Moda Fabric

Have you seen the Snapshots Quilt Along sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop in 2015? It’s been popping up over the last couple of months, teasing our interest. It appears it’s about to go live. I just received notice the introductory video is going up today. Just in case you’re interested. ;-D

Honestly, I’ve told myself I’m not picking up new projects for the first half of this year. I’ve got a lot of unfinished projects still in the works and I have at least two projects planned and prepped. I SO do not need another project!!

But I’ve caved. The blocks in this quilt are precious and, while I love the colorway in the mockup, I will probably choose to go more retro and low volume.. we’ll see. In all honesty, these patterns may be stockpiled for a project later in the year, or next year, or whenever.

What really pushed me over the edge on this one was the opportunity to donate to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. And to sweeten the pot, FQS and Moda Fabrics have committed to match all donations up to $10,000 that are made through this project. See the donation page for details.

I’ve known more than one person who’s been treated through St Judes’s, but my earliest and dearest was a childhood friend battling leukemia. She fought hard and eventually lost the battle. I remember Beverly as being so kind and generous, one of those truly good souls. We weren’t from an affluent neighborhood and I know her family would have been bankrupt from the treatments if not for St Jude’s. I’m forever grateful for all St Jude’s does for these children and their parents.

My donation is made in honor of my three, healthy, beautiful girls…Jamie, Katie and Betsy. I’m always grateful for the blessings God has given me, but for you three, I’m most grateful of all.

A big thank you to Fat Quarter Shop and to Moda Fabrics for sponsoring this event and matching donations! What a wonderful gift.

This is the second month of My Precious QAL hosted by KelbySews. I am new to QALs but have really enjoyed this one. It’s great seeing all the fantastic fabrics and patterns everyone is using. Some incredible inspiration out there. I started by using my Dick and Jane fabrics in a quilt top blogged here. I’ve put it down temporarily and will get back to it in July. I plan to finish the back and hopefully quilt it before July’s Precious QAL link date. This month I actually was torn between using Kate Spain’s Terrain, Bonnie and Camille’s Bliss, and Denyse Schmidt’s Flea Market Fancy. The Terrain is cut, I actually started on the Flea Market Fancy, but I’m showing the Bliss. Problem with decisions much?

Bonnie and Camille have some really precious fabric lines. When Bliss came out I had to have some even though I had no idea what I would make at the time. My daughter was expecting my first grandchild, but it was a boy, so no Bliss for him. Then my nephew gave me a new great-niece and I had the perfect excuse.

I decided to use half square triangles and I tell you, if I had it to do over, I would give Thangles a try. These babies are not as simple as they appear. They love to stretch out of shape on me. And finding a placement that I loved was a little time consuming, but this is what I came up with.

Now I have to decide on a border and binding and I’m having a difficult time with that. I’ve changed my mind at least three times and now have three more fabrics I’m trying to choose from.

What do you think? I could not get the colors to show well in my photos. This is close as I could get. The colors on all three fabrics are really good matches. The blue is not the electric blue it appears here and has a tiny pale blue (almost white) pattern. I originally liked the blue because there is so little of it in the main quilt. The red dot is dead on and matches the red dot in the Bliss fabrics. I’m tempted to use it as an accent even if I go with one of the other colors. And the pink blends really well with the fabrics. The fabric at the top of the photo is a companion fabric that I will use for a backing.

If you have a suggestion, I would love to hear it.

P.S. I had intended to submit a bag done in Flea Market Fancy, but found that all Charms are not created equal. Obviously Free Spirit Fabric‘s charm squares are right under 6″, while Moda’s charm squares (which I was using to create the lining) is 5″ square. So now I have to rethink my lining.