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Come join me in making a hot air balloon quilt. Over the next couple days I'll be posting suggestions for fabrics and cutting instructions for the background fabric. The hot air balloons will involve paper piecing, so in addition to at least 2.5 yards of background fabric (depending on the size quilt you'd like to make), you'll also need 11x17 paper to print the templates on. Above is the layout I intend to use and the general colors, though I'll be working from my stash.

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Background Fabric and Prepping Templates

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To prep your templates, simply cut close to (but not on the dotted lines) of each piece. I like to leave a little bit of overlap to square up my blocks before sewing them together, roughly 1/8 to 1/4" all around. For the background fabric, I would first cut the long strips and then use the remaining fabric for the squares and the paper piecing. Mini Quilt (32.5"x42.5"): 1 - 2.5"x32.5" 3 - 4.5"x40.5" Large Baby Quilt ( 46.5"x62.5") : 1 - 2.5"x46.5" 4 - 4.5"x60.5" 2 - 10.5"x10.5" Twin Sized Quilt (74.5"x102.5": 1 - 2.5"x74.5" 6 - 4.5"x100.5" 4 - 10.5"x10.5" Queen Sized Quilt (102.5"x102.5"): 1 - 2.5"x102.5" 8 - 4.5"x100.5" 6 - 10.5"x10.5" King Sized Quilt (116.5"x102.5"): 1 - 2.5"x116.5" 9 - 4.5"x100.5" 8 - 10.5"x10.5"
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Fabric Requirements and Quilt Sizes

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So this will be a scrappy, paper-pieced quilt. I'm going to give you rough estimates for how much background and basket fabric you'll need for each size quilt, but the rest is up to you. You can also do a scrappy background or scrappy baskets, but this will give you a rough guide of how much overall fabric you'll need. For the background fabrics, I have listed the minimum required, however, since this is paper piecing and paper piecing tends to have a lot of waste, I would highly suggest going at least 1/2 to 1 yard more than listed! Here are some ideas of colorways for this quilt and a coloring sheet for you to try your own combinations. Here are the templates (print on 11x17 paper, make sure you download them into a file on your computer and don't try to print straight from the internet, and then make sure your print settings are set to Actual Size): Basket Template Page (2 baskets per page - once printed each basket template should measure 10.5" across by 6.5...
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Baskets

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This month we're going to make the baskets for the hot air balloons. You will need to print the requisite number of basket templates for the size quilt you're making. Remember to download it to your computer, then open in Adobe Reader and print it actual size onto 11x17" paper. Do not print straight from the web. If you measure the template pieces they should be 6.5" by 10.5" in size. You will need your background fabric, your basket fabric(s), and if you want to fussy cut the insides of the baskets, the best fabrics are ones with a blue background or a background that matches your background fabric. I decided to cut up the rest of my background fabric at this point, starting with the pieces I needed for the hot air balloon tops. I cut pieces about 7" by 8" and then cut them on the diagonal. This will only work if you're using solids. If you're using a print, make sure you choose the correct diagonal to cut them on, and if y...
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