Modern Plus Sampler ➕ Alternative Layouts and Fabrics

We hope everyone has begun to think about your fabric selections for the Modern Plus Sampler.  If you are new here, all the details for the quilt Modern Plus Sampler Quilt Along are here.

As a reminder, this it the original version the Modern Plus Sampler which includes traditional piecing along with some applique and paper piecing, many elements from the book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts (affiliate link).  Right now, the digital version is only $9.99!

And, the yardage requirements for the original Modern Plus Sign Sampler are below:

Fabric Shopping 

As you are shopping for fabrics, keep in mind the generous Modern Plus Sampler Sponsors:

Honey, Bunny, and Doll Etsy Shop

Honey, Bunny, and Doll has a wonderful Etsy shop that specializes in Kona solids and great quilt patterns (they also carry some wide fabrics and batiks). Their fabrics would work very well in the Modern Plus Sampler.


Needle & Foot Etsy Shop

The Needle & Foot Etsy shop has a beautiful curated selection of prints.  Bernie would love to help you create your own bundle to make the sampler.  I just crurated the June Blogger Bundle and had so much fun shopping through Bernie's lovely selections.


Fat Quarter Shop

The Fat Quarter Shop has one of the largest fabric selections online. They have many different solid fabric brands (Moda Bella, Robert Kaufman Kona, and Art Gallery Pure Elements to name a few) as well as a huge selection of the newest fabric collections. The Fat Quarter Shop offers free shipping (within the US) with a minimum purchase of $80.


Backside Fabrics


Backside Fabrics specializes in wide fabrics (104+" wide), perfect for quilt backs that you do not have to piece. But you can use wide fabrics for fabrics used in your quilt top also (and when you do the math comparing one yard of a wide fabric to one yard of regular 40" wide fabric you will see that the wide fabrics are a great value).

Additional Layouts and Yardage Requirements

In this post, in addition to the original layout, the following versions were shown:

• No Paper Piecing
• No Applique 
• No Paper Piecing or Applique, all traditionally pieced

After many requests, today, we would like to share the yardage requirements for the alternative versions of the Modern Plus Sampler.  The yardage requirements are not much different from the original version as we tended to be more generous with yardages.  

This is the all-traditionally pieced version that I made and showed here.

  

The yardage requirement are as follows for the traditionally pieced Modern Plus Sampler:

I you would like to avoid paper piecing altogether, you may would like this version:

And, if applique is not you favorite, then you may like this version:

Whichever version you prefer, we hope you will be quilting along with us until April 2019.  Share your progress on social media #ModernPlusSampler.

Modern Plus Sampler ➕ Fabric Requirements

Welcome to the start of the

 Modern Plus Sampler Quilt Along!! 

We are so excited to get started and hope you are too!

Quilt Along Intro - The Modern Plus Sampler will run from July 2018 until April 2019 with a set of directions revealed the first Thursday of every month. The quilt is a large lap sized quilt finishing at about 63" x 78".

The instructions are published right in this post (after these few announcements) and are available in an easy to print PDF format:

Modern Plus Sampler - Pattern Intro, Fabric Requirements, & Coloring Page

(If you have any trouble with the link, you can find instructions on how to access and download the pdf file here.)  Additionally, the directions and all of the other information related to the mystery quilt can always be found on the Modern Plus Sampler Page.

We have 15 generous sponsors for this event!  You can read more about the sponsors and prizes here and find links to each at the bottom of the post.

Facebook Group -  I encourage you to join Cheryl's Meadow Mist Designs Facebook Group (if you have not already).  There are over 3,200 members in the group and I am so excited for the members to start sharing pictures of their fabric picks.  

If you want some feedback on possible fabric choices or have any questions during the quilt along, the Facebook is an excellent resource.  You can find the Facebook Group right here.  Please share your progress pics on social media with the hashtag #ModernPlusSamplerQuilt and tag me @QuiltedBlooms.

And now without further ado....July's instructions...

Fabric Requirements

Within the quilt pattern instructions, the following colors will be used to represent the fabrics.  

If you change up the pattern (for example, replacing the applique blocks with traditionally pieced blocks) your yardage requirements will also change.

Please do not feel limited by these colors (or number of colors) within the pattern, feel free to use a different colorway, change up the colors used in each section, or use more or less numbers of colors and fabrics. In both Paige and my sample quilts, we changed up the colors within the quilt top using more or less colors and more or less yardage of each fabric.

The coloring page of the quilt top is also included in the downloadable pdf above to test out potential colorways.

Alternative Quilt Tops

The sampler quilt pattern is designed for an advanced beginner.  The pattern is mostly made using traditional piecing, but there are a few blocks that are paper pieced or appliqued.  We encourage you to try these blocks to gain new skills, but below are some alternative quilt top layouts if you would like to avoid paper piecing and/or applique.

Additional Pattern Notes

• Width of fabrics (WOF) for this pattern is assumed to be 41". 
• A scant ¼" (a thread width smaller than ¼") seam is to be used throughout the construction of the quilt unless otherwise instructed. 
• The pattern is written for non-directional prints. If you are using a directional print, you may have to alter the cutting instructions and need additional yardage beyond what is listed.
• Press all seams open unless otherwise instructed.

