COLOR MY WORLD--MONTH 1

 It is finally time to start COLOR MY WORLD! I made this quilt in May and June 2020 and had to keep it quiet until November 1, 2020. Let's get started!

Here is my top finished, with the delightful Stella for scale. The quilt is about 70" square:

RESOURCES: 

1. The PATTERNS are available FREE to Star Members of The Quilt Show. They are available ONLY on The Quilt Show for all of 2021. After this year, the designer gets the rights to  her design back and you will be able to buy it from her. Join The Quilt Show now to get this incredible added bonus.

2. The SHOW which features this quilt is available to watch NOW. It airs January 1, 2021 and will be one of the FREE shows all year so everyone can see what a terrific project this is.

3. The FORUM: under CONNECT on www.thequiltshow.com  find the Forum where you can ask questions, get answers, share your progress and be part of the world-wide quilting community. 

4. Instructional Videos: under LEARN/BOM on www.thequiltshow.com, find several videos I have made to show you the steps for making this quilt , with the Freezer Paper Piecing technique. It is very important that the patterns are printed the correct size--the videos and show address this. 

5. Facebook LIVE broadcasts done monthly, and available on YouTube--watch and learn at your leisure.    The Quilt Show Playlist on YouTube

This month we begin to make Small Houses, 1 and 2, eight of each. In Month 3 we will make 16 more Small Houses, 3 and 4. Each of these houses is slightly different in design but the same size overall. DO NOT Sew them to each other after getting all 16 done--WAIT until Month 3 when you make 16 more that are different in design. 

Here is a quick look at my Small Houses. You don't have to use the same colors I used, this just gives you an idea: 

FABRIC SELECTION: You decide how to build your houses, using colors you choose.

The Kit Fabrics I received

I recommend you cut one strip of 3.5" x width of fabric (WOF) from each fabric EXCEPT the black and white and background. The black and white are for the Inner and Outer Roads, the background is cut wider than 3.5":

Each Small House #1 and #2 are made from 4 fabrics plus the background: a door, windows, roof and the building. Use the Cutting Instructions to cut out the fabrics for your first small house #1. SAVE all the Scraps:

Small House #1 and # 2

Start by making one--select the 4 fabrics for the house and get started. There are videos on how to Work With Freezer Paper, and the Basics of Sewing the Blocks. 

For the Background, I came up with a way to efficiently cut the background pieces with minimal waste. There is a Video for that. Find all the Videos here: Instructional Videos 

I recommend you make the eight Small House #1's  THEN move on to make the eight Small House #2's. The bottoms are different sizes though they look very similar and I wouldn't want to sew a small bottom for House # 2 to the top of Small House #1. And the Background angles are the opposite in Houses # 1 and 2; I found it less confusing to concentrate on just making all the #1's  then making all the #2's. 

The patterns can be used over and over--some I used 12 times. When most of the wax is gone, I simply used a light swipe of fabric glue stick to lightly secure the fabric to the freezer paper pattern. Not sewing through the paper makes it possible to use just two sheets of freezer paper to make all this month's houses. 

Another advantage to the Freezer Paper technique is using the same size stitch for piecing as usual, a 2.0 for me. This makes it easy to "un-sew" when you sew something wrong--and we all do that from time to time. 

The only disadvantage I can find is that since I was not sewing through the paper, if I just grabbed the paper out of the back of the machine, it was easy to have the fabric come off the paper. This is especially true as there is less wax on the freezer paper. Then I had to carefully line up the seam of the fabric with the line on the paper--not really easy, but really important. I quickly learned to hold the paper AND fabric in my hand when removing the unit from the machine.  

Like any other new skill, there is a learning curve. Just take it easy, don't rush, and know you will get better with practice. There is no rush to get these 16 Small Houses done--you have all month. 

Next month we will make the Mariner's Compass center. Until then, take advantage of all the videos, read the pattern, check the Forum frequently, and enjoy the Journey.

Let's quilt.

Barbara