Fall sew- along part 1

 Hello again, 

Today we are getting started on our new sewalong for Fall, a free pattern designed by Amanda Niederhauser called Flower Market. 

( image via Jedicraftgirl.com)

Do you have gorgeous prints in your stash that you just can't bear to cut up into small quilt squares and thereby losing the overall effect? Me too, and that is why this pattern appealed to me so much! Those center squares are 8 inches, so all your yummy fabric will be perfectly visible!

You might be wondering why I would do a sewalong with someone else's pattern...well, when I host a sewalong it makes for a fun social interaction with all of you, but it also forces me to complete the project ( because I have a little bit of a bad habit of starting a project and then losing interest in it...). So a win-win situation!

So let's get right to it, shall we?

You can find the pattern download and fabric requirements by clicking here: http://www.jedicraftgirl.com/2017/10/flower-market-free-quilt-pattern.html

Your goal for this week is to download the pattern and to choose your fabrics. This may sounds super simple, but I find sometimes it is surprisingly difficult to decide on what fabrics to use in a project.

When I studied the fabrics that Amanda used I noticed that she only used 2 different fabrics in her center blocks ( a light floral and a dark floral), and used only 2 different border fabrics around her dark florals, but used a big variety of prints and colors around her light floral centers. If you want to copy Amanda's design, make sure to pay attention to that. 

I know some people in my Facebook group have already indicated that they want to use different color palettes and that is great! Using colors that speak to you will make this pattern your own so I encourage it.

I wasn't sure what colors I wanted to use in this quilt so made a blank copy of the quilt blocks so I could try out various color combinations ( In the very high-tech way of colored pencils and copy paper!). 

These are some of the color combinations I was playing with: 

Scrappy, but with light and dark blocks alternating ( as well as the outside of the blocks alternating between light and dark):

Christmas colors, where each block fabric is all in the same color family:

 

Alternating lights and darks, but using more country/ reproduction  colors:

Scrappy, but using a dark fabric in the connecting squares:

Alternating reds and blues, with a print in the center:

And finally, just using blues and whites: 

I could have tried various combinations for days, but you get the idea. The possibilities are pretty endless, and your quilt will look quite different depending on what colors you choose to put where.

In order for you to play with some color options I want to share the link to the blank template ( click) so that you can try some ideas before committing to a color way, if you are interested. If you already know what colors and fabrics you are using, great! Please share with me in the comments what you are thinking of doing!

Alright, have fun deciding on your fabrics and I will be back next week with the next set of sewalong instructions!

Happy creating!

Monique