The Kiwi and Mango Tango Bundle Buster Quilt

I like making quilts with big blocks especially with a great pattern; Yvonne Fuchs, Quilting Jet Girl's Bundle Buster and a stash of fabrics with colorful and fun prints.  It was at least three-four years ago, I think, that I discovered this pattern through a FaceBook post by a quilt blogger that this was a free pattern offered first only to subscribers/followers of Quilting Jet Girl and the pattern will be available some day. Of course, me, the lover of strips, squares and big patches and all things simple immediately went to her website, became a subscriber and was very disappointed that the Bundle Bundle pattern was not yet for sale. Some of us are do crossword or Soduko for mental stimulation, I, on the other hand, like to figure out quilt patterns with graph paper and pencil. Usually, I can figure it out if the quilt dimensions are given.  Most of the time after I do this exercise, I put it aside and end up never making the quilt. After spending a considerable amount of time figuring out the pattern, I came up with how to make this quilt and was ready to make one since I love how this pattern having made more than one of each of the Yellow Brick Road and Turning Twenty patterns.  Would you believe after doing all of this, the next day, the Bundle Buster pattern was made available for purchase as a PDF download from Craftsy.  So, really wanting to make sure my cuts and layout were correct, I immediately purchased the Bundle Buster pattern.  Since this pattern is no longer available from Craftsy, here is the link (non-affiliate) to Quilting Jet Girl's website if you're interested in purchasing the Bundle Buster pattern.

The first time I used the Bundle Buster pattern was in 2017 as an alternate block for the Grandpa Quilt which is one of my most popular posts.  This really is a great pattern for using the large and fun prints which this quilt definitely does have.

I am surprised at myself for not having made another Bundle Buster quilt until this week since I have enough fabric in my stash to make at least ten more.  Also surprising is that I didn't think of this pattern when I purchased fat quarters of some of Pam Goecke Dinnorf's  Figment fabrics several years ago. After realizing last year that this would make a great Bundle Buster quilt, I pulled together some Japanese homespuns, scraps of Stok, Bonnie Christine and Mixologie prints (fabric used in my 2017 Freefall QAL Quilt) and a fat quarter of my favorite Chic Neutral citron yellow print to put this on my 2019 Wanna Make List.  I don't have a true 2019 Project List since this year I'm trying a Sew With A Flow attitude and I can tell you so far I may need an adjustment since I spending way too much time with yarn. Even though I love all of the colors in this quilt, the greens and oranges are near and dear to my heart, especially in the large focus prints with the spoke circles.  If I won't eat a Kiwi or a Mango, much to my son Demando's dismay, I could at least name a quilt with these two fruits.

The Bundle Buster pattern is very fat quarter friendly and efficient--there is very little waste.  For some of the fat quarters I did not cut out according to the pattern since there were some of the large focus prints I wanted to showcase and only use for the strips then there were some scraps I only had enough for a strip or a square.  Once all of the patches were cut and laid out on my design board, it sewed together very quickly despite only sewing one block at a time--it's all about the sewing sequence.

Once I decided on a backing with my usual hemming and hawing, I decided on a green gingham check homespun and quilting it with alternate straight and wavy line quilting with dark gray thread which really gives the Kiwi and Mango Tango quilt a nice, soft feel and does this quilt feel light. I was going to bind it with the same black and grey check fabric in the quilt, but opted for a black print to frame the quilt better.

Sorry for the dismal photos, but per usual, once I have a quilt to photograph, the Sun takes a day off which isn't surprising since this week's weather included freezing temperature, way too much wind, tornado warnings, snow, rain and even a 60 degree day.

Tomorrow is National Quilting Day and I've informed the Hubby who probably thinks I celebrate this everyday.  I'm looking forward to starting another new project, maybe another Bundle Buster since I already have the fabric set aside, and will be not considering working on a UFO unless it happens to jump at me when I'm in the Studio.  I hate when that happens.

Happy National Quilting Day!

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation NTT