Yay another month and another block. Here is August’s block for the Y-Not? block of the month program. Some participants will receive Mirror Image Kits. These kits have an additional slip of paper with tips for sewing the mirror image. The demonstration video is below. Don’t forget to pick your block up before the 10th.
Wow! 462 posts, it was so great to hear from all of you. Thanks for browsing and letting us know what fabric you would choose if you win the giveaway. Ok, time to find out the winner….
random number generator to the rescue…the winner is # 357, Juanita from WI. Congratulations Juanita, let us know which FREE yard of fabric you would like! As a consolation to everyone else, we are giving away a FREE pattern with any order from our store this week. We also have monthly giveaways if you sign up here. Thanks for trying and come back soon!
In order to make room for all of the fabulous fabric that I just ordered at Spring Quilt Market, we are having an online BLOWOUT sale at Wish Upon A quilt! Now through May 22, take 10% off any order with the coupon code MAYSALE. Here is a sneak peek of some of the new fabric that was ordered at market…this one is Whimsy by Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller, what do you think of it?
Cathy has been getting some beautiful new batiks in. I’ve been surprised that she has found some very unusual border prints that are being produced by Bali Textiles. I hadn’t seen a border print in a batik until I saw this one navy print. But she had four more come in! A couple are subtle and it’s hard to see the border in the online images, like the blue, green and pink ones. The black/rainbow print also has a leafy/vine like border on it too. The navy border print pairs nicely with a coordinating vine. Batik lovers should definitely check these out.
Hello Mystery Quilters! How are you coming along with your mystery quilt adventure? Have you figured out the design yet? The next clue (#3) for the quilt is available in the shop. If you haven’t joined us yet, it is not too late! Pick up your FREE pattern in the shop and join us on our Mystery Quilt adventure. We will have a reveal party and viewer’s choice contest later this summer. Lots of fun!
Your completed Step 3 pieces should look like this:
Quilters will often come into the store asking for help to calculate yardage for a quilt back. We love to help but that is often a loaded question. It depends on how you intend to construct or piece your back. There are multiple ways to do this and none are more right or wrong than the other.
It is important to note in all cases that you should measure the center length and center width of your quilt top to determine the actual length and width.
Sometimes you want to piece the back with lengthwise seams. In this case you would buy the yardage the length of your quilt. You may have to double or triple the yardage if the quilt is wider than 40 inches or 80 inches.
Other times it is more efficient to piece the back crosswise. In this case you would buy the yardage the width of your quilt and double or triple the measurement if the length is longer than 40 or 80 inches.
I’ve become a big fan of piecing my backs from scraps. I get two quilts in one this way. So I would determine yardage based on the quilt pattern. I always design the border to accommodate the fact it’s going to be lopped off after quilting.
You can get similiar dual purpose out of your backs using cheater fabrics and crosswise and lengthwise seams. Some great “cheater” fabrics at Wish right now are Winter Log Cabin (in the sale room!), and In Love With Nature’s Pinwheels by Susan Branch. I used the Winter Log cabin on the back of Cheery Cherry Pie, the Sew Sweet Shop Scrap club sample quilt hanging in the front of the store.
Another, less known way, of piecing a back is John Flynn’s biased seam method. It’s a very smart technique. If you are going to put your quilt on a frame this is the best way to distribute the back seam. It’s also the most effiecent use of yardage. John has posted his method on his website. If memory serves me correctly he has a great demonstration on how to fold and cut that long bias edge with your 6 inch by 24 inch ruler on his instruction video that he packs with his frame. The basic formula is:
Length of fabric to buy = length of quilt top + length of quilt top( width of quilt top – width of fabric)/ 2 x width of fabric – width of quilt top
For those who get confused by equations:
Record the width and length of your quilt top (add any desired overhanging for the back to these measurements before you begin any other calculations). Record the width of the fabric you are considering (usually 40-44 inches. I’d recommend using 40 if you are unsure).
Multiply 2 times the width of the fabric you are considering (if you are using the safe bet of 40 then this will always be 80 inches). Subtract the recorded width of the quilt top. Save this first number.
Take the recorded width of the quilt and subtract the width of the fabric being considered (40). Multiply by the recorded length of the quilt. Add the recorded length of the quilt. Now divide by the first saved number.
Voila! You have the recomended length of fabric in inches. Divide by 36 if you want yards.
Or you can just come into Wish and we’ll put two heads on the calculations and help you out. 
