Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Follow Your Own Path QAL - Fabric Requirements

As Cindy said on a previous post, "Let the fun begin." One of, if not the, most fun parts for me of starting a new project, is combing through my stash to pick fabrics. This one is great for scraps or bundles of fat eighths or fat quarters.
Beautiful Benartex fabrics: 'Believe in Unicorns' by Ann Lauer; the black is Cotton Shot by Amanda Murphy

The two versions I've sewn have both used shades of the same colour. However, when I designed the quilt, I originally planned to have all of the shadows of the arrows in grey or black. So you could do that if you like, especially if you don't have two shades that work well together.

One thing I want to emphasize is that the small quilt size has borders, while the throw size does not. Look at the graphic above. Note that the borders, of which there are two, are four different colours. There is nothing saying you have to repeat colours from the arrows in your borders, but it does tie the quilt together. However, we know, as quilters, that we can tie colours and fabrics together in a myriad of ways!

First of all, I must tell you about shopping with Tish. Last week Tish (The Madd Quilter) texted me, saying that she was shopping and I was 'with' her. She sent me a photo of an open magazine, and there was my Follow Your Own Path quilt! I thought she was shopping for fabric to make the quilt, and that she had printed out a copy of Modern by the Yard, the Benartex ezine where this quilt was published. But no, this magazine was Fons & Porter's Love Of Quilting...

and this was a full page ad for Benartex Fabrics' 'Color Theory' with my quilt shown as the example!

The QR code for the free pattern in the ezine is there as was my name as the designer! Once I put all the pieces together, (ha, see what I did there, not originally intended), I was so thrilled! This is the first inside page within the magazine. Wow.

So this daughter of a famous Canadian just got a little fame herself. Cha-Ching! I can hear my Dad say, "Well I'll be damned!" were he still here to see it.

Okay, without further ado, here is a chart that shows amounts.

Finished Quilt

42" x 46"

54" x 60"

Finished  Block Size

9" x 5"

13½"  x 7½"

Background

1½ yards

2½ yards

Four different light colours

Fat eighth of each colour

Fat quarter of each colour

Four coordinating dark colours

Fat eighth of each colour

Fat quarter of each colour

Border One


Border Two

Border one: 4" x WOF each of light yellow and light green

Border two: ¼ yard each of coral and dark blue

No borders

Binding 2¼" or 2½"

⅜ yard - cut into 5 strips

½ yard - cut into 6 strips

Backing

2½ yards

3½ yards

Batting (2" overage on all sides)

46" x 50" 

58" x 64"


A note on the binding, if you want to do what I did for the baby quilt, then you will need to cut three strips of dark red and three of light blue. I put the dark red binding along the light red border, and the light blue binding along the dark blue border.

As noted above, you do not have to make the quilt with two shades of each colour family. You could do all the arrow shadows in grey or black, and set the whole quilt on a light background, as was my original plan when I first started playing with the block. Here is the mock-up in EQ8 of that original idea.

If you choose to do this, you'll need approximately four times the fat eighth or fat quarter fabric requirement for the dark colours, so 1/2 yard for the baby quilt, and 3/4 yard for the throw. You may notice the original had five colours. You could do that too, or do all the arrows in prints, totally scrappy, a print with a solid shadow... the sky's the limit! I'm looking so forward to seeing the creativity.

I'll be back next Tuesday with the cutting instructions. Have fun digging through your stash, and/or purchasing fabric. If you are purchasing, please consider supporting either Mad About Patchwork here in Canada or Needle & Foot Fine Fabrics in the US. They are sponsoring this QAL with some sweet prizes, so I love to be able to send some shoppers their way. And, if you're looking for a new pattern, remember that Canuck Quilter Designs is offering all my readers 20% off her entire store during this QAL.

Any questions, please either ask in the comments which I where I'll answer, or shoot me an email: 
sandra (at) mmmquilts (dot) ca

Thank you for quilting along with me!


12 comments:

  1. Would love to make this one! But first I need to make more hours in a day.

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  2. I've just chosen all my fabrics but I have six main fabrics and I'm not happy with some of the lighter colours. Now I've seen the original design I'm going to have to rethink...I may be sometime. Good job I've got some time before I have to start cutting :-)

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  3. I've been having fun pulling fat quarters from my stash and auditioning them together for this quilt! I think I'm almost ready, but need a couple more for the shadow sections. Thanks for all the good info, Sandra, and congratulations on that surprise publish!

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  4. So exciting to see that Fons & Porter published an ad with your quilt. That is so exciting!!! You're famous now and I can say, "Oh, I knew her when." :-)

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  5. Okay...now I have to revisit my selections. Or maybe make two quilts!! We'll see.

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  6. I love the idea of using a single dark or medium dark for the shadows. I may just do that and use various scraps for the light arrows. I also notice that we need to plan ahead if we want the arrows pointing in different directions. So many paths to make and follow!

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  7. What is fun for you, is always challenging for me - haha! Was going to treat myself today (it is my birthday, so that was my excuse) and buy some fabric special for this QAL, but going to "shop" my stash - plenty to pick from! Wish me luck!

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  8. You will be pleased to know that I have been patiently waiting for the QAL to start and my fabric is ready. You should also know that with the pattern name of “Follow Your Own Path” is begging me to stray, just saying.

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  9. Congratulations!! That's so exciting. Hoping to move some things out of my sewing room and get fabric pulled before next week.

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  10. I'm in! Happy birthday, albeit a tiny bit late.

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  11. I’ve been able to pull most from my stash! But I have a shopping date with a friend to get the final? solid!
    I may find some other goodies at my LQS!

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  12. I'm a little behind Sandra but I am getting there. I hope to find suitable yardage of a suitable background fabric at work on Friday - and from there I will get choosing my FQs :-)

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