Practice Quilt and My Next Kaffe Quilt

I’ve finished all the pieces for this Jewel Box quilt made from batik charm squares I had on hand. I had to add some extra batik scraps to make this big enough for a throw quilt. This will eventually have a border on it. I had to order some extra of the off white to add a smaller outer border before I add a batik border. Luckily I kept the cover sheet that came with those charm packs and was able to find some.

There’s still a fair amount of sewing left to do on this. I have the four patches and HSTs all done. I like the way this looks, but I’m not crazy about the fabrics. It’s just so dark after all the bright and beautiful prints I’m used to working with.

I really wanted to make some of these blocks prior to making this same quilt pattern in a collection of KFC fabrics. I’ve learned a few things and will adjust accordingly.

First of all, I’m going to cut my fabric pieces a little larger so I can square up the HSTs and the four patches at 5 inches. For this quilt, I was able to do some squaring up of the HSTs at 4.5 inches, but there’s not enough of the four patches to square them up. I want that precision before I assemble these pieces into larger blocks.

So today I’m going to do some calculations and make a couple of practice blocks to make sure I’ll get blocks I can trim.

Here’s the Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics and a Kona off white “snow” that will make up this new quilt:

The fabrics appear much softer than in this photo. Oh and that fabric third from the left (Ombre Stripes in Pink) was hard to find! I looked all over the web and couldn’t find any. It’s out of print. My friend did find a fat quarter in her stash. So I went to one of our local shops yesterday that carries a LOT of KFC fabrics and they had it!!! It’s a nice pop of various pinks that this needs.

The weather has turned somewhat cold here, but the rain hasn’t started yet. It’s been a really gorgeous fall so far. It’s such a great time of year to be outside. I took the boys for a nice forest hike yesterday after Rico’s sheep herding lesson. We’re heading out for a nice neighborhood walk soon.