I am taking part in the Fresh Modern Bee. It's my first online bee, and so far it's been piles of fun. August is my month to send out fabrics. I'm using pinks, oranges, and yellows with pops of bright green. It's going to be a quilt for my little daughter.
My instructions for the blocks, as well as inspiration, are here. Now I have a dilemma. How much fabric do I include in each package? I want to include plenty so that the bee members aren't cramped by shortages. But since I am sending out all my most beloved fabrics, I don't want to send waaay too much either. I am asking them to add coordinating fabrics from their stash, and my theme is scrappy and happy. I also am planning to let everyone keep the scraps.
I'm thinking of sending a couple of larger pieces, maybe one fat eighth (9"x20") in a Kona solid, and four other pieces 9"x10" (this would equal a FQ). plus some smaller scraps. I would also throw in some smaller piece scraps, maybe enough to equal a half yard. Would this be enough fabric for one 12.5" block, with some extra left over?
If you have some advice for me, I'd love to hear it.
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That sounds perfect to me - especially as you are allowing us to add fabrics so we will all have stuff in our stashes that goes with that fab colour scheme. What you're suggesting seems to equate pretty closely to what KL sent out as far as I remember. And I would suggest you ask for anything back bigger than, for example, the size of a charm square or layer cake square - that way, if someone uses almost none of a particular fabric, you don't lose out. On KL's month, I used almost nothing of her Make Life fabrics so sent 90% of it back and it would be a shame for me to have kept that when she could have used it to make more blocks for her quilt.
ReplyDeletethat sounds good to me too, oh my, these fabrics look beautiful together!!! the only recommendation I have....consider making one of your prints at least 12.5 inches long (in place of 9x10) that way if a bee member wanted to sash your block in a print the option would be there.
ReplyDeleteSounds like plenty of fabric to me. The colours are gorgeous - can't wait to see the finished quilt!
ReplyDeleteI agree--you've got a great palette of colors, and it should be enough fabric. Keep in mind, if you're using that Kona solid as a background, you'll want to make sure that everyone has plenty, including a little extra in case of a mis-cut. (Sad, but they do happen.) A generous fat eighth or a scant fat quarter should be enough. And if you're letting people add from their scraps in the same color scheme, the amount of prints is perfect. Good luck--can't wait to see how the blocks turn out!
ReplyDeleteI am not qualified to answer but I just wanted to say your fabric selection is gorgeous as are your quilts.
ReplyDeleteI am in the middle of my first on-line quilt bee too and July was my month. I went into it blind, not knowing how much I should send everyone. I sent 6 and more (some said they would like to do more than 1 block) fabric selections. I cut fat eights from my colored pieces and my back ground was about 12" by 22". I know it was over kill. I am just the type who would rather have too much than not enough. I also sent each US member $2 with their fabric selection so that they could return the unused pattern fabric 3" or larger (they could keep the background). I am hoping to incorporate the extra fabric into the setting and backing of the quilt. I told the foreign members to keep their fabric. My co members are starting to post their blocks and I am finding that I am loving what I see, they are really doing some fun things. You can see our group here:
ReplyDeletehttp://circuitblockparty.blogspot.com/
and here for flicker:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/circuit_block_party
Good luck and I hope this was helpful!