Here is the back story on the fabrics that you will see in the Splendid Sampler blocks made by us (Pat & Jane) and  the design team. In order to have 100 blocks look great together you need a bit of a plan.

We both work with Moda fabrics so we contacted ModaLissa (you must follower her.. you know her designs!) about helping us come up with a game plan.

Jane and I wanted to have two versions of the quilt, because we kind of like options. One quilt being made with warm, cozy traditional fabrics. And the other quilt made with fabrics more similar to my lines with Moda, like my Hometown Girl that will be in stores soon! We also wanted the quilts to be a mix of fabric lines as that makes it much more exciting to work with.

We sent Lissa our Bella Solid swatches so that she could see the colors we had in mind. After some back and forth emails and she and Moda had fabric ready to send to the 82 designers, Jane and I.

 

This is a small sample of the warm and cozy fabric colors.

• Dark Navy
• Cream and tan prints … traditionally thought of as backgrounds
• Medium Blue, sort of a colonial blue to me
• ‘that pink’.. yummy!
• Chocolate browns – this stripe and other stripes are used a few times by the designers, so add a stripe to your mix
• and a deep red.

Note the scale of fabric. Most are very small prints and most fabrics read a single color.

Designers did not get all the same fabrics, and some will have added in a piece or two of their own collections to make it interesting and to make it work for their block.

The other quilt will be made with fabrics similar to these. They are not super bright, but are clear and fresh colors from several Moda lines, including my Hometown Girl.

• Green.. note the stripe. Many designers used a stripe very effectively!
• Again a dark navy, here we have a print with white flowers and and one with pink flowers
• Aqua with another stripe.
• Warm Yellow.. Not screaming crayon sunshine, but a bit warmer and softer
• Beige, grey, off white which you’ll find used as backgrounds
• and a Reddish/pink

Note in this collection we have more variety of print scale. Small and medium. Plus we have more prints with multiple colors in them like the navy with white flowers.

——————- TIPS ———————-

Because the fabrics are used by so many different people in so many different ways. we suggested in our first fabric article that you collect 30 to 35 Fat Quarters for your working fabric. You can do smaller than a FQ or bigger.  We feel if you have variety it will be way more  fun!

Many blocks do have a ‘background’ fabric to them. We don’t know how much background is used as it’s scrappy from 84 people.

We do know some of you would like more control over that.. SHOCKING right? control? …by you?… yes we heard you at the Facebook group.. some of you like controlled fabric selections.

So if you want to use just one background fabric I recommend over buying.  Get 2 or more yards of your background. What you don’t use you will add to your stash. We don’t know where you might want to use it. You may place it differently than the designers did.

Now to getting ready! What should you do so you are ready on Feb 14 to stitch the first block?  Here are a few suggestions.

• Prep your printer to be sure it works and you have INK!
• Get a binder to put the patterns in if you are printing them.
• Grab a nice container to store everything . This is a year long project and you don’t want to lose track!
• Put a new Needle in your Machine, clean it too
• If you don’t have heat n bond lite, get some as I use that for applique. If you have my applique book great!
  • If not, here it is ON my Pat’s Pick page.  
  • I also sell my book and ship a signed copy to a limited number of countries HERE, and your favorite shop can get it for you too!
  • NOTE- Many of the designers did turned under applique by hand. But i show you fusible for the alternate block version as that is what I do.
• Embroidery materials.. gather your hoop, needles, thread and if you like to back the embroidery, get that material ready too. I use a fusible interfacing on the back. Alyssa uses Sulky’s Sticky Fabri-Solvy embroidery stabilizer for her embroidery base. You can get that HERE.
• ok.. seriously… put a NEW blade in your rotary cutter
• The paper piecing is coming, so be sure you have paper for that! I personally use regular paper, but some of you might like specialty papers so order it if you don’t have it.
• And take a look at my Pat’s Picks page which has lots of the products I use

————– The Businessy Stuff we need to be sure you understand ————-

Jane and I are both small business owners. We run our own design firms and this is our GIFT to you.. our quilt community.  This is a free 12 month sew along of blocks.  Jane and I, plus the 81 other designers are putting our free time into the project.

Jane and I are  also putting our own money into this project with some help from our business partners… to host and run this amazing 100 block adventure.

In order to help off set the costs. we will be sharing links to our favorite products and online classes using our affiliate programs. Which means we will receive a bit of that money that you spend. We are forever grateful to you for using our links when you shop so please  help support this during the free 12 months of blocks.

 

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