Need help with simple 'Warm Wishes"
 

So many of you have suggested the 'Warm Wishes' as the quick and easy go to pattern. While it does look simple, I am a little confused by the Band strips. I want to make these out of my scraps. Do I understand that the two outside strips should be cut at 2" and the inside strip should be cut at 3"? I am a picture person and this picture does not show those sizes. So, I'm assuming the two outside strips will be fairly small. Got the free pattern from Quiltmaker magazine on line.

Yes, that's how it works. I asked the same question when I made my first one. Didn't seem right to me but it works out in the end.

I read the pattern as you said, 3 inch inner band, and 2 inch outer bands. Then they will total 6 inches (subtract 4 seam allowances at .25 is 1 inch). Therefore cut the strip pieced units at 6 inches to get squares.
As tartan said, these squares need to equal your focus fabric.

I would sew my bands together and see how big they end up. You can always cut the focus fabric at an odd size to match if you have any seam allowance issues on the bands.

My focus blocks are are 7 1/2, my center strip is 3 1/2 and the side ones are 2 1/2. The size of the roses in the focus fabric block determined it's size and the others need to total the same. It's your quilt.

The Warm Wishes pattern cuts the red and black prints at 2", the gold print at 3" and the focus blocks at 6" as you already know.

I just learn more and more from this board!

This is the way I always do it, too. I like the slightly bigger blocks.

I am just finishing a warm wishes quilt (my first one and I am very happy with it) I made the 3 strips the same width - and the focus square to match their total width. I had a pattern that I was working from. I am going to make anyother one of these and when I do I am going to think about the 1 strip being wider

I found the pattern on Quilmaker's website too. Just finished my first one. Had to add additional blocks to the pattern since the charity I make quilt tops for have minimum dimensions. Here is a photo. Print was a very old VIP strawberry print. Doesn't show up that well. This was the easiest and quickest pattern I have ever made in over 25 years of quilting.

I just finished a Warm Wishes that I made just for me. :) The others I made were for either friends or charity, but I knew someday I would make one for myself. I like how it turned out. I did make my two narrower strips the same color. One of my friends wanted hers made that way, and it looked good, I thought....so I made mine the same way.

Dina

Ok one more question on this - are all the focus fabric squares the same size or do you use two different size squares, larger for the centers and slightly smaller for the cornerstones?
I guess you could do it either way depending on the fabric.

They are all the same size. If they weren't, the blocks wouldn't line up.

Yes, the middle strip is wider than the outer two. The outer two strips form a frame around your focus fabric. I make this quilt all the time and it's pretty, quick, quilt.

I've used the Warm Wishes pattern several times and have changed the size of the bands each time, depending on what I found most pleasing to the eye with the fabrics/colors I was using.

So do I! :)

I have made this quilt several times and have enjoyed each one I made. The only exception to that was when my focus fabric repeat didn't give me the same jungle animals every time, so I fussy cut 40 squares of focus fabric. I adjusted the math for the band widths to ensure I wouldn't have to mess with cutting those funny. I ended up doing the math wrong and had the opportunity to fussy cut 40 strip pieced blocks. NEVER AGAIN. Even if it's "simple" math, I will ask here for confirmation I did the math right before I piece all that together.

I had enough of the FF left to make another one. I'm going to make the blocks big enough to accommodate strip piecing and no more fussy cutting.

I have made several quilts in the warm wishes pattern. One of the things I like to do is use 2 focus fabrics. One that is "framed" and another that floats.

You can make the strips in your pieced blocks any size you want. Here is a stacked 4 patch where I framed each 4 patch, then used a thin strip in the center of the pieced block. I think it really changes the look.

OMG Thank you all so much for all your suggestions. I can now see why this is a go to pattern. I love the suggestions that encourage using the focus block any size you want, then adjust the bands. My fabric for the focus block is a larger print and I now think I may make some larger adjustments.
Thank you SOOOOO much. Now I'm on a roll!!!!