Stash Sale and How About an E-Book

What are you doing next Sunday?  Our patchwork group is having a sale.

We all have stashes and we thought it would be a good idea to clear out our cupboards and try to sell/swap/giveaway some of our no-longer-needed fabric.  The idea has grown like Topsy - there will be twenty-six tables of quilting goodies, included stock from some quilt shops that are no longer trading.  Bring your husbands too; they can go to the Sunday Variety Market while you spend some time with our tempting tables.

I will be in attendance with I Spy fabrics from the Two Bits Patches website. and I still have some Twisted Stitcher Quilt Block socks as well.

In one of the Facebook quilting groups this week the topci of quilting e-books came up.  Do people buy e-books about quilting, the question asked.  Yes, was the answer, lots of people favour e-books because of price and space limitations.  Some folks try out the e-book first and then buy a print book if they like it.  Both Kindle and pdf books are good - Kindle is easy to download if you have a Kindle, and pdf files are usful because you can read them on any device.

I was very pleased to follow the conversation, because I offer my e-book as both a Kindle book on Amazon and a pdf e-book from my website.

You can get it as a Kindle book at Amazon.

Or you can download as a pdf from Two Bits Patches.

This week's Revisited CCCQ is Block 5, the Crazy Nasturtiums.  So you can read about it in the e-book or go ahead and make it from the pattern.

Or you can come to our stash sale and just say hello - I'd love to meet you.

Fabric Requirements

If you are making the whole quilt you may want to buy all of your background fabric first.  The finished quilt is square, 6 x 6 blocks and each block is finished at 12 inches.  If you make the larger central block the finished size is still the same;  the large block replaces the 4 centre blocks.
The standard width of cotton fabric is 44 inches : 112cm.  You can cut 3 - 14 inch backing squares across the width of the fabric.  I cut my fabric in 14 inch lengths and cross cut 3 squares.  That makes a block bigger than you need, but if your applique is off centre than you can square it up before the blocks are assembled.
You need 12 widths for 36 blocks.  Cutting at 14 inches requires 168 inches : 4  2/3 yards : 4.3 metres.  Cutting at 13 inches requires 156 inches : 4 1/3 yards : 4 metres*

* That doesn't leave any room for error - better get 4.5 yards or 4.2 metres *

This is my first reproduction quilt so my stash isn't very big (yet).  I always wash my fabrics; many quilters don't.  I have used white quilters' muslin for my background (quilters' calico in the USA).  I want my finished quilt to look as if it was new so I'm using white and strong reds and greens.  You may want an aged look and use off-white with soft greens and pinks. 

You don't have to use one fabric for all of the background.  You may choose to use a selection of shirting prints and make the appliques in blues and reds and browns.  You may dig into your stash and use whatever you have on hand.  You may only make a nine block lap quilt with pieced sashing; just over a yard of background fabric would be enough.