Category Archives: Quilt Fabric

Flashback Tuesday: Santorini Stars 2010 BOM Quilt designed by BOMquilts.com

Quilt Therapy Posted on by

This quilt is one that I had the most fun making.  I *love* raw-edge applique and I designed and made the templates for my quilt using a pinking blade in my rotary cutter.  The instructions allow for other types of applique but most of our local little quilt group made this quilt with their own scrappy fabrics and colors and it was SO. MUCH. FUN. to see how different everyone’s finished out (you can see one here and a few more here)!  Not to mention that each block goes together very quickly, if you use raw-edge applique, because you just cut and sew using your own creativity!

Santorini Stars 2010 BOM Quilt designed by BOMquilts.com

I was a nanny to a baby 25-years-ago (eeeek!) and this was the quilt I gave her upon her college graduation.  I had intended to give her a completely different quilt when she graduated from high school…but, it didn’t fit with her personality.  THIS one spoke her name to me and she absolutely loves it!

Go on, have a little more quilt therapy fun and enjoy making this festive quilt!

Tick Tock the Mouse Ran Up the Clock

Quilt Therapy Posted on by

I recently went to our local quilt shop to pick out some fabric and had taken DD#2 with me.  We were having fun just choosing fabric, with no current plans for making anything with the fabric…but, to have it in my stash for when the quilt therapy bug hit me and I wanted to make something with some of the fabric we found.

One of the fabrics DD#2 picked up was filled with clocks and watches.  It was pretty close to the shades of another fabric she had already chosen so I told her it was one or the other – and she chose the first one.

I asked her if she knew who invented the first clock – nope, she had no idea.  I explained that a man named John Harrison did so.  The owner of the shop laughed and said it probably wasn’t DD#2’s dad…but, DD#2 wasn’t convinced.  She said that it probably was her dad as she believed her dad killed the last dinosaur that roamed the earth many years ago.  The shop owner looked at me for confirmation and I just laughed and said that the kids really DO think their dad has lived many lives and has the wisdom of those in the dark ages.

If you’d like to read more about the elder John Harrison and his clock adventures, you can do so here.

But, that clock fabric stayed in the back of my mind…thinking it would be a wonderful quilt for my hubby and he would enjoy the significance of the clocks and watches.  So, I went to pick up some fabric for a commissioned quilt last week and could not resist the temptation to get two yards of that beautiful clock & watch fabric:

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“On Time” designed by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics

A pattern hasn’t struck me yet but if I keep thinking about this fabric, I am sure I will come up with a great design worthy of both John Harrison’s!

Quilting with Nature

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The prickly pear cactus flowers are blooming and they have such amazing colors!

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I took these photos to one of my image programs and wanted to see the quilt-worthy colors in the flowers.  Here is what I came up with:

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Not only is there natural beauty in nature, but it can clearly become hand-made beauty in quilting!  So, the next time you are out and about and see colors in nature, take a snapshot of them and then see if you can create a quilt that truly exemplifies all of natures colors – surrounding yourself with quilted color love from outside and inside!

btw – Speaking from experience, I do not recommend photographing a prickly pear cactus unless you are very sure-footed.

Fabric Stash Building!

Quilt Therapy Posted on by

I am working very hard at building up a great fabric stash for when my quilt studio is finished.  I bartered for these fabrics – and what a great barter for me!  I did have to give a little fabric lesson to DD #2, explaining that only two of these fabrics were actually focus fabrics…the rest will either be used as complimentary or companion fabrics to a focus fabric…when I find the right focus fabrics for a quilt or quilt project.

LOVE these fabric choices and the colors of the fabrics, too!

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What about YOU?  Do you prefer to use complimentary fabrics from the same fabric line as your focus fabric…or do you find a focus fabric and then use companion fabrics to complete a quilt or quilted project?

Out of My Comfort Zone Fabrics

Quilt Therapy Posted on by

I had a doctor’s appointment in the big city (San Antonio) last week and we had just a bit of time for a stroll through Joann’s to see what we could see.  They had blank note cards at a phenomenal price and we are always searching for blank cards if we are out of specific cards (such as birthday, thinking of you, etc.).

As my scooter went in and out of the quilt fabric aisle, my chicken-eye caught on some extremely busy and bright fabrics.  Let me assure you, these are NOT the types of fabrics I have in my stash!  I am much more of a traditional quilter – it even took me about a year before I would even try to work with batiks!  But, for whatever reason, these three fabrics below beckoned to me:

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When I was unloading our purchases in my sewing room, something in these fabrics once again had my chicken-eye roving.  I *had* to figure out why the colors were so familiar to me – even though I would never have chosen these fabrics since they were so far out of my comfort zone.

Lo-and-behold, my stash search immediately found what was in the back of my mind – fabrics I already had from AbbiMays.com that matched these new fabrics better than I could have matched them if I’d had them in mind when purchasing the new fabrics!

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Lesson learned for me!  Not only did I realize that my MS brain still has some areas that worked, but also that just because fabrics are out of my comfort zone, they are fabrics that are crying out for me to design a quilt for them!

How about YOU?  Have you purchased fabric out of your comfort zone, only to realize it was the best fabric for the  job?