My quilting friend Katie and I would like to invite all of our online quilting friends to join us in a “Too Good to Cut” Challenge for 2010, starting on Friday, January 1.
All you have to do is choose a beloved fabric that you have been saving for a long time. You select your own pattern and work on your quilt at your own pace, and you have 12 months to finish your project.
In order to be eligible for the prize drawing:
1. Please show us a photo of your fabric when you join the challenge. You can join anytime during the month of January.
2. Please post about your quilt on your blog at least once a month to show your progress. If you don’t have a blog, you can send me your digital photo, and I will post it for you on this blog.
I am going to create a special Blogroll category with links to Challenge participants’ blogs. Please send me your URL if you would like to be included on that list.
3. Everyone who follows all the guidelines and finishes their quilt by December 31, 2010, will be eligible for the prize drawing. Prizes will be gift certificates, and the winners can specify where they want their gift certificates to come from (favourite quilt shop, Amazon, etc.), as long as it’s a company that will accept my international online payment to purchase it.
4. The gift certificates will be:
- First prize –£15,
- Second prize — £10, and
- Third prize — £5
(that’s in British Pounds Sterling and will be converted to the appropriate currency for the winner).
5. The winners will be chosen by random drawing of names from a hat. I am going to participate in the challenge, but I will not be eligible for a prize since I am being “mother.” 😉
6. If you would like to participate in the Challenge but do not want to be entered in the prize drawing, please let me know. You are still very welcome to participate.
7. I will have a blog post every Friday dedicated to our group, and all comments and discussion will be welcome and appreciated!
Here is my “Too Good to Cut” fabric — the 1997 Hoffman Challenge Fabric. The name of the pattern is “Kaleidoscope.”
I think I’ve always been intimidated by this fabric. I bought it when I lived in Houston, Texas. It was very popular and practically sold out everywhere, and I had to go to three different quilt shops to find it. It also cost more than any other quilt fabric I had ever bought at that time.
It’s so special that I’ve never been able to make myself cut it — until now! Now I am finally going to make it into a pretty quilt just for me, and I’m going to enjoy it the way it was intended. 🙂
If you would like to join us in the “Too Good to Cut” Challenge, please leave a comment on this post or email me. We’re all going to have lots of fun!
Happy Quilting!
I, too, have a few pieces I haven’t let myself cut into. What’s up with this?!? I guess we are afraid to mess it up by cutting it wrong, or choosing a wrong pattern, whatever!
Good Challenge!
I’m in… I have some fabric selected. It is a Skydye panel that I bought at the Dallas Quilt Show. I think I bought it at the 1993 show, so it has been in my stash for a while. It’s been on my design wall for a month and I still don’t know what I am going to do with it.
I have selected other fabric to keep me going in the challenge, just in case I still can’t cut into the panel.
I have also set up a “too good to cut” category on my blog, so it is easier for everyone to track my progress, or lack thereof.
This will be fun..
Wonderful, Liz! Thanks for joining!
Pokey, are you going to play, too? We’d love to have you!
When I searched through my stash to make the final decision for my “too good to cut” challenge fabric, I made some interesting discoveries. I have 2 boxes full of batik fabrics that I have never allowed myself to use and a large box full of Asian style fabrics that I have pawed repeatedly, but then returned to their darkened closet.
The years 1997 and 2000 must have been very good for Aisian prints because that is what appears on most of the selvedges. My next step is to find a pattern that speaks to me and whispers either, “Batik,” or “Asian.” If anyone has a good recommendation for a pattern that uses either of those 2 types of fabric, please let me know.
KatieQ – there are some patterns that are “fussy cuts” of the dramatic parts of the fabric and then these pieces are then highlighted, somehow. I like the use of dark strips on two sides that give the illusion of the block floating. Here is a link to a post on the 2009 Dallas Quilt Show that had one of those.
http://spinningstar.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/dallas-quilt-show/
I also saw a quilt that had an asian panel off center and then blocks of other asian fabrics on the other side and along the bottom. The background was neutral, not fussy. It was very dramatic. The next time I visit the LQS, I’ll see if it is a pattern or at least ask to take a picture of it.
I hope you have a blog where you can post some pictures of the fabrics – having some discussions over farbic and patterns will be fun!
