Wednesday, April 7, 2021

A to Z Quilt Challenge: F = Fat Quarters

For the month of April I have taken up Frédérique's Quilting Patchwork and Applique challenge to blog daily (except Sundays) on a quilt topic related to a letter of the alphabet.  

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 Oh, how we quilters love our Fat Quarters!  

Neutrals purchased at Pineapple Fabrics in North Carolina in December.

While the charm square is the original pre-cut and Moda's "Jelly Rolls" and "Layer Cakes" have taken the spotlight in recent years, the Fat Quarter still holds its own in the pre-cut pantheon.  

Free patterns using pre-cuts can be found at the MODA Bake Shop.

After all there is nothing like a fat quarter bundle purchased or -- in the case of these two -- won!

There were more in that "Boro" bundle but I've already used many of them!

Ever since I started quilting, I've stored my fat quarter stash in one of those generic white shoe cubbies.

My "Studio" at our previous apartment.

When we moved in 2011 and my "quilt studio" had to be housed in the dining room, I always planned to mount it on the wall.  I was excited to see a blog post that talked about decorating a dresser with selvedges for a sewing room.  Well, if you can do it for a dresser, why not a shoe cubby?  So I did this:


Since the cubby is in the dining room and at least once a year has to also host a family get together, I wanted a way to protect the fabric.  In in our old apartment, I had wanted to make some "sewing themed curtains".  I had purchased some "Quilters Think" panels and planned to alternate them with selvedge string blocks.  Since I didn't want that for the dining room, a cover for this cubby was the next best thing!  So when company comes the front goes down.....

....and the Fat Quarters are secure!  However, even when it's open, I made sure to position a few reassurances for my day to day quilting life:

Do you like to buy Fat Quarters or prefer other pre-cuts?  Have you used them for sewing room displays in addition to putting them in projects?

Linking up with Frédérique and the other Challengers at Quilting Patchwork and Applique.  Bonne journée!

4 comments:

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Lovely shoe cubby ;) I store my fat quarters by color, with yards. Only the scraps are stored separately, but always by color. I love your selvage decoration!

Andree G. Faubert said...

Hi Vivian, I really love fat quarters. When I visit a quilt shop, that's usually what I buy because then I can afford to get a few. When I buy online, I usually buy from the clearance section, so those are usually a whole meter (or yard). That's a lot of fabric so I often look for fabric that I can use as a backing. Since I don't make many large quilts, I prefer diversity. Sometimes I buy 3 or 4 packages of batik pre-cuts to make quick lap quilts. For the price you get lovely fabrics that all play nice together!
I really like your shoe box idea with the front quilt. Take care.

M L said...

I haven't met a pre-cut that I didn't love. Sometimes I will get what is available for a particular fabric line and figure out the design elements later.

Organizationally, I have been keeping them in the plastic shoe boxes, that I found in a $1 store. Then those overflowed, I couldn't find the same size and now, I am rethinking - maybe put some 3-drawer units in a closet?

Love seeing your daily musings and the cubby cover!

Vireya said...

That is a nice way to store your FQs!

I don't buy a lot of fat quarters now. I'm trying to reduce my fabric stash, so nowadays I only buy for special purposes, and then I usually need more than a quarter.

I'm really enjoying this trip through the alphabet.