Do you have another method of calculating yardage for a quilt back?
Congratulations to Teajuana, our first blog giveaway winner. See what Tea works on here. For posting a comment on our blog, Tea won a charmpack! Enjoy it!
Now for our next blog giveaway, leave us a post telling us about what you are working on with a note about your favorite fabric from our website. We will randomly choose from all of the posts between now and March 15th and the winner will receive a free 1/2 yard of their favorite fabric. We look foward to getting to know you better. Happy Quilting!
Cloth gift wrap
This holiday season I tried to use Furoshiki gift wrapping instead of the conventional paper. Furoshiki is a Japanese tradition of gift wrapping with cloth. Part of this new resolution comes from trying to be more eco friendly. Cloth holds up better than paper and can be reused more; either as gift wrap again, as a scarf, napkin, table cloth (all depends on size), or cut up into a project. 
I have so much fabric calling to me just asking to be used for something and this practice assuages that call. Not to mention it makes beautiful gifts! Another reason is that if I buy the fabric for wrapping a gift it gets calculated as part of the gift cost – not my blow money. But if some of the scraps from trimming the cloth wrapping end up in my stash – that’s a bonus . And if the gift reciever is in my family – the cloth could end up in my stash-for storage purposes. So be sure to choose cloth that suits the gift recepient and your stash. 
This would look great on a gift or pillow.
There are several books published on the practice of furoshiki but you don’t need a book to get started. Here are a few free online resources for learning some of the basics of the practice.
Furoshiki.com is a resource for buying imported furoshiki cloths. They have several pages describing traditional sizes, knot tying, and wrapping techniques. The basic wrappings shown would cover just about any gift you might run across. I find it more economical to use quilt fabric instead or their cloths. Then you get the added bonus of being able to reuse the cloth in later quilt projects (because you know the quality of the fabric), assuming the gift wrap ends up back in your hands.
The Government of Japan’s Ministry of Environment has a page on how to Furoshiki as well.
In my excitement over this new practice, I demonstrated a couple of wraps to the Wish Upon a Quilt Staff. They immediately caught onto the idea and commented on what a great present idea for quilting friends, or BF’s.
This practice could also be extended to make impromptu pillow covers for a couch or chair. The possibilities are limitless.
So the next time you see fabric you go gaga over that doesn’t quite fit the budget or a current project – ask yourself if it might not make a good gift wrapping?
Ok, I confess I begged Cathy to buy this line of fabric that was designed by Tina Givens. I’m new to the area and was curious when a few local quilters where talking about a local fabric designer. So I looked her up online and found her blog. I fell in love with Fairy Tip Toes.
It reminds me of scrap booking paper. (It doesn’t hurt that my three year old girlie girl daughter has me brianwashed to love pink.)
I could envision so many projects for this fabric for my daughter – a fabric covered frame with a picture of her and her cousins in it, a large piece stretched like canvas to hang on her wall for artwork, a quilt, pillows, an apron, a skirt, a purse, appliqued accents for shirts and jumpers …. the possibilities are endless. When images where available online at Free Spirit I started playing with the swatches in EQ.
Sing Birdie
I had a hard time coming up with _The Design_ for this fabric. The swatches did not give an accurate enough sense of scale. I didn’t even realize until I went back into Wish to cut some of the larger scaled motifs that it was a panel! So back to the drawing board I go.
Sing Birdie - Close up on watering can in green panel.
Fabric Choices-high contrast works best
Have you ever made a mystery quilt? If not, they are fun! I made my first Mystery Quilt several years ago when a local shop was running a mystery quilt project. It was perfect for me as a new quilter. I did not really know what I wanted to make and I was a little bit uncomfortable in the quilt shop with so many fabric choices! The mystery quilt required just three fabrics so I did not have to make many overwhelming decisions. Perfect! The shop also posted what the quilt looked like, so I could make sure that my pieces were accurate as I went along. In the end, I had a gorgeous quilt that would have looked too intimidating to me to try if I had seen what it would look like in the beginning. Now that I have a quilt shop, I wanted to pass on this experience to others, so if you have not picked up your FREE pattern at the shop, please join us by picking up your pattern next time you are in the shop. I would like to thank Nancy, our Mystery Quilter for making the sample that is in the shop and providing these great pictures of her “in progress” Mystery Quilt. Let us know what you think!
This quilt will be completed in six steps, this is what the completed Step 1 looks like:
