More "Row Along" Fabric Info...

Hello again cute people!

 I'm so excited with the positive response to yesterdays post.

I'm so glad that you all will be 

"rowing along" with me!

I've had several of you ask a few questions about the fabric for the

 "Bee in my Bonnet Row Along" 

so I thought I would answer them in this post.

Question: What do you mean when you say

that this will be a scrappy quilt and how much fabric do I need?

It means that the quilt will not be made from one line of fabric you can just use scraps from your stash.

The focus will be on the colors that I posted about previously....for example...I am using the color red throughout the quilt but this doesn't mean all of the red will be from the same piece of fabric...I will use several reds from my stash that I think go well together as far as color tone and style.

The same goes for all of the colors I will be using.

If you want to buy some new fabric to fill in gaps that you might have in your stash...

I would suggest not buying more than a Fat Quarter each. The key is variety!

If you are overwhelmed in choosing fabrics...all you have to do is simply choose the same colors that I will be working with in the tones that you like.

For example...about the color red again...if you don't care for cherry or tomato reds because they are too bright for you...choose deeper reds to work with.

If you don't like aqua...choose the shade of blue that you like....

if you don't like apple greens....choose deeper shades.

 Continue choosing your fabric the same way until you have several pieces of fabric together in each of the 6 or 7 colors....keep in mind you will need at least 6 to do justice to the quilt.

(You could also add a color such as orange or purple...just because I am not working with them in this quilt...does not mean they won't be nice in yours:)

After choosing several scraps or fat quarters from each color....

keep them all together to use throughout the quilt along.

 This doesn't mean that you will use every piece for every row...how many you use at any given time will depend on the type of blocks in the row that you are working on.

Don't worry!

This is a stress free quilt along and we are just going to have fun playing with fabric scraps!

It will all work out in the end!

Remember...this is not a quilt where you will be buying all of your fabric at once before you start.

We will be doing one row at a time and that's all you need to think about at once!

With that being said...I thought I would show you which fabrics from my pile that I have chosen to use for the first row that we will be doing.

First I chose 1 piece from each color that I thought went well together. 

They all have small scale designs on them because the pieces in the first row will be 1" finished and I don't want the designs on the fabric to get lost in the cutting:)

Then I chose 1 more print from each color that each had a little more white in them...making the tones and textures a little bit more interesting together.

So for the first row I chose 14 different fabrics...2 different pieces from each color.

When choosing what to use from the pile that I have gathered...

First...I always make sure that I have several different scales of polka dots and flowers.

I usually add a plaid or a stripe, then I throw in a few fun prints like the bee fabric and Pam's darling red on pink letter fabric that you see above. 

And last but not least... I always add a gingham fabric or two in at least one color.

This is how I choose for a scrap quilt...and I hope this helps those of you who have asked.

After choosing which prints to use for the first row...

I cut squares from each of the 14 fabrics for a total of 28.

Of course we will be using a background fabric in this quilt but not for the first row.

We will talk about choosing background fabric later....

 For right now...

 just decide on your colors and then pull them together for the quilt. 

I really hope this has answered your questions about the fabric amount and colors!

I'll chat back at you in a day or so!

xx

Lori 

P.S. The Bee in my Bonnet Row Along 

Flickr group has just been created...

Click here 

to join up!

***update July 2013

The pattern and instructions for the 

Bee in my Bonnet Row Along Quilt

are in my new book

"Quilty Fun"

click here 

to get a copy!