Little Bits Quilting Bee: 20 Quilts Using Charm Squares, Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, and Fat Quarters by Kathreen Ricketson is packed with fresh, modern ideas for using pre-cut fabric packs.
As the founder of WhipUp.net, Kathreen has a keen view of online quilting trends and activities going on around the world. The book includes a forward section on Community Quilting covering friendship quilts, quilt alongs, swaps and virtual quilting bees.
Organized by type of pre-cut, the book includes twin to king-size quilts, wall hangings, crib quilts, and throws along with a difficulty level assigned to each project.
Constructivist is my FAVORITE quilt in the book, I love how several of the triangles fall out of line and the quilt pattern mimics the woodgrain print! and it’s made with Charm Squares, fabulous!
Rhombus is a fun use of 2 1/2″ strips.
Dress Circle features layer cakes in two ways – both as a background and as applique circles. There were several projects in the book that utilize that technique and it got me thinking creatively about the color and texture that approach adds to a project.
The final chapter features some fabulous quilts made with Fat Quarters.
Little Bits Quilting Bee is a lovely book with colorful images and great ideas for using pre-cuts that many of us have in our stash or could easily create from our scrap bins. It’s sure to inspire your use of these small bits of fabrics in new and creative ways.
Kathreen has a round up of all the blog tour stops at WhipUp.net. The post also includes images of the completed Friendship Quilt she talks about in the book. Very inspiring!
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Leave a comment sharing your favorite type of pre-cut or tricks you have for creating your own. I’ll announce a book winner on Saturday.
I don’t have any favorites as I’m a beginner, but I so want to buy some of these precuts and get this book and give it a whirl. Thanks for sharing.
I buy mostly fat quarters, although I do have several layer cakes and jelly rolls. I have an Accuquilt Studio die cutter so I can actually cut my own charm squares, jelly rolls, etc. I’d love to win this book and use up some of my stash on the fabulous projects. Thanks for the giveaway!
I love using jelly rolls! I keep around a bunch of 2.5ish strips to make log cabin squares with, I usually cut the strips to size as I sew along.
This is one of the best small quilt books I’ve seen ~ and my most favorite pre-cut is charm squares.
Thanks for the giveaway!
I love jellyrolls, I can’t cut my own strips so uniformly straight!
I typically purchase fat quarters. But have been tempted to purchase charm squares.
Dianne
I have managed to stash many fabulous precuts and am on the lookout for inventive ways to use them up. This looks like an excellent book for helping me along!
i don’t think i have any great tricks to share about pre-cuts, but i will say that i would LOVE to win this cute book! thanks for the opportunity!
My favorite pre-cut is a layer cake. They’re the perfect size to fit on my mat and use my rulers without having to move the fabric around.
I love fat quarters. I can get a variety of fabrics but still in large enough pieces to have lots of quilting options.
I think my favorite type of precut is the 5 inch charms.. because I love scrappy quilts. However, I’ve not yet tried the strips– like jelly rolls— and I’ve been seeing some REALLY lovely quilt patterns using them.. so I definitely want to give them a try.. and SOON!
I love all pre-cuts, charms, jelly rolls, and layer cakes. They save so much time. Fat quarters are also nice but I tend to buy the smaller sizes. Use them for everything, quilts, tablerunners, potholders, and sashing. Thanks for a great giveaway.
my favourites seem to grow bigger with every quilt and right now I just love fat quarters. I still like charm packs and layer cakes of course but have yet to try a jelly roll.
My favorite precuts right now are fat quarter sets!
I love fabric and lots of variety, so for me, charm squares are the way to go. That way I get lots of different fabrics for not much money. Thank you for the giveaway!
I personally like the jelly rolls, but I am also still just making bags out of them
I enjoy jelly rolls for quick and easy strip piecing. But I more frequently make my own charm packs by stacking several yards together and cutting them all at once.
My favorite pre-cut is the layer cake – so versatile!
i really enjoy the variety you can get with fat quarters as well as being so economical
My favorite pre-cut is the jelly roll, since buying one already cut removes the “wave” I get in the strips I cut at home. Thanks for making me aware of another great book. The wish list grows…
I need this book! Im always looking for patterns for pre cut fabric!
It’s been so much fun browsing through all these new-to-me blogs!
It’s been so much fun browsing through all these new-to-me blogs
I love pre-cuts if I’m in a hurry. I search for sales and bargains during the year and “hoard” them till I start a new project where the colors and patterns work. The book would help me dream up new ways to use up my fat quarter cache.