Here’s a swatch (8″ x 8″) of a fabric I designed and had printed recently at Spoonflower:

What fun to design your very own fabric! Just don’t get so distracted that you never get around to actually making a quilt.

Here’s my Pandamonium Collection so far:

It’s a bit pricey, ($18/yard to shop other designers and $16.20/yard with designer discount when buying your own designs) but not a bad deal considering that you get to design your own fabric, exactly the way you want it.  Now I just have to design a quilt to go with it!

Here’s a link to the Spoonflower website and to my fabric at Spoonflower.

What kind of fabric would you like to design?

The hat above is part of the quilt top that I worked (ahem, played) on while on quilt-cation. (Photoshopped for secrecy. I’m not ready to reveal more just yet…)

I used the same painting with fusible fabric technique that I used on No Paints Were Harmed in the Making of this Quilt and Magritte and Me. Now I’m back to work, even in my quilting studio, so I’ll continue on this particular quilt Labor Day weekend for a mini quilt-cation.

A very important detail when planning a quilt-cation is fabric. Here’s my suitcase of quilt-cation fabric. I hand-carried it with me onto the plane because it would definitely be a disaster if the fabric got lost along the way.

THE FABRIC I BROUGHT

Most of that is what I packed and brought, although I did order 8 or 10 yards online and had it shipped to my destination. I bought some irresistible batiks at Quilt Lovers’ Hangout in Fort Myers, Florida as well.

There is a delicate balance when packing fabric for a quilt-cation. You don’t want to be in the middle of a project and realize the exact piece you need is still in your stash at home, but you don’t want to pack your entire stash either, even if you could fit it all into a suitcase. And you definitely want to leave some room for the fabulous fabric that you will find at the local quilt shops near your destination.

Luckily there was just enough room in the suitcase to fit all my fabric for the return trip. Expandable suitcases are great for this, but in case of fabric shopping overload you can always mail your extra fabric back home.

But the real question is, how much of that quilt-cation fabric did I actually use?  For my quilt-cation project, 8×10 inch pieces, not 1/2 and 1-yard cuts would have been more than sufficient. I’ll know better next time…

THE FABRIC I USED

Happy quiltcation!

How do you pack for a quilt-cation? What kinds of projects do you like to make?

As you can see, this very lovely Wildwood for Free Spirit/Westminster print caught my eye not once, but twice. Guess I must really like it!

Keeping a book of fabric swatches in your purse like the 3×5 card notebook pictured here (which I haven’t updated since 2003) can help you keep track of your fabric stash when you’re out shopping.

Just cut a little piece of fabric from the corner and stick it down with a glue stick. You can write any pertinent info next to the swatch such as manufacturer, date of purchase, the store, how much you bought, what you need to go with it, etc. You can also arrange them any way you wish: color, style, designer, project, and so on. This is my 30s repro swatch book.

If you’re a pre-washer, then washing and ironing your new fabric right away is one way to burn it into your memory (just don’t burn the fabric itself). Using the fabric in a quilt is another good way to help your purchases stick in your head. Alternately you could just spend a whole lot of time admiring the new fabric, but unfortunately you’re not going to make very many quilts that way.

Above is a Civil War print from Windham Fabrics. It’s one of three Civil War reproductions I bought today. The organic feel of this one caught my eye. It’s not what I usually think of when it comes to Civil War prints, but then again I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. The other two are very Civil War-looking: a indigo-on-beige floral and a black-on-beige floral/polka dot stripe.

I’m not ready for a whole new fabric obsession, so for now I’m going to stick with just the reproductions that I think will blend with what I already have in my stash. Someday though, it just might become an obsession.

Taupe was one of those other colors for me. I usually gravitate towards bright colors and black & white prints. But when I took the time to look at the fabrics in the taupe section of different shops, I found that there were always some taupe prints that I actually liked. Now I love my growing collection of taupe fabrics and even look forward to shopping for them. I’m planning different ways to use my taupes in upcoming quilts. The Daiwabo print on the top of the stack is one of my favorites.

Here’s my tip/challenge to you: Whenever you go fabric shopping, wander through the section for one of those other colors and really look at the fabrics just like you would for your favorite color. Try to find just one print that you like and buy a piece of it, a fat quarter or maybe a half yard. Then go back to your favorites and shop like crazy if you wish. Put those other colors in your stash along with your favorites. As your collection of those other colors grows they’ll grow on you and you’ll see ways to use them, perhaps first with an old favorite or two and then maybe later on, shining in a monochromatic quilt of their own.

If I had known any better of course I would have bought yards and yards of amazing indigo in both tie-dye and batik. At the time (1993) I was unfortunately not a quilter, so I hadn’t a clue of the wonderful things that one could create with fabrics like this. I did know at least, that I really liked the indigo fabric, so I bought various articles made from it. The local women were not only talented in making the fabric, but they also sewed up all kinds of clever articles to sell and help support their families.

Here’s one of the indigo vendors and her roadside shop. She is wearing traditional dress and you can see some colorful embroidered tote bags as well.

Here’s a view down an alley in Dali.

Taking a break from the city sights, that’s me in the middle.

happy fabric hunting! =(^_^)=