Fancy Forest Quilt bundle not available but you can buy fat quarterbundles separately right now.

 

I had been trying to find the Fancy Forest Quilt kit available but when I got an email notification saying it was now in stock it was gone within minutes.  It had been originally posted at $99.99 but when I contacted the company they stated that was an auto fill when they posted it on their web and it was in fact $165.00.  I did find it on another site being available on Feb. 16 for $129.99 and that includes the pattern.  Check out Nancy's Notions. http://www.nancysnotions.com/
 It includes the 40 fat quarters, pattern too.  You will note that it doesn't show on the web anymore so you must call Nancy's Notions to pre-order.








Not being patient I bought the pattern online from Elizabeth Hartman's site, http://ohfransson.bigcartel.com/product/fancy-forest-pdf-quilt-pattern and ordered three fat quarter bundles that included fabric needed.  So I'm not waiting to start.

The fat quarter bundles I purchased that have a majority of the fabrics
From connecting Threads $21.08  Quilter's Candy Bright Solids Sampler has 16 Fabrics.


















The other two I ordered from Hawthorne Threads,


http://www.hawthornethreads.com/quilt_kit/fancy_forest_quilt_kit
Pacific Fat Quarter Bundle in Evening, $26.75 and Pacific Fat Quarter Bundle in Morning, also $26.75.  With shipping these two were $59.00

Fabric needed for quilt.  You can purchase in kit form or use scraps or piece together, mix and match.  The fabrics used in the kit are Kona Solids and solid coordinates, Robert Kaufman, Pacific, Rhoda Ruth per pattern. 

If you will note the total I paid for all of them was $80 plus $22 for the pattern.  I also used two fat quarters I had in my stash to make up the last two green's I needed.  The least expensive kit is from Nancy's Notions.  This will save you $27 if you purchase the kit from them and if you purchase it from Hawthorne Threads it's $165 so that will be a savings of $63.00.

Making the Fancy Forest Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman

Making the Fancy Forest Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman

 

Well as anyone who has contemplated making this quilt it is a MASSIVE Project.  The pattern alone is 24 pages long.   I’ve made the Fancy Fox and the Hedgehog quilts for my granddaughter but I must be out of my mind to even mull over making the Fancy Forest.  After 42 Fancy Fox faces and 25 Hedgehogs you would think I knew better.  It’s definitely going to be a challenge.

I’ve read over the cutting directions 5 times and have made a cutting list collating the various sizes and creating a cheat sheet for cutting the background.

Here’s my list as I hope it will make the process easier.  I’m hoping all the time I’ve spent reading and rereading will make it an organized process with minimal errors.  I have extra fabric just in case.

Here’s the cutting cheat sheet I came up with after reading cutting directions.  I felt it necessary to put all the sizes together and I’ve noted how many go to each character.

I will only provide this for cutting directions as you need to purchase the pattern.  I’m just trying to simplify the cutting for this portion.  The rest of the directions for cutting each of the 40 fabrics is already separated out  by size but this wasn’t.

CUTTING LIST  FOR BACKGROUND

1-7 ½” strip WOF                              1-Firefly

1-6 ½” strip WOF                              1-Fancy Fox

2 – 4 ½” WOF                                      2-Firefly

5-3 ½” WOF                                        1-Hedgehog, 3-Fancy Fox

2-3” WOF                                             1-Hedgehog, 1 Thistle

5- 2 ½” WOF                                       1 Hedgehog, 2 Owl, 2 Firefly

1-2 ¼” WOF                                        1 Thistle

4-2” WOF                                             1 Hedgehog, 3 Bunny,

9-1 ½” WOF                                        1 Hedgehog, 4 Bunny, 1 Thistle, 3 Firefly

3-1” WOF                                             3 Bunny

I also learned from making the Hedgehog and the Fancy Foxes it's easier to cut everything first, place them in marked Ziploc bags and then make all the faces for say the foxes and all the faces for the hedgehogs and do an assembly line type sewing.  I'm definitely going to do this with this quilt.  I also got Raspberry flats from Cosco and am using a separate one for each pattern in the kit and will collate all the pieces for each in a separate box.  It will just make things easier.  Be sure and read and reread the pattern and come up with a game plan before you put scissors to the fabric.  You know what they say in woodworking; measure twice cut once.  Read 5 times cut once.

As I work on the quilt I’ll try to post my progress.  If anyone would like to post their experiences I look forward to seeing your thoughts.  We’re all in this together.  Onward and upward.