Paper piecing and other quilting ?s

[Down2Earth]

I'm finally going to make my first quilt. I have instructions, 500 1" hexagons, and 2.5" squares of yellow fabric for the center of my rosettes. Now what?

Do I need to get all of my fabric and supplies at the same time? Do I need to purchase batting and everything before I start? Or can I pick up pieces here and there as I go along?

If I'm going to make a twin size quilt in the grandmother's flower garden pattern which calls for 60 rosettes, how do I figure out how many different fabrics to get? I don't have any "scrap" fabric. I will be purchasing everything new. Is there some kind of formula to go by? My instructions say I will need 3 1/4 yds for the 1st round and the same for the 2nd round (totaling 6 1/2 yds.) Do I just pick out a bunch of fabric I like? How many should I choose? How much of each? Arrgh! Now I remember why I've never started a quilt before.

What are fat quarters? Should I buy those or have fabric cut for me? What is cheaper? Is there anything smaller than a fat quarter? I am completely clueless!

I'll probably be going to Joann's on Saturday any advice before then would be awesome. TIA!

[iowaorganic]

Wow! You are going to paper piece for your first? Impressive.

Go to JoAnns and buy fabric that you like! I think you could do as many differnt prints as you want. I would probably buy 1/2 yard cuts myself. fat quarters are usually about the same price as a 1/4 yd cut. Make sure to purchase high quality quilting fabric though- all that effort and time are the real expenses in a quilt! I think there is a big sale though this weekend!

Good Luck!

[iowaorganic]

I'm sorry- I forgot part of the question. No you don't have to get everything all at once- unless you get a hot deal on it! In fact- you could just buy a couple of cuts of fabric to get started with.

[Down2Earth]

So a 1/2 yd cut would be cheaper than a fat quarter? Thanks! DH and I stopped by Joanns yesterday just really quick. I didn't buy anything, but I also didn't see anything that really jumped out at me. There's a quilt shop on Swanson that we will check out today. Their website said they carry reproduction fabrics so I would like to see what they have

I'm doing paper piecing for my first quilt because I actually think it would be easier to find time to do a hexagon here and there. I'm not intimidated by lots and lots of time consuming work. I'm more process oriented then completed project oriented anyway. And I don't care if this takes me a few years to complete. I remember my mom working on the same embroidery project and finally completing it after EIGHT YEARS!

[Down2Earth]

Alright! I think I have all my supplies now! With a combination of Joanns and a local quilt shop I bought tiny tiny needles (#12 sharps and #11 straws) for the basting and whipstitching. With the tiny needles and the mettler thread I hope I can make my whipstitches small enough that you won't see the "railroad tracks" on the front of my finished hexagons.

I also bought some 1930's reproduction fabric on ebay. It ended up being just a little over $1 a fat quarter which is way way cheaper than the quilt shop.

I didn't buy my batting or backing or even the almost 6 yds I'll need for the "path" and border in my grandmother's flower garden. I figured it is going to be a long time before I'll finish the quilt top and I wanted to get my ebay fabric before buying more for my border.

So, I'm off!