Got Fat Quarters? - Fabric Giveaway

Are you like me?  Have you been saving a fat quarter bundle, a jelly roll, or a charm pack for just the right project?  Do you shudder at the thought of breaking up the perfectly coordinated, full collection perfection of your pre-cuts?

Take heart and read on.

Last week I posted about Quilters Newsletter's latest special issue, Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012 (see Got Fat Quarters? below).

Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012 is full of patterns for beautiful projects, including my In the Garden lap quilt and Charmed pillow, that are sure to convince you that it's finally time to cut into your pre-cuts.

In the Garden

Charmed

I promised to show a picture of a table quilt version of Charmed.  And here it is -- quilted, bound, finished:

Look close.  Look closer.  Recognize the fabric?  It's confession time.  This little quilt is made from a charm pack of Kansas Troubles' Bound to the Prairie fabric that I bought in Ohio 6 years ago!  That is world class hoarding.  I LOVED this fabric and could never decide how to use it.  The longer I waited, the worse it got because I knew I could never buy more if it.  Every few months, I would take out the charm pack, fan out the fabrics and imagine the possibilities, but I could never commit.  I must have designed a dozen options for this charm pack before I finally broke down over the summer and pieced this little quilt.  And let me tell you, cutting that first square was rough -- made only slightly easier by the fact that Moda actually re-released some of the Bound to the Prairie fabrics in their KT Favorites collection (wait long enough and everything comes back into style!).

But look at it now!  The charm pack fabrics are just as lovely in smaller pieces and they look much better on my table than they ever did in the closet.

Now it's your turn.  Be brave!  Pull out your pre-cuts and take the plunge!

And yes, I did mention a fabric giveaway in the title of this post -- here goes:  Quilters Newsletter is promoting Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012 by giving away fabric every day this week.  Check out the QN blog each day and leave a comment to enter your name in the drawings.  Hope you win!  Just don't wait 6 years to use the fabric!!

Got Fat Quarters?

For Christmas last year, my mom gave me a fat quarter bundle of Lynette Anderson's Secret Garden fabric.  Gorgeous fabric.  The kind of fabric that you just want to display and never use because you are afraid of making a mistake and wasting it.  Here's a picture of the fabric bundle:

See what I mean -- perfect just as it is.  Blues and greens, plums, browns and creams; all with adorable flowers, bugs, and beehives.  Yummy!  Needless to say, I let the fabric sit on my sewing table for months before I finally got up the nerve to cut into it.  But I'm so glad I did, because the end result, a lap quilt called In the Garden, is one of my favorite quilts I've ever made.

Here's a picture of the quilt top draped on our deck railing:

I wanted to stay with the garden theme of the fabrics so I decided to use a triple Irish chain as lattice work with two different "flower" blocks peeking through.  Here's a picture of the finished quilt:

You can find the pattern for In the Garden in Quilters Newsletter's latest special issue, Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012, on newsstands now or available through the Quilt and Sew Shop.  

The pattern is probably more appropriate for an intermediate quilter because there is quite a bit of piecing -- I love piecing -- but it could be simplified by substituting a standard border(s) for the pieced border and it would still be lovely.

Want to try something a little faster?  Grab your favorite charm pack and check out page 40 of Best Fat Quarter Quilts 2012:

Charmed is a 20" x 20" pillow that's fun and easy to make.  Here's a picture of it in my favorite chair:

I turned this little quilt into a pillow (no quilting required!), but I liked the pattern so much that I'm actually making another to use as a small table quilt.  I'll post a picture of it when I'm finished.

Happy quilting!