Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Introducing the Lantern-a-long and Sponsors!

Summer is here! Lanterns remind me of those warm, relaxing summer nights when the sun is still out just a bit. Maybe you need just a light jacket... or a quilt :)


This QAL (LAL) is super easy and laid back! I made up five lantern blocks using a jelly roll of Kate Spain's Good Fortune, and Kona Purple as background fabric, which I cut into 2.5" strips (I'll be sharing an easy way to do this). I used dark purple because it looks like the night sky :) The blocks do not take long to make, in case you already have a billion projects going on! I'll be introducing one block, as well as my thought process behind it, once a week from July until August (see the middle of this post for the schedule).



This quilt would look great with almost any fabric line, or all solids (maybe in a gradient fashion?), or Japanese fabrics... use whatever you want! I'm planning on making another (smaller) version during the LAL.

Size Options
You can  do whatever you want! Here are some suggestions:

1. Baby Quilt  
4 of the lantern blocks
About 1/2 a jelly roll (extra for backing/binding/another quilt!)
1 yard of background fabric (you might have a bit extra)

2. Lap Quilt 
 6 lanterns (in 3 columns) - a repeat of one of the blocks
 About 1/2 a jelly roll (extra for backing/binding/another quilt!)
 1.5 yards of background fabric (you might have a bit extra)

If you want to make a generous lap size quilt like I did, with 12 lanterns (about 69" x 56"), you will need approximately 2.5 yards of background fabric (I only had a 10 x 10" square left or so!), as well as about 3/4 of a jelly roll for the actual lanterns.


The blocks are all different sizes, but you can add background fabric as necessary to make the quilt you want. As you can see with my quilt, I liked a more improv look, so I scattered jelly roll strips throughout. I also added background fabric to make them look like they are floating. You decide! I'm excited to see what different versions everyone makes. I can also help if you want to make all of your blocks the same size. By the way, you can post pictures and questions to the Flickr group as you sew!

Schedule
Tues. July 2 - Mon. July 8 - Gather supplies
Mon. July 8 - Lantern Block 1 
Mon. July 15 - Lantern Block 2
Mon. July 22 - Lantern Block 3
Mon. July 29 - Lantern Block 4
Mon. August 5 - Lantern Block 5, finish up quilt tops
Mon. August 12 - Linky goes up for finished quilt tops/quilts (open for one week)
Mon. August 19 - Winners chosen at random from the linky pool!

Sponsors and Prizes

And, just to make this even more exciting, I have three wonderful sponsors lined up. Please visit and thank them for their support! They ALL have a great selection of fabric! I'll be announcing the prizes in an upcoming post!


First, my friend Nicole from 1 Choice 4 Quilting has a ton of jelly rolls in her shop. Probably, almost literally, a ton. Nicole has amazing customer service, is super personable, and has some awesome QALs going on, too! (remember the Argyled QAL?)

2wenty Thr3e Jelly Roll by Eric & Julie Comstock for Moda SKU # 37050JR
There's only 1 left of this 2wenty-Thr3e jelly roll! This would look amazing in lantern form!


Winters Lane Jelly Roll by Kate and Birdie Paper Co for Moda SKU# 13090JR 
Winter's Lane just came in! A Christmas lantern quilt? Drooool! That would be so pretty!



Christa Quilts!


Christa from ChristaQuilts also has several jelly rolls for sale! There are even MORE at her Amazon storefront that I didn't know about until recently :) Like...

Simply Style would make such a beautiful and slightly-low-volume lantern quilt :)

And Happy Go Lucky is always a beautiful, classic choice!

Christa offers free shipping on all U.S. orders (in fact, I ordered my Kona Purple from her for this quilt!)  and also has some gorgeous QALs going on! Go check it out! 


My newly revamped logo :)

And last but not least, Caitlin from I Don't Do Dishes has a fabulous collection of fabric! 
She has a great selection of solids that you could use for this quilt:

Boy Cotton Couture Solid - 1 yard  Violet Cotton Couture Solid - 1 yard
Boy Cotton Couture  - would look like the daytime sky! Or maybe you want to go violet, like me, for nighttime?

Constellations - Moon Phase Polkadot in Purple - 1 yard 

Plus, she has a huge clearance/skinny bolt sale going on. If you don't want to use a jelly roll, you can cut your print fabric into 2.5" strips! How about Constellations? Caitlin has a bunch of the prints in stock (I just ordered some from her last month!)!

Swinging in Tangerine - Comma by Zen Chic - 1 yard
Or Comma? Or a custom bundle? The choice is yours! 

Thank you so much to Nicole, Christa, and Caitlin!
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So, tell me... are you participating? Join the Flickr group so you can introduce yourself and share what size you are making! :)

And just because this is a lantern QAL (okay, LAL) and this post clearly isn't long enough, some more inspiration:

Tangled lanterns scene (Mouse on the Mind)
LOVE. THIS.
 From the movie Tangled - picture from here.

First tutorial on Monday! Go buy/gather your jelly rolls/background fabric and get ready!

Linking up to: Fabric Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday


2 comments:

  1. I loved that scene from tangled! And winters lane would look beautiful as a lantern quilt or any quilt!

    Spolgarquilts.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. cute movie.. and i cant wait to see everyones quilt. thanks for hosting happy quilting

    ReplyDelete

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