Susan,
I enjoyed meeting you this weekend in Houston. What a thrill to see the projects up close and to see familiar faces. Thanks for the talk above about fabrics. I was thinking of doing this one or two colors. I thought it might work and it is good to hear you say so. Though after watching everyone's blocks this year, I think ANYTHING and EVERYTHING seems to work great. It is all a matter of personal preference. I am looking forward to January... well actually I better get busy on 2008 BOM and get caught up and finished!

Lorna

Eileen asked where could you get the foundations for the upcoming block of the month. They are ALL included in the pattern. When you print the pattern, you will also be printing out the paper foundations. Just as you did this year with the Bouquet quilt, you MUST make sure that your printer is printing out "full scale" and not reducing the page... or your half-square triangle foundations will be too small for each block. Yikes! Don't go there!!!

I expect that some of you will ask what kind of paper to use. The answer is: you can use whatever you want, including special paper. Hower... I recommend using whatever paper you normally use in your printer; that's all I ever use. When you set your stitch length on a short, short length (i.e., a large number of stitches per inch -- each stitch is about the size of a typewriter period - oops - who uses typewriters anymore? Old habits die hard...), the paper is perforated a LOT and it should not be difficult to remove the paper from the fabric at all. If it is hard to remove the paper, and you have to tug and tear it to remove it... it means you should set your stitch length shorter! Having said that.... check your machine to make sure that your stitch length can be set to 20-25 stitches per inch. Don't bother pulling out the magnifying glass and counting... just layer two scraps of fabric beneath a piece of paper and stitch a 2" line across the layers. Then... check to see if the paper is easy to remove. Does it fall off? Make your stitches a tad bit bigger. Does it hang onto the fabric a little too much? Make your stitches a tad bit smaller. The only issue is that there are a very few sewing machines out there that do NOT stitch more than 13 stitches per inch. In those cases, you will either have to sew the paper foundation lines twice -- or borrow a machine -- or resort to traditional (non-paper foundation) piecing (an except for the center feathered star, which is paper-pieced, traditional instructions are provided).

I hope this info is helpful!
Sue Garman

I too was lucky enough to see it in person. It is gorgeous!

However, true to my natural nature, I'll be going with brighter, bolder colors. Always a rebel! After all, that's what all my fat fourth are!

Lynn

You're double lucky.....lucky to be able to attend the event and lucky to have first crack at the fabric for 2009. It is worth what ever you paid.....you'd end up spending a fortune trying to duplicate it in the future. Not alone the rising prices.

For those of you who saw the BOM for next year, it is even better in person that on the net. When I saw the fabric choices, my jaw dropped, I went back and forth all day in Houston trying to decide on spending the cash for it or trying to purchase it on my own. My 2 friends and I went back to the hall after a cup of tea and cookies one afternoon and they MADE me buy it. Of course a few words of encouragement from Alex as she was walking by didn’t hurt either. I have not regretted the purchase, the fabric is just beautiful and what a lovely feel to it.

Not sure, - as Alex says, they only have so many packets of fabric………..now I have to hurry and finish the 2008 blocks but I'm ready for the 2009 quilt.

Thank you Sue and The Quilt Show for all the inspiration!

denise

Sue, thanks for the information on yardage. This looks like another great project and I really look foward to getting started on it.

Marge

Sue and Margo,
Where would we get the foundations? Will the feathered star be paper pieced?
eileenkny

Sue, Thanks so much for the information on next years quilt. I am looking forward to it. It is beautiful, and a bit intimidating for a new quilter, BUT, I am gonna give it my best shot It will be fun to learn a new technique..never did foundation piecing before. Sandi in FL

Thanks, Sue, for the information on yardages and suggestions for fabrics! Yes, we are all chomping at the bit to try a new BOM. I am confident that your instructions are going to be great!

Maggie in E. Central Illinois

Hi everyone --

Since the picture of the new Block-of-the-Month quilt has been posted... you all seem to be chomping at the bit to get started... or at least to start collecting fabric for the new quilt! Perhaps I can help a little bit, and Lilo has promised that she will give you some advance time for fabric gathering before January 1 rolls around.