Liz
KatieQ – Here are two pattern companies that you may want to check out… since there were patterns, I did not want to take pictures of the quilts that were hanging in the LQS.
Mountainpeek Creations – they actually have a section called “just can’t cut”. The pattern is Sidelights, which they show in Christmas, but I saw in Asian fabrics.
http://www.mountainpeekcreations.com/patterns.aspx
The second one is Gutzy Lady Design and the pattern is called Emperor’s Lady. But they have plenty of interesting patterns.
http://www.quiltcorral.com/ggeisha.htm
Hope this helps…
Yes, I posted regarding your great challenge on my blog. Come see at:
http://pokeydotquilting.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-year-list.html
I actually have several pieces I could mention, but I chose the “Swell” line by Moda. These pieces were bought at closeout prices, but still, they wait as if I might mess up. So, now, I put them out there for all to see, but, I still need to narrow down a pattern choice. I have a jelly roll, and a three 1/2 yard pieces, so I’ll try to narrow it down. Sound Okay?
Thanks, and again, I did not think about others having the same problem as I do at struggling to cut the”good stuff”. Good to know! :-} Pokey
Liz,
Thank you for the links. I checked all of them and love the Gutsy Geisha patterns. I also tore through my closets and came up with 2 likely candidates.
Totally Triangular
http://cottonclub.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi
and Yuzen Kimono. The Kimono quilt is now available as a free pattern from Michael Miller Fabrics under the name of Butterfly Kimono by Marinda and Yuzen Kimono. The Kimono quilt is now available as a free pattern from Michael Miller Fabrics under the name of Butterfly Kimono by Marinda Stewart
http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/mmf/…/Butterfly_kimono.pdf
My pattern has more piecing in the sleeves and in the side triangles. At this point, I think I will probably use the Kimono pattern. It is very straight forward and I will only have to buy 2 fabrics to complete it (1 5/8 for background and binding and 1/4 for the collar and trim on the kimono).
With any luck, I will find fabrics in my stash that I can use for those also.
Sorry. My first post seems a little garbled. I don’t know how that happened.
Don’t worry, KatieQ — I firmly believe computers have minds of their own! 🙂
That’s very nice.
I like it.
I’m seeing butterfly wings in your fabric :o)
and I’m seriously thinking about joining this one. I need to decide which of my beloved fabrics I want to cut LOL
Hugs!
Nancy, what a nice thought! I’m seeing butterflies, too, now that you mention it! 🙂
OK I’m in….the hardest part will be deciding which fabric to cut into…..Does it have to be a single fabric or could it be a stack of FQs that I can’t seem to cut into? Either way I know I can make it work. Please let me know and I’ll search out a project 🙂
Ooohhhhh….PERFECT challenge for 2010! I’m game and have posted my challenge AND pattern already.
http://skattebo-skattebo.blogspot.com/2010/01/too-good-to-cut-challenge-block-swap.html
Sadly, I cannot dig in yet, but I will push my lil’ biscuits along so I can cut into the (year old) “new” fabrics.
-Amy (NW Wisconsin)
Hi, Beth and Amy,
Welcome! I’m glad you’re going to join us!
Beth, it can be any fabric you choose — single piece or fat quarters. My focus fabric is in three 1-yard pieces, and the rest are fat quarters.
Amy, your fat quarters are beautiful! Can’t wait to see how the project comes along.
Take care. 🙂
[…] package of fabric that I had mail-ordered two weeks ago — 2 yards of cream background for the Challenge quilt I am working on. That brings my totals for Week 3 […]
[…] Three” projects this week — turquoise quilt, Puss in the Corner blocks, and my “Too Good to Cut” challenge quilt — but haven’t finished anything to count yet. My totals for the week ending […]
Lots-n-Lots of progress on the Too Good to Cut Challenge! ;0)
http://skattebo-skattebo.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-own-lil-friday-night-sew-in.html
Top is done! And it turned even MORE into a Too Good to Cut Challenge due to the border fabric I selected (I also blogged about it…).
Now—-how long will it hang on the wall until I get it quilted???
;0)
I love this idea but it is not for me. I have been collecting fabric since 1978 and there are pieces hanging on hangers that I will never cut. A couple of them I found out are collectors item. Watch for them on the Antiques Roadshow one day.