Spring Deserves a New Quilt and a New Hobbie

Last year Randi at 'i have to say...' hosted a Quilt-Along call 'On the Road to Spring' and what simple and quick quilts everyone made.

(Randi's finished quilt)

I am gathering up supplies for the 'Bottled Rainbow' quilt-along and this may take some time, its a leisurely quilt-along ya know!! :)

In the meantime we have a new addition, or I quess you could say a new hobbie - a mini camping trailer. I am getting supplies gathered up for the new camper and I need a blanket for the bed. I just can't see going out and buying something when I have so much fabric. I remembered Randi's quilt-along and knew that was the answer. All I would need to get would be the solid fabric for the squares.

The quilt is originaly 60"x50", this is to small for the camper bed so I did some math.

Original quilt is made with 100- 3.5"x 3.5" squares and 100- 7.5" x 3.5" rectangles.
5 of the rectangles and 5 of the squares in each row, alternating rows of 20 rows to = 60" x 50"

Let's make the rectangles 'A' and the squares 'B'
A-7.5 x 3.5 (finished size 7x3) and B-3.5 x 3.5 (finished size 3x3)
Using this example to resize the width of the quilt

For a 60" wide quilt I would need 1 more each A and B for each row, for 70" I need 2 more each A and B than the original quilt.

For a 70" wide x 81" long quilt:

If there are 7 each of A and B in one row it would be 70" wide (7x3=21, 7x7=49, 21+49=70)
If each row is 3" tall then I need 27 rows to be 81" tall (27x3+81)
How many rectangles and squares, 7x27=189. 189 rectangles and 189 squares. (for the 60" wide x 81" long quilt I would need 162 each A and B)

Next how much fabric? Determining yardage

Block A -189 random print fabric rectangles 7.5 x 3.5
I can get 5 rectangles from a strip of 44" wide fabric, cut 3.5 across the 44" width
or if I cut a 7.5 strip across the 44" width I can get 12 rectangles.

If using yardage instead of fat quarters (see below on fat quarters) out of how many different fabrics can I get the 189 rectangles I need?

From the 3.5" strips:

7 fabrics - need 27 rectangles - 6 strips of 3.5 x 44 or .75 yards (makes 189 rectangles)

8 fabrics - need 24 rectangles - 5 strips of 3.5 x 44 or .5 yards (makes 192 rectangles)

9 fabrics - need 21 rectangles - 5 strips of 3.5 x 44 or .5 yards (makes 189 rectangles)

10 fabrics - need 19 rectangles - 4 strips of 3.5 44 or .5 yards (makes 200 rectangles)

Or the 7.5" strips

8 fabrics - need 24 rectangles - 2 strips of 7.5 x 44 or .5 yards (makes 24 rectangles)

9 fabrics - need 21 rectangles - 2 strips of 7.5 x 44 or .5 yards (makes 24 rectangles)

**there seems to be a lot of waste if I figure 7 or 10 fabrics using this method**

7 fabrics - need 27 rectangles - 3 strips of 7.5 x 44 or .75 yards (makes 36 rectangles)

10 fabrics - need 19 rectangles - 2 strips of 7.5 x 44 or .5 yards (makes 24 rectangles)

*But if I have a fat quarter I would need to cut 2- 7.5 x 21 strips and then cut the 7.5 x 3.5 rectangles. Well if one 7.5 fq strip will give me 10 rectangles:

Each fat quarter would give me 10 rectangles. I would need 19 fat quarters.

From all this I learned that the best cuts are 7 or 9 fabrics in the 3.5" strips or the 8 fabrics in the 7.5" strips from the yardage or go with 19 fat quarters.

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Block B - 189 solid fabric 3.5" x 3.5" squares. I can get 12 - 3.5" squares from 1 strip, and with 16 strips I can get the needed 189 squares (actually makes 192 squares 3 more than I need). I need 1.75 yards of solid fabric. I think I am going to use Kona cotton in Ivory.

I have 7 print fabrics in brown, green and blues in 1 and .5 yards cuts, and a few fat quarters so I will be using a mixture of these cutting styles. But all in all I need 189 print rectangles.

I always seem to make things more dificult that they are!!