I’ve been brewing a while on an idea of a quilt along for my Value Quilt Tutorial. I think the time has come.
And because even the longest journey begins with a single step (or steps in this quilt), I thought I’d give you all a heads-up and some planning time before we all jump in.
What you’ll need:
* Quilting Wall: You will need to see your work from a distance on this one. Value is best determined from a distance. Vertically seeing your work will help a lot. Buy one or craft yourself one. Blair of Wisecraft does it well here. I suppose you could make do without, but try for one. It will be indispensable to you once you’ve used it. Even a flannel sheet will work. I just tack mine to the wall.
*Mass array of fabrics: Lights, medium and dark in value. Cut into squares (I’m doing 6-inch). Take a good look at your stash. You most likely have a lot that are medium in value. This is the time to hit the fabric swap groups, or buy those FQs you’ve always wanted! Try to fill in the gaps by buying the values you don’t have much of. Start cutting!
*Amount of fabrics: I will be doing 12 rows up and 12 across for a family sized quilt. Two squares will make two identical squares. For less of a commitment try a baby quilt.
*Square template (6-inch or smaller).
*The rest is the usual quilting stuff.
There are some examples on the Values Quilt Flickr Group. Some are less “distracting” in their use of print and use a solid as the light. For those of you with less stash this might be a good start.
You are also not stuck to the diamond shape of my example. By switching the squares around you could easily create a different look. Maybe light and dark lines? I was thinking of perhaps making a bunch of squares and then sashing them. Similar to these I made for the Ten Make Two Bee:
Let me know if you want to jump in with me! Join here.
