Paintbox Quilt-Along
If you haven't checked out the Mod Sampler Quilt-Along Group on Flickr lately, I recommend taking a moment to check it out. The Group now has 390 members and more than 1,000 photos of lovely Mod Samplers. Wow!
I wanted to do a new quilt-along for the new year and, when I saw these Kona Solid Roll-Ups, I knew what it was going to be.
One of the most challenging things about making my Paintbox Quilt was rounding up enough different solid fabrics. Since these rolls have 40+ different colors (already in handy color wheel order) they seemed like the perfect start to another Paintbox Quilt!
My original blocks were made with fat eighths, so I had to tweak the pattern a bit to make it work with 2.5" strips. The pattern for the quilt-along uses one roll-up and coordinating prints to make 80 blocks, each block 6" x 6" (finished size). The finished quilt is about 62" x 77", which is a generous lap quilt size.
I'll provide a full list of supplies in my next post, but I do want to mention here that using a Kona roll-up is not mandatory for participating in the quilt-along. It's definitely the easiest way to replicate the "paintbox look" of the original quilt, but you can still make a variation of the pattern without one.
Here's a peek at what I call the "Classic Paintbox Block." Each set of two blocks is made with one 2.5" solid strip and one 10" x 10" print square. These blocks are the most similar to the ones I used in my original quilt.
If you'd prefer a little more variety, you can make Scrappy Paintbox Blocks instead. If you have a bunch of tiny scraps, this could be a great way to use them up.
Paintbox Quilt Back
You may have noticed that each of the block photos included little fabric swatches of both the solid and print fabrics used. That's because the quilt back will feature two large Swatch Card Blocks -- one using solids and one using prints.
Since the quilt requires 40 sets of two blocks (80 blocks total) I plan to make four sets per weekend for the next 10 weekends. Once I've finished my blocks, I'll post about making the top and back and finishing the quilt.
There's obviously no schedule or deadline for finishing the quilt, but I would like to challenge you to attempt the same "eight blocks a week" for the next 10 weeks. I've started a Flickr Group where you can share photos of your progress.
A post with the list of supplies is coming shortly and the block tutorials will be up tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to quilting along with you!
