there is any way you can set up a cutting board, you will probably get better prices by cutting your own squares.

The charm packs are great because they are usually pre-coordinated. Nothing wrong with using that convenience, especially since in your situation the extra $ spent may be less important than the space constraints.

I think if you choose the charm pack route, you can make a beautiful quilt. I've seen lots of packages on the web and in shops that would make pretty quilts. You will still have to do some cutting, though. If you start with the squares, you won't have to have much space - a TV tray as some others suggested will suffice.

Be sure to post pics of your finished product.

Darren