I hope you've heard the adage, "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first."  It's one of my favorites.

While I can no longer eat sweets the way I used to, I still love a good dessert of any kind - of every kind.  So it stands to reason that when it came to making a case for which pre-cuts should be included in the Color Cuts, I was all over the Dessert Cuts.

The what?  A Dessert Cut or Dessert Roll is a Moda pre-cut term for a roll of strips measuring 5" x 42" width of fabric.  It's like a really fat Jelly Roll.  The Dessert Rolls done with designer collections include just twenty pieces, or twenty different fabrics.  For the Dessert Cuts, each roll has twelve different fabrics selected from as many as five different designer collections, all in a compatible color grouping.

One of the ideas behind the creation of the Color Cuts was to make it easy to build a little stash of a particular color, or add something different to a designer collection pre-cut.  And really, isn't this the perfect starting point for a scrap quilt?

Each of the Color Cut colors has a name because yellow, pink and green just wouldn't do for something that's this much fun.  So from left to right on the bottom row - Lemon Drop / Road Trip / Sprouts / Beach Glass.  The top row is Daybreak and Sugar On Top.

So now that we have all these pretty fabrics - seventy-two of them - what to make?  I confess that a single project using just the fat quarters - the Quarter Cuts - never really had a chance because that would be eighteen yards of fabric.  The layer cakes - Cake Cuts - were considered and a few ideas sketched out, but those were tossed as being uninspired and unimaginative.  Seriously, they really were "nothing special".  So what about Dessert - the Dessert Cuts?

If you've ever entertained the notion that "designing" a quilt is a wildly creative, fabric flying and sewing machines whirring sort of process... I still haven't experienced that.  It always seems to have more to do with paper, pens or pencils, and a calculator.   A couple of block books will also be required.  If you're really lucky, you'll have help from a very talented and creative collaborator.

So what kind of pieces can you cut from a 5" strip?  And how many different blocks?

More than I would have guessed.

This is the Dessert Sampler - it measures 72" x 78".

When the fabrics from the various collections finally arrived last Fall, sample Dessert Cuts were cut for photography.

Then I started making notes for the pattern, checking the fabric calculations and making sure everything worked.  With the 5" size, I decided to use a couple of Moda's Cupcake Mix Recipes to piece the blocks and block parts.

The first of two Dessert Sampler quilts was made.  Then a second because these quilts will be doing some traveling in the coming months.  As for the kit... that meant a bit more waiting.  Making Dessert takes time!

But the news has arrived that the Dessert Sampler is ready!  The pattern was finished a few weeks ago and it has been printed.  (I've heard that it looks great.)  The Dessert Cuts arrived from the mill and the kits were packaged, and if the rumors are true, shipping has begun!   It's time for Dessert!

A well-known modern shop has jumped on board to organize a sew-along, and we hope to participate, either with the same fabrics or something different.  But we definitely want to join the fun.

Because really... it's Dessert.  How perfect is this?

This Dessert Sampler quilt was pieced by Tammy Vonderschmitt and quilted by Teresa Silva of Quilting is my Bliss.

So if you've been waiting for Dessert - for this Dessert Sampler - it's on the way!

Happy Friday!