who needs a snuggie when you can have a quilt?!?!

continuing on with my quest to make a quilt, last week the mc61 and i stopped by a little fabric store while riding around pdx on a sunny day. 

personally i think what designs you want on your fabric is a tough one. i mean there were so many options. where does one even start? 

since this is my first attempt i am going to bite off a little piece so to speak. instead of cutting a piece off a bolt, i would create my own little "fat squares", or "fat eighth" or "layer cakes" or whatever you wanna call it...

fat quarter: 18" x 22" piece of fabric. typically these are a common requirement for quilt patterns. (?? interesting?!) fat eighth: 9" x 22" piece of fabric. again displayed in quilt shops... layer cakes: (40) 10" x 10" fabric squares in a variety of coordinating colors and patterns from the same fabric line.  

here is a sample of what i picked up. there are nine. and my pieces are much bigger than 9", 10" or 18" ... obviously i was more interested in what the fabric design was...ahh already off the beaten path!

since i like the polka dots, i decided to pull a few "sample swatches".      now how to arrange??

 should i keep matching polka dots together? orange and greens?

 or should i mix the two mirroring fabrics together (blue w/brown dots and brown w/blue dots) and add two fabrics that look similar?

  or similar fabrics (both have orange dots, almost same size too!) with a strong color (orange!) 

either way, i think moving the fabrics around and taking pictures of the options will be helpful with the next step. designing the quilt and blocks... this is exciting. i feel like i'm getting something done, ha! i guess all those blogs that i've been looking at for different designs has paid off! 
in keeping with doing this in baby steps, my next task is to get reacquainted with my sewing machine. dim the lights, get that bottle of wine out and put the do not disturb sign on the door. oh kidding, but it will be one of those days where i better have an abundance of patience hanging around. 
i love this AND i realize this link is not a blog but rather goes into flickr.. whateves, it's still inspiring. (from plald and polka dots photostream) 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jadejutara/5001540224/in/pool-1249052@N24/#/


this blog i do love visiting.. http://alamodefabric.blogspot.com/2010/10/holiday-homes.html