1. I started with one line of fabric that included a large-scale floral print, along with several complementary fabrics that "matched" the floral: some tone-on-tone prints, some small-scale florals, some small paisleys, some geometric prints, etc. The focus fabric was a floral that had pinks, browns, blues, golds, and greens in it. You will need 1-1/4 yards of the "focus fabric" for use in two parts of the quilt: the setting triangles for the feathered star in the center of the quilt, and for the outer setting triangles of the on-point star blocks. In addition (because I was sent limited yardage to use), I used 3/4 yard of a second large floral print; it had the same floral design, but it used a cream background instead of pale green. This fabric was used on the "inner" setting triangles of that star-block border. If you choose to use two different fabrics, you now have the yardage for those units; if you decide that you want to use a single fabric for all the setting triangles (around the feathered star and both sides of the on-point star blocks), you will need 1-1/4 + 3/4 yards = 2 yards of the focus fabric (this could also just be a plain background fabric!).

2. Most of the quilt can easily be done with fat quarters -- even where the fabric requirements call for, for example, "1/2 yard of dark pink" you will find that fat quarters suffice... because perhaps one month uses 1/4 yard of the pink, another month uses 1/8 yard, and a third month uses slightly less than 1/8 yard. So do not fret if you think your stash is insufficient; the scrappier the quilt is, the better it will turn out, and fat quarters will work just fine.

3. There are several instances where more yardage than a fat quarter will be required -- those are all, as I'm sure you can imagine by looking at the photo of the quilt, places where longer strips are needed for "floaters." Floaters are those inner border strips that separate pieced borders but are not themselves pieced.

That ought to get you started on thinking about fabric. I am a big fan of all the quilts that I'm seeing you all make this year -- so feel free to buy the kitted fabric, but feel equally free to use whatever fabric you wish! The quilt will look great in a one-color/white scheme (e.g., all red fabrics with a white-on-white background) or a two-color scheme (e.g., browns and blues with an off-white background or greens and pinks with a white background or an assortement of chocolate and bubble-gum prints), or assorted batiks with a black background.... the list goes on and on! Let your imagination soar!

4. As for the difficulty of this quilt... huh???? If you were given instructions for one six-inch block, would you shirk the task? I doubt it! This quilt is no more difficult; you just have a lot more piecing in the total quilt than you do in a 6-inch block... but you can do it, one step at a time. The quilt pattern offers lots of instructions/colored photos, lots of tips, plenty of EASY foundation pieced half-square triangles/block units, several alternative blocks... and don't forget: you have the whole BOM Squad to pull you out of a slump, hole, or sticky spot. It just doesn't get any better!

Hang in there... and for those of you still working on Bouquets... keep up the good work! I am so appreciative that Ricky and Alex have asked me to design another quilt for The Quilt Show - and I truly hope that you enjoy, learn, and grow throughout the coming year.

It's a New Day!
Sue

I have just returned from 2 full days in Houston. The 2009 BOM quilt is beautiful and I can't wait until Jan. Of course I do need to also get caught up with the 2008 BOM and get it finished. It is already fun dreaming about what colors to use in it. I think I want to use it for a bed quilt so I will need to figure out how to make it bigger. I am so excited about the quilt!

Lorna, tired from walking around the Quilt Festival but so enthused with all the wonderful ideas.

Margo, can we see your test quilt, or is it still under wraps? Kathy B. :

I getting excited about this just reading all your ladies posts! I am however a little overwhelmed with all those stars! WOW!!!
Can anyone tell me how much the kit cost for this one? I might just consider buying it to avoid the frustration of choosing my own colors.

Heather in Utah

I went ahead and bought the kit at Festival, I felt intimated enough in looking at it, that I figured I'd better not stress myself even more by picking out the fabric for it as well, and since I really did love the colors that were picked, I didn't think I could come up with anything I'd have liked a lot more, and yes the "real" quilt looks much better than in the picture, Lilo told me that she'll take another or several pictures of if it and will post the best one as soon as she can in hopes to achieve a more "true" look of the colors. I've never done a medallion either, especially NEVER done a feathered star, it'll be a learning experience for sure, but that's a good thing. Heidi