Choosing Quilt Fabric – Page 5

Tick Tock the Mouse Ran Up the Clock

Posted on June 11, 2014 by TK HarrisonJune 9, 2014

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:

“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

Posted on May 21, 2014 by TK HarrisonMay 19, 2014

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

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:

Cactus

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!

Posted on April 23, 2014 by TK HarrisonApril 20, 2014

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!

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?

Flashback Tuesday: “I Believe” Card Holder

Posted on April 15, 2014 by TK HarrisonApril 15, 2014

I know, I know…please don’t grouse about me putting up Christmas quilt projects before Easter! But, for quilters, sometimes we have to start to at least think ahead of things to put on our Christmas to-do lists!

This pattern was designed and published for my BOMquilts.com 2010’s annual “Christmas in July”. You don’t have to use the same fabrics that were available then, you can just use any fabrics that have a panel with words on it. It doesn’t even have to be a Christmas wall hanging – you could make it a birthday wall hanging for all of the birthday cards you or someone in your house may amass during their birthdays!

This is a very quick pattern to make and quilt on any domestic sewing machine that has a quilting foot. Click Here for the fabric requirements and free pattern!

Stash Fabric Galore!

Posted on April 2, 2014 by TK HarrisonApril 2, 2014

Over the weekend, I had an opportunity to pick up additional fabric for my stash. First, let me explain something. I never had a stash before. Not a ‘real’ one. I’ve always purchased the fabric I needed for personal projects and then gave the remainder of the fabric away. When I started designing and piecing quilt projects for quilt shops, again, I’d use the fabric I needed for that project and would give the leftovers away to someone who was low on money but high on using every scrap of fabric they received. The only fabrics that I saved were those that were special to me – such as the Texas Hill Country fabric lines that Moda sold a few years back. Everything else? Gone.

Until.

My dream quilt studio was in the planning stages. And since then, I have been hoarding not only the fabrics I need on a regular basis…but, also building up my stash with some yardage and not just the fat quarter bundles that I usually have leftovers of.

Hence, an increase in my fabric stash this past weekend. Behold!

“Southern Charm” by Maria Kalinowski for Benartex

“Garden Party Tango” by Melissa Ybarra for Windham Fabrics

“Sugar & Spice” by Dana Brooks for Henry Glass (top two fabrics) and the blue stars fabric by Leanne Anderson of the Whole Country Caboodle for Henry Glass