I’ve heard quite a few comments lately about some of you having a hard time pulling fabrics from your stash and making them work for you.  I’m always hesitant to say “Follow Me!” because most, if not all, of you are thinking that I don’t always make such great fabric choices.  But, I put together the colors I like and I’m pretty much always happy with the way it turns out.  You don’t need to try to put together colors I like or colors someone else likes unless you’re making a quilt for that person.   Please yourself!  This is our “hobby”, remember?  Quilting is how we escape from the weight of the world!  Quilt police are banned from our sewing rooms!  If you think something goes together . . put it together.  You may look at it later and wonder what you were thinking.  But, that’s how we learn.  I always say: This isn’t brain surgery! If you make an ugly quilt, no one is going to be disfigured for life!  If you put the “wrong” colors/fabrics together, what’s the worst thing that can happen?  Be bold!  Be brave!  Stop fretting over whether things go together and have fun with your stash!

There was a time when I couldn’t have made a quilt from my stash if my life had depended on it.  I might pull 3 or 4 fabrics that kinda went together; stew over them for a week or so, take them to the quilt shop and ask Betty for help.  Most of the time, I came home with completely different fabrics (and then some!) and that’s how the stash grew out of control.

I can’t say when the stash started working for me.  Please don’t say it isn’t working for me!   I’m guessing I’ve made at least 25 quilts from my stash over the past year or so.  Would I have chosen a different fabric here or there if I’d gone to the quilt shop in search of the perfect fabric?  Definitely . . but I made it work with what I had on hand.  And, that feels good!

Here’s what I’m thinking:  I have this very simple pattern.  We truly could make the whole top in one day!  We won’t . . don’t panic.  There are no half square triangles; no paper piecing — it’s so simple! And I think it’s really cute but . . I think every quilt is cute so don’t base your opinion on what I think, ok?

Are you willing to cut into your stash (small pieces . . not yards!)?  Almost randomly put it all together and see how easy it is to put the stash to work?

Here’s the deal I’ll make with you.  Trust me . . because you’re not going to see the top ahead of time.  That would make it too easy to plan where your colors should go.  If you don’t like it, just go ahead and finish the top, send it to me and I’ll quilt it, bind it and donate it to charity.  The charity will be either an orphanage in Louisiana, a QOV or a veterans’ home not too far from me.  You can send me backing, batting and binding fabric if you have it or . . you don’t have to.  But, I hope you all like your top and keep it for yourself . . unless you just want to donate it to a charitable project.

The quilt will be about 60″ x 70″.  You can easily make it bigger but I wouldn’t try making it much smaller.  This is basically what you’re going to need . . don’t go cutting anything yet:

Darks and Lights – some approximately 4″ x 6″ rectangles and some 2″ strips.

You don’t need to choose your border fabrics yet but when you do, you’ll need about:

About 1-1/4 yard for the inner border and other coordinating parts
About 11″ for a middle border
About 1 yard for the outer border
About 1/2 yard for the binding

I used a kelly green for the inner border, a yellow/gold for the middle border and purple for the outer border and binding.

Here’s some pictures of fabrics I pulled for lights:

Here’s some I pulled for darks:

See how the gold on the end of the dark pile isn’t so dark?  But it’s ok next to the peach on the right hand side of the lights or next to the pink.  It honestly isn’t going to matter so long as you don’t have a bunch of blending.

Don’t worry about getting things perfect!  Pull some fabrics, stand back and look at them and make a decision on each fabric . . stays in the dark pile; stays in the light pile or back on the shelf.

Even though I’m not doing any real planning, I wouldn’t stick this piece in there because all my other fabrics are kinda tone on tone.  If I had more of these types fabrics I wanted to use, I would add it but sticking just one oddball in there wouldn’t work so well.  You do not need to use tone on tones!  Use your stash!

The only thing I want you to pay attention to is that your lights are light and your darks are dark and you won’t have a lot of blending.  And, remember that what might be a medium next to one fabric can be considered a light next to a darker fabric.

Anyone want to try this project?  Do you promise you won’t make this hard on yourself?