Everyone's collection is different. I don't feel a compulsion to buy autumn shades or really bright fabric. Soft shades and subtle tones of blues/greys/mauves/pinks are my areas of addiction. Our fabric choices are personal and probably colour co-ordinated and it is that element of a collection that appeals. Nevertheless, what we have to realize is that the longer a piece of fabric stays in a stash, the more it loses its power and attraction. It needs to be taken out, shaken, grouped with others that give it new life, as it gives new life to them. In other words we have to use some of our collection or it cannot grow and continue to give pleasure.
Don't be afraid to use the stuff: it justifies your collecting habit and after all, that's what it was made for. Reviewing my fabrics both for this book and my previous one, Making Scrap Quilts to Use It Up, proved to be an unexpected pleasure, like going to a family wedding or college reunion and meeting up again with people you had almost forgotten. Not only had I renewed my relationship with some lovely pieces of fabric but in using them in a quilt I have introduced them to other people who now also get a chance to enjoy seeing them.
The more I worked on quilt designs with a view to using lots of fabrics in whatever amounts I happened to have, the more ideas seemed to appear. My students, too, were hungry for more and by the time Making Scrap Quilts to Use It Up had been published there were enough additional quilt designs already underway for this book. This time I have focused on techniques that are high on efficiency and time-saving features to move the design along. Not exactly ‘quilt in a day’ but certainly aiming at keeping the ideas bubbling and the quilt growing speedily so that the fabric stashes don't get too dusty.
I have to confess that after a long spell of controlled abstinence I have weakened several times in the past three months and bought new fabric, the designs and colours of which I couldn't resist. I've no plans to use them yet, but they are arranged artfully in a shallow basket in my workroom and I see them every day as I move about the room. All quilters will understand the pleasure that gives me. So, do not stop buying fabric – it is a part of the collecting process. Don't put your new acquisitions away or hide them from a disapproving family. You bought them to enjoy, so do just that, even if that means just stroking them occasionally. After a while, move them along and mix them with your established collections. Start cooking a new quilt project by auditioning new groupings of fabrics from your stash. A static collection grows stale: it needs to be constantly reassessed, used and replenished.
In this latest book you will find 20 projects, both large and small, to use with all that fabric. Some of the quilts have been made by me, others by my students, and the range of fabrics varied to suit the taste of each maker. We all have a little less in our stashes now – but not for long, I'm sure. The important thing is that we have enjoyed ourselves. Reading through this introduction I see I have used the word ‘pleasure’ three times plus ‘enjoy’ and ‘delight’. Isn't that what we all feel about this craft and about all that lovely fabric waiting to be used?
Layer–Cake Quilts
Quilters can seldom resist a pile of different fabrics carefully chosen to look good together and tied with ribbon or string in a seductive parcel. We buy them, admire them, but find it hard to break up the pile as it is the relationship between one fabric and its neighbour that pleases us. Once a piece is removed, it never seems to have quite the same magic. Well, with layer-cake quilts you can build on this pleasure: several squares of fabric are layered and then cut into wedges, just like cutting the slices of a layer-cake.
Spinning Pinwheels
This Spinning Pinwheel block creates a good sense of movement in a quilt and allows for either subtle or dramatic colour combinations. The fanned shape of the block is perfect for assessing how a group of fabrics work together and is very satisfying visually The Subtle Spin quilt opposite is made from eight toning fabrics for the pinwheel blocks and two background fabrics used alternately in the blocks. The cutting for all the blocks is done at the same time. Each block looks different because the pieces are rearranged, although the step-by-step stages of construction are the same each time. The blocks are separated with sashing strips and a final 4in (10cm) border added. Sue Fitzgerald used the Spinning Pinwheel block to produce a lovely quilt in very different colours – see Blue-and-White Delight.
Subtle Spin
THE QUILT STORY
Every year fabric designers bring out a new range of fabrics, often in a co-ordinating set of colours. I bought assorted half yards of a truly delectable collection designed by Robyn Pandolph, all soft greens and pinks. Two years later when I finally found a project to suit it there wasn't a piece to be found anywhere to supplement my inadequate stash. Trawling through quilt shops and students’ own fabrics, I finally acquired enough extra fabric to make the quilt. The moral of this story is: assume that when you buy from a new and probably temporary fabric range that you will finally want to use it in a decent-sized quilt. You need six yards in total for this quilt, not six half-yard pieces…
Finished block size 10in × 10in (25.3cm × 25.3cm)
Finished quilt size 55½in × 55½in (141cm × 141cm)
FABRIC REQUIREMENTS
• Pinwheel block fabrics: two squares each of eight fabrics, each cut 9in × 9in (22.8cm × 22.8cm).
• Background fabrics: 30in (76.2cm) each of two different fabrics each 42in–44in (106.7cm–111.8cm) wide.
• Sashing: 1yd (1m) of fabric plus 6in (15.2cm) of another fabric 42in–44in (106.7cm–111.8cm) wide for the contrast cornerstones.
• Border: 30in (76.2cm) of fabric 42in–44in (106.7cm–111.8cm) wide.
• Binding: 15in (38cm) of fabric 42in–44in (106.6cm–111.7cm) wide.
• Wadding and backing fabric: at least 2in (5cm) larger than finished quilt size.
“This quilt is a favourite of mine as I love the soft colours. I quilted it to death by hand over one summer – an excuse to sit in the sun and sew.”
Construction
This technique makes eight blocks from the initial eight squares of pinwheel fabrics, so start by cutting and making the first eight blocks, and then repeat the process to make the second set of eight blocks.
CUTTING THE SQUARES
1 From each of the chosen pinwheel fabrics cut two squares, each 9in × 9in (22.7cm × 22.7cm). Set one square of each fabric aside to be used later in the second set of blocks. Take one square of each fabric and arrange them in a sequence that pleases you. Remember that the last fabric will link up with the first
