Scrappy Christmas Quilt-A-Long! Week 1

Ok who is in!???

I had an idea for a scrappy Christmas quilt that I think is going to be beautiful - and - use up lots and lots of scraps!  What could be better?

I thought that we might do this in the quilt-a-long style where anyone that wants to work along side me can so that at the end you will have a lovely scrappy top in time for Christmas.  I have planned this to be approximately 60 " x 72" but you could easily make this larger or smaller depending on the amount of blocks you want.

What do you think?  Sound interesting?

If so let's get going!

Scrappy Christmas Quilt-A-Long - Week 1

 Getting our supplies together!

First let's assemble what we need.  You can rotary cut this or die cut this.  If you are die-cutting this can be cut on the Go!  Baby Go! and Studio machines as well as Sizzix but I couldn't seem to find the Sizzix dies to match what I wanted so you can use Go! or Studio dies instead.

Die Cutting - you will need the 2" square die (Go! 55022, Studio 50602) - or an alternate version) and you will need the 3" finished HST die (Go! 55009, Studio 50163).  You only need 2 dies for this entire quilt!  Yey!

Rotary cutting - you will need the ability to cut lots and lots of 2" squares ;-)  Hehe you know how I love them!  And, you will need to pick your favorite method to make 3.5" unfinished half square triangles (HST) or 3" finished HST.  You can use your Eleanor Burns Triangle Square Up ruler or the Fons and Porter ruler or Thangles - you choose your method and you will be following the directions for the method that you are using - if you are confused by this please let me know and I will try to clarify - basically pick your favorite method and use it ;-)

Fabrics

• Lots and Lots of Christmas scraps!!!  I am sticking to the darker Christmas prints: reds, greens, dark golds, blacks etc.  I want contrast between my background colours and my foreground.  So I am not using lighter beige or golds - just set them aside for a future project.  Think contrast ;-)   Some of these we will be cutting into 2" squares and some into our HST.
• approximately 3 meters/yards of an off white or cream colour - this can be a mix of prints or all one - I have used one solid off-white.  Again, some will be cut into 2" squares and some into HST.
• thread that will blend - I am piecing in an off-white for this project

If you want to get a bit ahead you can start cutting your 2" squares and HST prep.  I will let you know in a bit how many of each you will need.  Remember, this project is to help us use up our scraps so there are going to be lots of pieces!

If you don't want to do Christmas prints you can do a purely scrappy quilt and that will work nicely as well - me I want a Christmas scrappy quilt!

I will give you a bit of time to acquire your supplies - ie get your dies or your background fabric - and then we will proceed to the next step - cutting!

Any questions please leave them here!  Also, please leave me a comment and let me know if you are participating - and I hope that you are!!  You can also share your fabrics on my facebook page http://www.facebook.come/SunshowerQuilts

Happy sorting!