Geode QAL: Choose Your Fabrics

Alright folks, let’s get this Geode party started!! If you’re wanting to join in, Wednesday is your last chance to grab the PDF pattern while it’s still on sale – you can get it from my store and also on Craftsy for just $7. And be sure to check out the Geode QAL announcement post for all the details about the dates and prizes. A quick recap of the dates and topics I’m covering along the way (although you’re more than welcome to work ahead at your own pace!):

October 2 – Choosing Fabric
October 9 – Cutting and Test Blocks
October 16 – Piecing Blocks
October 23 – Piecing Quilt Tops
October 30 – Final Quilts
November 28 – Winner Winner!

Errata – if you are making the baby size, please note the pattern correction in regards to the background fabric cutting for piece G. 

Choosing Fabrics For Your Quilt

The first rule of choosing fabrics for your quilt is that there are no rules! Seriously, you do you and choose what you love. Or whatever the recipient would love if you’re gifting this quilt! But if you’d like some tips to consider regarding choosing fabric for your Geode quilt, then I’ve got a few to share.

Fat Quarter Bundles
I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you that the Geode quilt pattern is fat quarter friendly. What this means is that you can grab any fat quarter bundle you’ve been hoarding, and make a Geode quilt with it – one print per block. And what I love about this pattern (although I am biased, ha!) is that it’s a great design to show off your favourite prints too. Each block shows off one print beautifully! One of pattern testers, Kat, did just that with a Carolyn Friedlander fat quarter bundle. If you’re looking for a quilt design to create an ode to your favourite quilt designer? This is it!

Contrast
To get the best Geode quilt effect, you will want to choose fabrics that have contrast between the prints and your background fabric. If you’re wanting each block to be a different fabric, you’ll also want to make sure that each print you choose has enough contrast between them so that the blocks stand out on their own. Otherwise you’ll find that they blend together a bit too much.

Although, perhaps that is what you want! My baby Geode quilt is using eight bright, saturated Tula Pink prints around the outside, and the a softer grey for the centre block. There isn’t much contrast through the camera between that and my background, and certainly nowhere near as much contrast in comparison to the other fabrics, but that’s the look I’m after. See, I told you there are no rules 😉

Fabric Prints
Scale: While the finished blocks are a nice big 16″ x 16″, the individual pieces are still small. If your prints are too large in scale, such as a huge Amy Butler floral, you will lose most of the detail. I suggest small to medium scale prints for the Geode quilt pattern, so as to still retain the fabric’s design that you love so much.

For example, Jenn was a pattern tester for Geode, and she successfully used floral prints by choosing ones that are small to medium in scale.

Directionality: In my original Geode quilt, I used a fat quarter bundle of Eureka by Emma Jean Jansen. This line includes some gorgeous stripes that I had to include, however the fabric size did mean that I was not able to be fussy with the directionality of these stripes within all the blocks. Which I’m totally cool with, as it was more important for me to get those stripes in the quilt! But if this something that you want to take into consideration, then you will need to take note of that when selecting your fabric. With careful cutting, you may be able to make it work from one fat quarter, but you might like to choose a half-yard just in case. You can see in the photo below that I made it work for the green stripe, but not the blue.

Fussy Cutting
Take note of the size of Fabric B – that’s the size of your centre square. It’s a great size to fussy cut something fun! You could do so from the same print that you’re using for the rest of that block, or even choose a different print to pop in the centre for something different. When I made a Geode cushion for my friend last month, I fussy cut the centre square (and pretty much everything else, by adapting the pattern to make the flying geese two at a time!) to showcase the Alison Glass Ex Libris print.

What Else To Consider Now

While it might seem strange to be talking about quilting thread now, when we’re only at the beginning and are discussing choosing fabric, but they all tie in together for the finished product. When selecting a background fabric for my original Geode quilt, I both needed something that would provide a big contrast with the prints, but I also knew way back then that I wanted to quilt it only in the background fabric so as to make the prints pop out of the quilt. By choosing a white solid, it meant that I could simply use my big cone of white Aurifil thread for quilting.

But this time, I knew that I wanted to play with some colourful thread for the quilting. So once I had my fabrics chosen, I pulled out my threads to see what I had to match and work out what else I needed.

Turns out that I only had about half of what I needed to match Tula Pink’s colours, so I was able to order them now so as to have them ready to go once I needed to start quilting. Because if I have an excuse to procrastinate basting and quilting like not having the right thread, oh that procastination will happen! No excuses now though.

Week 1 Prize

Talking of thread, this week we have Aurifil partnering up with us to offer a small spool set of the Daisy Day Aurifil collection! This one is curated by my friend and fellow Aussie, Keera Job, and includes a gorgeous selection of colours in 50w thread that coordinates with her Daisy Day fabric collection with Riley Blake. But that would be a beautiful addition to any thread collection as-is!

To enter, simply share your progress on Instagram using #geodequilt and you could win! I will post an Instagram post each Monday morning at 7:30 (AEST) which will announce the previous week’s winner, and that post marks the start of each new week’s prize. Although for today, there’s no winner, just the start of this week’s prize 😉

Side note – by the way, did you know that if you tag me IN the picture – I’m @blossomheartquilts – that makes it much easier for me to find and comment on your posts? Tagging me in the caption is awesome and I love that too, but the way notifications work means that it can get lost in amongst the comment and like notifications.

Ts&Cs: Open internationally, all photos posted using hashtag between now and 7:30am AEST 9/10/17 will be entered, winner selected at random and announced on Instagram.