The Carolina Mingle Quilt Along - Week 1 - Choosing and Cutting Fabrics

This post is a part of the Carolina Mingle quilt along that starts February 22, 2019 and ends March 15, 2019.

If this is the first time you are learning about this quilt along then please read this post for more details.

To view all the posts concerning this quilt along, click here.

Have you already chosen your fabrics for the Carolina Mingle quilt? Well, that’s exactly what we are talking about today! Choosing the fabrics! It really is the most fun, right?

I’ve got some things to talk to you today about placement and then I thought we’d look at a few of the other Carolina Mingle quilts to give you ideas if you’re not sure exactly where you want to go with your quilt yet.

If you haven’t yet, go ahead and read over the pattern, especially page 1 and 2 since that is what we are working on today. 🙂

All About Placement

Let’s get a few things out of the way first about the design. I’ve labeled everything in the above image, so you will know what’s what.

The half square triangles of the corner blocks match the half square triangles of the center block. And when placed exactly the way show above, takes on a pinwheel look that can stand out from the actual star.

The diamond center of the center block mirrors both the cornerstones and the corner triangles of the center block.

The very first time I made this quilt I was gifted a bundle of Sharon Holland’s Signature fabrics. I made the quilt work with the fabric I had, so some of the design of the original plan got shifted a bit. I didn’t use just one background fabric. I didn’t have enough of one fabric to make that work, so I used multiple fabrics. Also, on the pinwheel look I told you about above, the quilt above still has the pinwheel look even though I chose to use different secondary background fabrics to make it work. If that’s what you need to do, that’s perfectly fine. We have to work with what we got.

On the star points of the above quilt, I also placed the fabrics in a way that I felt looked nice by way of which fabrics looked best side by side.

I love these fabrics! That butterfly print in my secondary background makes me squeal!

You can see more of the quilt above here.

The quilt pictured above is my second Carolina Mingle quilt, made this past November. The background fabrics are all the same in this one, one single background was chosen, and one single secondary background was chosen. No mixing things up, no scrappiness. The effect is the big giant pinwheel showing up in the background of the quilt. As much as I loved my first quilt, I love the background of this second one better just for that reason.

My second quilt with this pattern was exactly as the pattern is written.

On the star points I placed my fabrics from darkest to lightest instead of just sporadically. I like this look better as well.

Product Spotlight

—Supplier: The Warm Company

—Type: Warm and Natural

—Fiber Content: 100-percent USA grown Cotton

—Other: Needle punched to prevent tearing and shifting, migrating or creeping through the quilt top.

—Width: 90″ Wide

Purchase here.

Fabrics I chose

For my quilt I’m using some of the Hedge Rose fabrics by Kelly Panacci from Riley Blake Designs.

A fabric – Floral in navy
B fabric – Main in navy
C fabric – Garden in blue
D fabric – Main in aqua
E fabric – Garden in aqua
F fabric – Floral in aqua
G fabric – Dot in navy
H fabric – Floral in red
Background fabric – Hashtag in cream
Secondary background fabric – Bee Backgrounds Cross Stitch in gray
Binding fabric – Blossom in red
Backing fabric – Large Hashtag in bleached denim

Tips for Choosing your fabrics

Make sure you choose a background and secondary background that has some contrast to it (even if it’s just a little contrast)
The darker your star points, the more the star will pop from the rest of the quilt
You don’t want the fabrics of your star competing with your background, so choose fabrics with contrast.
Browse the hashtag for this quilt here and take a look at other Carolina Mingle quilts. Note what you like. Sometimes just seeing what other people have done with the pattern can bring on a bout of inspiration for you.

I cannot wait to see what you choose! Please share over on Instagram using the #carolinaminglequiltalong and #carolinaminglequilt so that we can all see.

Product Spotlight

Piecing and machine quilting thread
100 Percent extra long staple Egyptian thread
600 yards of assorted Basic colors
Double mercerized
No wobble snap mini King
30 weight thread

Buy Here.

This Week’s Giveaway

You can read the rules for the giveaway here. ~~I’ll announce a winner tomorrow on Instagram, so don’t forget to post!~~ You can post anything: fabric choices, your cut fabrics, your coloring sheet, anything you want. The more you post, the more chances you have for winning. Use the hashtag to enter and tag me.

~~I will be giving away a 17-piece fat quarter bundle of Hedge Rose from Riley Blake Designs~~! It’s so yummy!!!!

This Week’s Task

Your task this week is to get all your fabrics cut and ready for sewing. Next week we will tackle sewing the star points.

I did want to mention a CORRECTION on the cutting chart. If you bought the pattern prior to 2/15/19, you will need to look at the correction at the bottom of this page. If you purchased the pattern after that date, your pattern is correct. If you did buy the pattern and want a fresh version then just contact me and I’ll send one over. It’s a minor correction, nothing to fret over. I just wanted you to be aware of it.