Three Christmases ago I cut up nearly all my charm squares and made nine-patches from them.
I'm making these blocks with them; 2½" HSTs turn them on point, it's a real stashbuster.
It was a lot of fun, and I remember thinking, Oh good, that's got them out of the stash! Like it was a virtue or something.
Then two Christmases ago I mourned the loss of my charm pack stash, so I ordered about 10 from The Fat Quarter shop when they were on special. My stash was restored.
Last Christmas I did the same again.
The trouble is, I hadn't used any from the year before, so now I have quite the pile.
I'm not sorry about this at all. I've used so much fabric over the past few years that I need to buy certain things to fill in the gaps. I have very few shirtings with white backgrounds, and almost none with blue prints on them. I've nibbled away at my yardage, so I don't have any decent amounts left of good background prints. So much of what I order online turns out to have a yellow cast, or a mottled background (HATE the mottle!), and I end up disappointed. The charm packs allow me to see the fabric in real life, and decide what I should and shouldn't buy.
I prefer white backgrounds, or a very light stone colour, not yellowish. It changes the whole look of the block, makes it too warm and cosy for me. Of course everyone else in the patchwork world must love it, because that's mostly what's available. When I find a shirting I like, I buy yardage now, it's so hard to get.
My stack of charm packs is waiting for me to go through them with an eye to ordering some new pieces. And when I've done that, I can start thinking of another project to use a few of them up.
6 comments:
I laughed (sorry) when I saw your pile of charms. Still, they are a great way to mix and match and give your quilts that extra something. My collection of charms are bulging also and something will get done with them at some point. Bring on the charms!
Boy howdy, you're so right. Finding a good white background is difficult. Not sure where the mottled tan idea came from, but it doesn't work for me. Let's hope the designers are listening and more white background becomes available. Dolly and I are looking forward to seeing what you do with your 9 patches.
I totally agree. I have accumulated fat quarter civil war fabrics from clubs and when I look for my favorite light shirtings in them they are few and far between. I need to do some quilt that uses those tans so readily available. I have just come to the same conclusion as you about ordering fabric. I am planning to get more charm packs so I can see and choose for myself. The white background shirtings are difficult to find. There is nothing like seeing fabric to choose and with no shops close by me, charms seem the solution.
That is a serious collection of charm squares! I am not envious at all . . . Much. (And if you believe that then you will believe anything 😊😊😊 )
Good idea being the charm packs to decide on fabrics....
The charm packs always look so pretty in the paper binded packs. I like to flip through them and sometimes hesitate to take the paper off. I have gotten away from purchasing them and go more for the layer cakes.
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