Here at Fat Quarterly we really love a couple of things – Art Gallery Fabrics and English Paper Piecing. It only seemed right to combine the two when we heard that Bari J Ackerman was releasing her very first line with Art Gallery. It was absolutely set in stone that we wanted to do it when we saw how gorgeous LillyBelle was and now, as it becomes available to stores (it ships sometime this month) we thought it was only right to ask if you’d join us!

Both Bari and Pat Bravo (of Art Gallery fabrics) had Katy’s Hexy MF* quilt pinned on their pinterest boards, and as that quilt is a nice introduction into english paper piecing and perfect for both absolute beginners or anyone that has english paper pieced before, we thought it was a perfect fit.

Although maybe we should re-name the quilt especially for the quilt along? Most original answer wins a FQ bundle of Lillybelle in the cool sunrise collection, we’ll pick a winner in a week. Get your thinking caps on!

This is a hand pieced and hand appliqued project, so no-one is expected to finish fast – go at your own pace, take it slow, or take it fast, there’s no prize for the first to finish (ok, there may be – but don’t let that put you off!). There will be full and really in-depth instructions on each and every step, so if you’ve never english paper pieced before, don’t fret – you’ll be ok!

Katy has had some templates made up especially for help with cutting or fussy cutting the fabrics. You can find them for sale in her etsy shop and they are priced at $15 for the set of 3, which includes a large hexagon, a smaller hexagon and a leaf template for applique. (If they’re showing as out of stock, more are on the way and will be re-listed as soon as they are back in stock – within the week for sure!)

So – what will you need? It’s a big shopping list, for a quilt that finishes up at 72″ x 84″.

10 half yards of printed fabrics for the flowers (Katy is using the cool sunrise collection from LillyBelle by Bari J Ackerman for art gallery fabrics)
1 yard of fabric for the flower centres (or 2 half yards for variation, Katy is using art gallery fabricspure elements in white linen and light citron )
1 FQ of green fabric for leaves (Katy is going to wait until she has her flowers assembled to decide which green is best for this part)
4 yards of background fabric (Katy will be using art gallery fabrics pure elements in ash)
140″ length of bias binding for the appliqued stalks and vines.

You will also need a lot of paper pieces – but our friends at paper pieces have us sorted! Use FAT25 for 25% off your order until August 31st 2012.
You will need a bulk pack of 1.5″ hexagons (600 pieces – you will re-use some, but the quality is so great it makes it really easy to use them a few times) and a sampler pack of 1″ hexagons.. The pre-cut papers from paper pieces are fantastic, they are thick, yet pliable and an absolute joy to use.

What are you waiting for? Go buy those papers and start thinking about fabrics!

*if you’re wondering what the MF stands for it’s from the Prince song Sexy MF. This is why we need a more polite name, to better represent LillyBelle’s elegance and sophistication!