Monday, December 27, 2010

How many quilts does it take....

...to get to the end of a FQ bundle???

At last count... "tha-three" :-)

(...and yes, I totally forgot that there was a turtle in the Tootsie Pop commercial!!! Bonus!!!)

It all started in the middle of 2009 with receipt of a gift - a fat quarter bundle (and a layer cake) of Moda's Wonderland. I totally fell in love with the bright colors, the funky patterns - and the scissors. Oh how I love the scissors!!! Those super-for-a-crafter-gotta-make-something-for-a-crafter scissors.

I was at a loss on exactly what to do with the fabrics, though... and stashed them in my stash for a while as I pondered the possibilities. Since I had the luxury of the entire fabric line at my disposal - I wanted to take advantage of it - I normally don't have that many fabrics that actually "match"...

What to do? What to do??

Most of the FQ friendly quilt patterns I dismissed as being too limiting -as they only used 12-20 of the fabrics - I also wanted to challenge myself with a new pattern at the same time.

But what??? And for who????

I soon decided that my BFF Jill would be a perfect recipient for a quilt from this fabric. She's a crafter - likes bright colors - and I really wanted to make her a special quilt - so I set to work to find just the right pattern.

I soon found it in my blog travels - at Lyn Brown's website. A disappearing 9 patch and half square triangles married together - fun, easy, new and free -it had everything a girl could want.

I set to work - focusing on the pinks and teals - and soon had Sibling Revelry.

And I thought - WOW - that put a dent in that fabric!!! The quilt is HUGE and other than the white and the dark brown centers - I did not add anything other than the Wonderland.

Um.... then why did I have so much left???

And now what was I going to do with it???

I made a couple of Maggies and a Margo and continued to ponder the possibilities.

Then this spring, Shellie and I decided we would do a "quilt along" based on a quilt that I had seen Jill do - and had fallen in love with.. Sunny Lanes by Pat Speth. I started to "inventory" my leftover Wonderland -and realized I had enough to do this quilt as well... so that became the spring project, and "Return to Wonderland" was born.

This is also when I broke down and actually bought more yardage of Wonderland. I had hoped to use some Wonderland on the back of Jill's quilt, but that plan fell through.

This time I went with a different vendor, and was very happy with how the turquoise with the brown vines and the brown inner border (w/ turquoise dots) worked with the rest of the colors. The quilt is quite large - I even had to hang it sideways on the clothesline for this photo. It will come close to covering the top of my king sized bed (when I finally finish it!) and one would think that this would be the end of the FQ bundle... perhaps????

NOT.... SO..... FAST......

There was still a third quilt yet to come.

Quilt "tha-three"... aptly named "Tootsie Pop."

Tootsie Pop was born of the rest of the layer cake as it's base - making 2 4-patches from each fabric pairing. Most of the rest of the FQ's were cut into 10" squares -and those turned into 4-patches as well.

The size of this quilt is a little smaller than I usually make, but was dictated by how much of the turquoise I had left to do the border.

And since my lovely niece Karen had mentioned how much she loved this fabric line -it was perfect that I had enough left over to make her this special quilt for Christmas.

And STILL I am not done with the FQ bundle!!

I even made some covered mini-journals. And it still was not the end!!! There may have even been a few more little projects in there - and those that have been following my "Adventures in Wonderland" may remember some that I have missed.

There is not enough left to make another quilt - unless it is a doll quilt or heavily subsidized with other fabrics - but that has not stopped me from putting together a few more "Wonderful Wonderland" projects. A couple of them are "yet to be finished/yet to be gifted" so I can't share pictures -but just so you are warned that we are not ready to leave Wonderland just yet.

4 comments:

Three Birds Inspired said...

Holy cow! When you love a fabric, you really LOVE it!!

Darling Jill Quilts said...

You would've fit in well in the Pioneer Days when every little snippet of everything was used! Except they didn't have electricity.... Or running water.... Or the internet....

Ok, that is just a bad idea! lol

Glad you are here in our time!

Your BFF :-D

Karen said...

I am covered up with my Tootsie Pop quilt as I read your blog! :) And now I understand why it is called "Tootsie Pop!" THANK YOU FOR MY QUILT!

Shellie said...

It sure did go a long way!! They are all so pretty.