Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle

Nearly the only website I look at fabrics on is www.fatquartershop.com, so when I heard about the blogger's choice competition hosted by Quokka Quilts, of course I had to give it a go!! Basically, you design your own fat quarter bundle by choosing 12 prints and 3 solids from Fat Quarter's website. If your bundle wins, then it is sold on their website with your name, AND you win your own bundle! Of course, if I don't win, I'll probably want to buy them. Because now I like them. And I want them. :) I see how this actually benefits Fat Quarter so much more than any of us participating..... :P

And, because I've been into purple lately, here is my collection:

I started with the middle print as inspiration. I chose a print that I really liked that had multiple colors in it, and used that color palette as a jumping point. I then found the two fabrics on the lower left, and the purple/yellow circular motif fabric on the middle right. This established the purple-yellow color scheme, and I thought a third color was necessary. (I tend to get stuck in two color patterns, but I find it ends up being a little bit limiting, so I've been trying to branch out!) Grays were perfect because they injected a third player, while still being neutral.

While accumulating the other prints, I found that I gravitated towards damask and circular motifs. These worked very well with the circular motifs in the fabrics I already had. After choosing more prints than necessary, I whittled them down slowly until I felt like I had a good balance of small, medium, and large prints - you don't want all large prints, as they overwhelm the quilts. All small quilts are ok, but they give a much more traditional look. A good balance between print sizes will appeal to a wider audience.

I also used a combination of multi-color and tone on tone prints. Tone on tone prints can help temper bolder, mulit-color prints. I then selected a bazillion (ok, 25) solids and narrowed it down to the three I have above. I chose them by auditioning them in the mosaic, and throwing them away if they didn't fit. No rocket science necessary :). Wish me luck!!!