When I was packing for Paris, I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of space for fabric in my luggage. In fact, I brought mostly background fabrics and a stack of my own collection, and then I realized the best precuts to bring are the 10″ stackers! Flat, large enough to get a good quilt out of it, and it includes an entire fabric collection’s selection of prints. I had two in my stash, so I put those in a suitcase instead of storage.

Once I got here it was clear to me that I’d need more sources for fabric- here’s where visitors come in 😉 I make sure everyone brings a bit of fabric for me! And again, those pre-cut stacks are really handy. Amy of Diary of a Quilter brought me an Emma 10″ stacker and the Glamp Camp stacker pictured above, both designed for Riley Blake Designs, when she came to Paris. It’s nice to see fabrics but even nicer to see friends!

Now I have a few stackers on hand, but the debilitating choice of picking a pattern is another obstacle entirely! It’s hard to use something when you know it’s a limited supply. I decided to use my Emma stacker, an adorable feminine collection by Rachel of Citrus and Mint Designs. Its lovely prints were exactly my mood after gazing out at the Paris view from my sewing room window.

When I asked for ideas on Instagram, I was flooded with great suggestions. Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew convinced me to make a Clover quilt, and I really do think it’s perfect. It has big enough pieces to showcase the larger prints, and with a little bit of planning, I also got the prints to all be directional on the final quilt top.

Aside from figuring out all the cut rotations I’d need to do to get the directions the same (whew!) this pattern is super quick and satisfying. It was a delight to sew up! I highly recommend it (and any of Allison’s patterns, she always makes them fun).

The quilt is still in flimsy form, since obtaining backing and getting it quilted and then bringing it back to the States will be a bit of an ordeal, to say the least. Even so, it is just so sweet, I love it. It will be so great to get this finished when we are back home in the USA!

After I was done sewing up the top, a few things occurred to me: one, it is so much better to have a “finished” project than a precut still in its nice, tidy packaging, and two, there are so many other things I can make with the few precuts I still have, and I want to bring home quilt tops instead of fabric stacks!

This has led me to put together 12 block designs, all made from 10″ precut squares and a background fabric, that I’ll be sharing with you throughout 2023. I will share more in another post dedicated strictly to information on that fun endeavor that I hope you will join in doing with me!

Happy Quilting!