Jars was my first idea too. I've been wanting to make one since my kids were little and I started collecting bug fabric for it but never actually made it.
Nancy I love your salad quilt. It's a great way to use those novelty fabrics that I can't resist!

THANK YOU, Sisters!!

nancy - love your quilt - looking great

terrie: really like the quilt nancy is showing us - and most of your fabrics are in there - although you have more fruit (because we all like fruit).
i've sent you an email with a bunch of ideas of quilts i've been considering...
sorry folks - can't post everything here as i don't have links to all of the actual quilts/patterns - but here's what i can:

one of my favorite patterns at the moment / and so ideal to play with fun prints:
http://www.ttfabrics.net/cgi-bin/fabricshop/patterns.cgi?patternID=285

not the one i really mean - but the pattern - similar pattern is here:
http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/cobblestones.htm

the quilt i wanted to show is in The Quilt Life Magazine, 2011 october issue, bottom right of page 75 "Bali Down Under", by Lady Jay Hewett
and while we're at it, the same great magazine also shows "Alphabet Alchemy" by Janet Stone
the general idea of which could be fabulous for the bountiful harvest quilt
http://www.americanquilter.com/documents/digital_issues/TQ-Oct2011.pdf don't know if this link will work if you're not an AQS member...

another favorite is "California Cool" by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Lucy:
http://www.quiltmag.com/quilt-patterns/quilt-aprilmay-2012-%E2%80%93-california-cool-line-drawing/

and then theres "Flower Beds" by Amanda Murphy:
http://amandamurphydesign.blogspot.com/2010/11/flower-beds.html

"Open Window" by Lori Mason:
http://www.mccallsquilting.com/articles/Open_Window

and another of my favorites:
"Heart Strings" by Jennifer Rounds and friends, can be found in The Quilt Life Magazine, 2012 February Issue, page 34
http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=96511&p=&l=&m=&ver=&pp=
love this one - so simple - and so easy to adapt to your own needs - in the bountiful harvest version i would use all the fruit and veg fabrics for the strips and then make large apples or pears of the same fabrics and applique on top...

hey - i managed to find and link all but one - sorry, couldn't find online:
"String Symphony" by Laurie Rosenberg, the pattern is in Quiltmaker 2001 May/June Issue on page 34

have fun finding the pattern that suits your own preference and mood - oh i'm getting ideas - and more ideas - have been thinking about this quilt and it's various possibilities since you posted...

and am adapting everything to my own - "don't forget your friends and switzerland" quilt for my dear "Sister by Life" Doris - who is moving back to canada next week... had all her friends sign the backing fabric and now have to think of what i want to do with the front... the possibilities are endless - well, limited to my capabilities and time... i do hope that she'll get it within a year or so

Nancy, I love that quilt! I love fruit and vegetable fabrics but we don't get them here much.

Nancy, I'm not fond of novelty fabrics but I have to say that I like your salad shooter quilt. Renata

I used a bunch of vege fabrics to make a quilt for my mom that I called "Salad Shooter". The blocks are a traditional pattern called "shooting star" and are very easy to make. I used the method of putting a small square over the corner of the large square and sewing along the diagonal, then used the cut off pieces to make a pinwheel border.

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I've seen several kinds of Jar quilts..and baskets,too...Might be cute to work them together! :

I love all the above suggestions especially the jars idea. How about baskets of fruit and vegetables. You could make pieced baskets and then cut out veg and fruit shapes and fuse them down around the top of the baskets. Don't know if that would be more work than you are planning but it's just a suggestion. Good luck with whatever you decide.

My daughter bought me this pattern called Shades of Fall a couple of years ago because she wants me to make it for her. You might check it out:
http://www.cathyvanbruggendesigns.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=75&category_id=5&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=68

"Boston Common" can look stunning and is quite quick to make. It's also a pattern that men seem to like.

I found a free pattern on about.com for both a short and a tall version. Thanks, it's a possibility...

Have you thought about a jars pattern? I think they're called bug jars, but a friend of mine who owns an orchard and fruit stand used fabrics of all the different fruits she sells.
Just a thought,

I have been asked to make a quilt to be given for a silent auction. It's a golf tournament with corporate people/sponsors etc. It will be held at harvest time next fall, so I want to keep with the harvest theme. I found a bunch of vegetable and fruit fabric which I bought (probably 13 or so different things from potatoes to cauiflower to peppers to berries! - Lotti helped me pick it out during our spree through the fabric store when she was here!). Does anyone have a suggestion of a pattern? I had thought maybe snowballs of veggies spaced with neutral=ish other snowballs( I saw some that looked like wheat, but fairly neutral..) I want it to be fairly quick to make, but worth a decent bid. I wish I had one of those quilting computer programmes