Just Buzzing Through Quilt Along – Week One – Getting Started, Gather Your Supplies

Hooray! Today is the day!

It’s Week One of the Just Buzzing Through Quilt Along and I’m so excited that you’ll be joining me in making this fun quilt!

This week is all about fabric choices.

Now, if you are a beginner and not yet confident in choosing colors, I recommend using just two fabrics, a light and a dark (as in the sample red and white quilt), or fabrics with enough contrast so that you can clearly distinguish one from the other. This is only a suggestion. I mean, hey, it’s your quilt, and you can make it in any number of colors and fabrics that you want. However, using only two fabrics will save time. Time shopping, preparing your fabric, cutting, deciding on color placement, and piecing. The two-color combination of this quilt is designed with the beginner in mind.  Designed for repetition.

Repetition builds experience, and experience builds confidence.

A two-color quilt does not have to be limited to two fabrics. Just Buzzing Through is fat-quarter and fat-eighth friendly.  A fat-quarter each of your focus fabric and background fabric yields four blocks. (Possibly five blocks if the fat-quarters measure a true 22″ x 18″.)

I am making a scrappy, red “two color” quilt. I have at least twenty different reds in mine, but, just one background fabric. Using many different reds, gives movement to the quilt. Your eye naturally travels from one block to the next to find all of the different fabrics. Using only one background fabric, gives the eye a place to rest.

Below is a slightly scrappy version using two reds only. Something like this uses five fat-quarters of each red plus background fabric for the blocks. Make a scrappy binding using the left-overs from the fat-quarters or make your binding from 1/2 yard of one red fabric.

These are just two ideas for a two-color quilt. Have fun with it! Oh, the fabric combinations yet to be imagined!

Here is another idea for fabric choices. I made this baby quilt using eight bright fat-quarters and a multi-colored, happy fabric for the background and binding.

Okay, now that we’ve discussed some fabric choices, here is a list of materials and supplies that you will need.

First, a copy of the Just Buzzing Through pattern.

For a throw size quilt, you will need:

• 1 + 3/4 yard of a main color (focus fabric)
• 1 + 3/4 yard of a background fabric
• 1/2 yard of fabric for the border
• 1/2 yard of fabric for the binding
• 3 yards of fabric for the backing (Or, 2 yards of 60” wide fabric)
• Batting that measures at least 55” x 73”
• Thread to blend with the background and focus fabrics

For a baby quilt, you will need:

• 1 + 1/8 yard of a main color (focus fabric)
• 1 + 1/8 yard of a background fabric
• 1/3 yard of fabric for the border
• 1/3 yard of fabric for the binding
• 1 + 1/2 yards of either 44” or 60” wide fabric for the backing
• Batting that measures at least 45” x 55”
• Thread to blend with the background and focus fabrics

Here is the Quilt Along Schedule for “Just Buzzing Through”

• Week One – Getting Started – Gather Your Supplies
• Week Two – Cutting
• Week three – Piecing the Units
• Week Four – Assemble the Blocks (I have a surprise planned for this week!)
• Week Five – Assemble the Quilt Top
• Week Six – Basting and Machine Quilting (I’ll show you exactly how I quilted this on my domestic sewing machine. If you’ve been hesitant to try it, this is a great quilt for your first machine quilting project!)
• Week Seven – Binding Your Quilt

After each week’s post is published, I’ll add a link to it in the schedule listing, so you can access it at any time by simply clicking the link. You can also subscribe to this website and receive each week’s Quilt Along post in your Inbox. 

I am so excited to do this Quilt Along with you! I will be publishing a new post each week for seven weeks. You can work on each weekly step and have a finished quilt in seven weeks. Or, wait until each step has been published and then make your quilt. Remember, you can access all of these posts any time after June 21, 2019 and make your quilt on your own schedule. Your quilt in YOUR time. The goal is to have fun!

I’d love to see your progress! Join our Lookout Mountain Quilter Facebook Group and share photos of your fabric choices and your progress. You never know who you may inspire!

Let’s get going!

Diane