I'm trying to finish a quilt top by August 1; it's very labor intensive. Then I'll be working on a sampler for a long time ... so you'd think I wouldn't even be thinking about what quilt I want to make AFTER that, but you'd be wrong!

I have a lot of rick rack and lace left over from my doll making days and I have enough yards of 1 particular lace to go around 20 large grandmother's fans; I have downloaded a lovely pattern in which the 20 fans are identical (Oriental fabrics). I can't decide whether to do the fans exactly alike (as in the pattern) or to use different fabrics in each of the 16 fans. 3 colors comprise each 8-blade fan. I'd like to do the fans in Oriental fabrics, but I have none as yet. Obviously, whatever I decide will impact on how many fabrics and/or what fabric amounts I buy.

Do you have an opinion or a personal preference you would like to share with me? I'd be interested to know. Thanks! Or GF pix to share with me.

I WANT TO MAKE ONE SOON AS WELL & I AM LEANING TOWARDS DIFF COLORS BUT IF IT WAS AN AWESOME ORIENTAL , I MIGHT JUST DO IT ALL THE SAME LOL NOT MUCH HELP, WAS I?

That sounds very pretty, with asian fabrics. I myself lean towards scrappy quilts, so if I were doing it, I would probably choose to do each block with different fabric combinations.

No help at all! That's o.k., though. I really like the one I downloaded so I will probably take the safe route and make all 20 blocks the same. I was looking at Connecting Threads clearance fabrics; some of those are tempting, but it's early days yet, so I might just wait.

I choose a different fabric for each blade, then moved the colors around so each fan was a little different. Trimmed the edge with lace and edging at the "handle. It was really pretty. I also did that as a quilt as you go , back when it was called lap quilting.LOL My quilt is in pinks and blues, more country looking.

Ooops! Made a boo-boo in my initial question where I typed "16 fans" ... there are 20 fans.

WEEZIE- THEIR FABRIC IS PRETTY COOL :) I JUST BOUGHT 10 YDS OF BATIK FROM ROBERTA WOO HOOO WHO KNOWS WHAT I'LL MAKE OUT OF IT BUT I ALWAYS LOVE A GOOD DEAL HAHA