Any questions?  Leave them in a comment below or post them to the Facebook group page.  We look forward to seeing everyone's fabric selections.

Many thanks to the generous sponsors of the Modern Plus Sampler!

Honey, Bunny, and Doll | Sew Fresh Quilts | Make Modern | Aurifil

Cooking Up Quilts | Quilting Jetgirl | Quilter's Planner

Needle & Foot | Fat Quarter Shop | BackSide Fabrics | Whims and Fancies

Meadow Mist Designs | He said. She said. Quilting | Busy Hands Quilts | C&T Publishing

The next set of instructions will be published on the first Thursday of August (the 2nd).

QuiltCon Class Recommendations

Yikes!  QuiltCon 2019 workshop registration opens up this coming Tuesday, June 26th at 10am EST.  I had better get serious and decide which classes I would like to take. For me, it's always a challenge to balance the amount of classroom time vs. leaving enough time to see the quilt show, shop all the vendors and visit with friends.  It's the perfect opportunity to meet online friends in real life.

QuiltCon is the Modern Quilt Guild's annual quilt show and conference and took place this year in Pasadena, CA.  It was only my second trip to the west coast and my first trip to California.

This view was only steps from the Pasadena Convention Center where QuiltCon 2018 was held and I think these are the San Gabriel Mountains are in the background.

Next year, QuiltCon 2019 is within driving distance from South Carolina and takes place in Nashville, TN at Music City Center .  So, I am definitely planning to attend and the hotel has been booked!

Now, what classes to take?  Well, if you have not decided the classes for which you plan to register, I have a few suggestions.

I previously mentioned the balance between class time vs. show time.  In Savannah, I didn't leave enough time to see the show so I decided to take a light class load in Pasadena.  I signed up three 3-hour classes: Lino Printing with Karen Lewis, Hand Quilting with Sarah Fielke and a domestic machine quilting class with Christina Cameli.  I highly recommend taking classes from all three instructors.

I never gave a QuiltCon recap upon returning home, so this is a perfect time to tell you about the classes I took in Pasadena.

Beginning Lino Printing with Karen Lewis

I have never taken a class where I had such a successful outcome.  I was pleased with everything, and I mean everything.  

I preorderd all the supplies needed directly from Karen and she brought them to class for us. This was my first attempt, just some simple lines printed on Kona Pickle. I rotated the lino stamp to create a grid.   

  

Next, I ventured out and tried some leaves.  

This photo was taken in class.  You can see the lino stamps with the ink on each.  I took Kona solids use as the base for printing.  This is Kona pickle.

I made one more stamp in class.  I guess you could call this an improv 16-patch.

I used the simple lines again and wondered about using this print as a binding or a focus print on a zipper pouch.

  Karen was so sweet, I highly recommend her classes.

This is a an excerpt from the class catalog for her beginning lino printing class, SUR100, but she is teaching several other classes.

Hand Quilting with Sarah Fielke

The next class I took was hand quilting with Sarah Fielke.  I have taken one of her Craftsy classes and knew I wanted to take a class from her in person.  And since she's from Australia, I didn't know when I would have the opportunity again.

Now, don't judge my outcome as a measure for taking her class.  This was a first for me, and didn't come as natural.

My hand quilting needs practice, just like free motion quilting or most anything else.  I struggled using a metal thimble as I normally us the little pads that stick to your finger.

Sarah even gave each student a charm pack of her new fabric line Grid Paper, compliments of Windham Fabrics. The top print is Grid Paper in green.  You may recognize it from the June Blogger Bundle I curated for Bernie's Etsy Shop, Needle and Foot.

And, Aurifil provided to everyone a small spool of their 12 wt cotton thread perfect for big stitch hand quilting.

Sarah is teaching several classes, but this the description to her hand quilting class.

Machine Quilting with Christina Cameli

I had been following Christina's blog, A Few Scraps, for a long time and was thrilled to take her class.  Her free motion tutorial, Leafy Lines, is one of my favorites.

The name of the class was Free-Motion Textures.  The class was on Sunday morning and by that time I was a little tired, but free-motioned as fast as I could.  The machine I was using started acting up and skipped stitches terribly, but I kept right on quilting.

 

 And, while I don't remember the names of all the designs, I have the sample to remind me free-motion fillers to use.

Christina is not teaching the exact class in Nashville, but I would recommend any class from her.

Additional Recommendations 

And also, consider classes by:

• Michele Wilke (Factotum of Arts) is teaching several classes.  She has taught a class for us at the Greenville MQG and she's a fantastic teacher.
• Cheryl Brickey (Meadow Mist Designs) who teaching Beginner EQ8 and Subtracting for Minimalism.
• Yvonne Fuchs (Quilting Jetgirl) who is teaching Transparency Quilt Design.

And don't forget about the many lectures that are offered.  I hope these suggestions will help with you picking classes is you are undecided.  Are you planning to attend QuiltCon in Nashville?  If so, I hope to see you there!