How can I resist Lucky Charms?

Hello All,

Do you remember the other day when I showed you this little quilt along that Pat Sloan is going to do?

 

(Click on the image to go to the Quilt Along, if you are interested.)

You might remember how I was so strong and resisted the urge to start a new project, even though I thought the fabrics were so cute....

I do love Lucky Charms.  It's one of my favorite kid's cereals.  (Captain Crunch is the other!)

Well, curses!  I've been foiled!

Pat Sloan, herself, commented on my blog and reiterated that it's a small project and I should jump in.  My little brush with celebrity!  Well, now...how can I say "no" to that?!

So....I'm in!  Egad!

Here is how I justified it:

• I've been doing really well and making lots of progress o my other projects.
• This one is quite small and I have a feeling it's going to go fast.
• I'm doing that free motion quilt along, and when I get done with it, I'm going to need some small projects that I can further practice my newly-learned quilting skills on.  If I wait for a big quilt, (a) it will be too long between when I learn the skills and when I practice, and (b) I really don't enjoy trying to shove a big quilt under the arm of my machine.  It's just not fun.  (And I have a colleague who says, "If it's not fun, it's not fun.")  So, this could be a great piece to practice some free motion quilting on.

Not bad, huh?  That last one really works, right?!  So, I'm good.

BUT, I did tell myself NO NEW FABRIC! and I'm sticking with that!  For real!  I started to go to her shop and order the fabrics and I said to myself, "No, you've got plenty of charm packs downstairs you can work with."  Plus, the fabrics she's working with look a little similar to that Designer Mystery Block of the Month thing I am doing with the Fat Quarter Shop.  I'm ready for a little change of pace from that.

So, down to the sewing room I went.  I pulled out the storage tubs and drawers and started rifling through them.  We need one charm pack to start with and then some light fabric for the middle (presumably where the appliqué will go) and some coordinating fabrics for borders and the like.

Hmmmm....

Well, here was one possibility:

This is a layer cake I picked up on a shop hop a couple of years back. It's some Moda fabric.  Totally cute.  Not very Christmas-y, but it could work.  It could be interesting to try to make something Christmas-y (which is what the Lucky Charms mystery will be) out of fabrics that are so---NOT Christmas. 

Also, Pat told me she'll have a non-Christmas alternative for the appliqué if people don't want to do Christmas.

But, still...I"m not really feelin' it with these.  I think I need to keep these for another project.  They just aren't speaking to me right now.

Now, these little guys have been callin' my name for quite some time:

 

This is another charm pack from Moda.  Again, I've had it for a few years.  It's the Chocolat fabrics from 3 Sisters.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these fabrics so much.  I love the colors and textures.  There are homespuns and brushed cottons in here.  So soft.  I think a Christmas quilt that doesn't scream Christmas but is red, green, tan, and light blue would be pretty.  I think this would work great.

Two potential issues:

1. I bought this fabric to make a quilt that has a checkerboard of 100 (1 inch, I think) squares in the center, and the solid red fabric as a border.  There is all this appliqué in the border.  I have the checkerboard done, and the borders are on.  The green plaid is my vines in the border--which are sewn on the quilt, and I think I have one flower appliquéd on.  That's it.  And the quilt has languished for...um...almost 5 years maybe.  (Michelle, where is yours?  Have you finished it?)  Michelle and I did this for a class we took on learning to appliqué.  We were doing needle turn appliqué in the class.  I wasn't enjoying that too much (probably because I'm not good at it yet), so I haven't made progress.  Remember, if it isn't fun, it isn't fun.  But I LOVE these fabrics.  So, part of me wants to go ahead and use them for this project so I at least get to use them.
   Question:  If I want to go back and finish that quilt, will I have enough fabric?
   Answer:  I think so.  I have two more charm packs of this stuff, plus some yardage of some of the fabrics.  I think this charm pack can be sacrificed.  I think I can go get other binding fabric (which is what the green plaid is for) that will go fine.  I'm not even sure why I have so much of these reds with it.  Maybe for the back?  Who knows.  I can get more of something similar later if need be.
2. In the checkerboard piece, I was doing the needle turn appliqué on the homespun, brushed red.  Such beautiful fabric, by a lot of drape.  Hard to appliqué on.  And, I was using some of the homespuns for the applique pieces, too.  Hard to needle turn.  Very floppy.  I think it was a poor choice of fabrics for a real beginner at needle turn appliqué like me. 
   Question:  So, we all know this project is going to have appliqué on it.  I mean, it is Pat Sloan we're talking about here...  Will this be a bad choice of fabrics for that?
   Answer:  I think it will be okay.  First, she said the light fabric will be the center, where we will be doing the appliqué.  My light fabric is a cotton...not a homespun.  That should help.  Second, Pat usually uses a raw-edge applique technique, with fusible web on the back of the fabric, which is then sewn on the machine with a button-hole stitch.  So, I think that will help with the issues I was having with the homespuns before.

Having said all that, I think I'm going to go for it with these fabrics.  I'm setting them aside for this project.  I'll wait for the first set of instructions to be sure.  Pat, if you're reading this, please feel free to put in your two cents' worth!

Will it be "magically delicious?"  Time will tell!

I hope I can keep up without losing all the ground I've gained on my other projects.  More about those as the week progresses.  I'll share with you all the great progress I made this weekend!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Comments

[terri]

What are charm packs?

[terri]

Never mind...I just went to Pat Sloan's site. I seriously need to stop reading your blog or I'm not going to get tenure this year.

[sisLH]

The red/ brown tones look like they would make a very nice northern Christmas anything. However, I looked at your brighter pack and thoughts of tropical came to mind - Hawaiian, Polynesian. How about that sometime with a pineapple motif for the quilting? Could even find a yellow material with a pineapple design for the border.

[Melissa]

Love Moda! Glad to hear about fabricworm, I've been wanting to make coated cotton pillows for my porch swing. It seems like I have all these great ideas that involve fabric, but sad to say I've sewn twice in my life. I just need to sit down and do it!