Introduction to The Celebrate Quilt

The Celebrate chunk of the month quilt

If you are on my email list you got the first look at The Celebrate Quilt in Saturday’s newsletter. This is a free 12-month program, but instead of making a block every month, we will make a “chunk” of the quilt. Each month, there will be a 12-inch block and some small filler blocks. When all the chunks are complete, they will fit together like a puzzle to make a 54″ x 66″ quilt. If you want a larger quilt, you can add borders or make extra blocks some months. I will let you know which months you need to make an additional block for the larger 72″ x 86″ quilt. Here is my quilt. The binding is finished now, I just don’t have an updated photo yet.

It is difficult to tell you exactly how much fabric you will need for a quilt like this. All the fabric for this bright version came right from my scraps. Nothing was planned ahead of time. For every block, I just pulled fabric that looked like it would coordinate with the blocks that were already made. There are a few fabrics I would have changed if I had planned the placement, but in the end, I am happy enough with the result.

fabric requirements

You will need approximately 4 yards of assorted scraps plus 6-8 fat quarters. If you want to make the larger size, you will need about 6 yards of scraps and 10-12 fat quarters. Most of the units for this quilt can be cut from 2-1/2″ strips. If you have a collection of these, this is the perfect time to pull them out. If you don’t have a large assortment of scraps, you can just use fat quarters. You will need a total of about 24 for the smaller quilt and about 35 for the larger one. These are generous estimates so you have a nice variety of fabrics in your quilt. 

Here are three suggestions for ways you can pull fabric for this quilt.

First, is the way I made mine–anything goes. 

Simply pull fabric from a bag of scraps. You will want a few coordinating fat quarters for the frames around the 12-inch blocks.

The second is to collect some coordinating fat quarters.

These fabrics all look good together. These are just random fat quarters from my stash. I would cut frames from these too, so the whole quilt would be made with these fabrics.

The third way is to use a fat quarter bundle from a collection of fabric. This particular line is Birdsong by Gingiber for Moda. It would work for this quilt and there are enough fat quarters for the frames.

The only drawback to using a collection is repeat prints. I typically don’t like to use different colors of the same print in a quilt. It is just a little too matchy-matchy for me. What I would do instead, is replace a few of the fat quarters with others from my stash.

The colors in these additional fat quarters are just a little different from the ones in the collection, but they still coordinate.

The important thing is don’t overthink this. There are a lot of parts to this quilt so each fabric can be used in multiple blocks and spread out over the quilt. Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to help.

The first installment will be released this Wednesday, March 8. I will send the instructions in an email and will also post them here on the blog. Future blocks will be released on the 8th of every month. Hope you join me in creating The Celebrate Quilt!