Category Archives: Choosing Quilt Fabric

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?

There’s a Quilt in That There Food

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There is a quilt in just about every food prepared.  I enjoy cooking, and find joy in the colors that are quilt-design-worthy in dishes that I prepare.  Look at these images with quilt fabric colors in mind:

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Not only am I now hungry, I want to dive into designing a quilt with these food colors in mind – what about you?

Tote Bag Fun

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I have slowly getting a tote bag ready for a tote bag swap I joined in one of the Facebook groups I belong to.  The only requirements are that it be at least 14″ wide.  The coordinator of the swap asked each of the swap members what colors they would like.  She used that single parameter to choose what colors we were to make our tote bags for each secret recipient.

Let me interject here that the colors I was given were completely out of my comfort zone and I did not have at least one of the fabrics that I was given.  Off I go to the quilt shop last year and picked up a fat quarter of the fabric color my secret tote bag recipient requested…and I found a really cool braided handle to put with my tote bag.  Except when I got the lovely handle out to get ready to put it on the tote bag, I realized it was WAY too thick to not only sew through…I was also afraid that it would be something I was uncomfortable putting on a gifted project because of its thickness.

Off to the craft store today, to find a bit more fabric for the inside of the tote bag because I did not have any of that color in my stash, and to look for a better option for the tote bag handles.  I found success in both the interior fabric and the handles!

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And as I was making the tote bag, I made darned sure I had reinforced ALL of the seams.  If you are going to have a tote bag that is at least 14″ wide, it would most likely be used to carry heavier things and I wanted to be sure that the tote bag can stand up to that.

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I have enjoyed this secret swap project…and now we wait to find out who our secret tote bag swapper is so I can send her the tote bag with her chosen colors!

Filling up my Stash

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Linda at AbbiMays.com sent me 20 pounds of fabric for our church’s Lutheran World Relief quilt-a-thon:

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I had to rescue some of the fabric for my stash as it was too lovely or fun for me to pass up O:) – but never fear, the church ladies were still very appreciated of the box of fabric that I AbbiMays.com had sent to them!  And I am truly running out of room in my one-butt sewing room for more stash fabric!

Even if you do not need stash fabric, do you still purchase something that is too lovely to pass up?

Flashback Tuesday: Crop Circles

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There are many times I find, where the fabric is lovely on a quilt but the long-arm quilting “defines” the quilt and makes it even more special.  This is the case with this quilt image below. It is a basic layer cake (10″ squares of fabric) quilt…but, when my quilter put her magical spin on it, it totally made the quilt.  This was a quilt for my niece when she graduated from high school on 5/30/2009.  She has always been more involved in outside sports and fun than inside and she is not a girly-girl.  Hence, I chose this fabric because all of the outdoor colors are in the fabrics.  But, I could NOT have asked for a better long-arm quilt pattern than the crop circles – that totally screamed my niece (to me) and my quilter had no clue about her!

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As I continue to say, I am a quilt designer and piecer, I consider myself advanced in those areas.  I leave the quilting up to my quilter as she always knows her craft better than I could ever imagine!