Part 1 - Choosing Fabrics

The other day I stopped at my local quilt/fabric shop. I had no specific project in mind when I went in and already have a closet full of fabrics. My visit was just to look around and see what's new. In the back, they have a remnant table and for $2.98 a yard you can get end cuts and odds and ends of new stock fabrics--it is always fun to dig through the piles and see what you find.

Here's what came home with me...

Whatever size the remnant is--that's what you buy. I bought some 1/8 yard pieces all the way up to 1/2 yard pieces. Now, I didn't set out for them to coordinate, but they look pretty good together! That got me thinking. It's not the normal way I design a quilt but why not give myself a few constraints and design a quilt around these fabrics? Why not turn the design process into a post. Why not turn one post into several posts--where I pick out fabrics, pick out a block, design a scrappy quilt, figure up how much yardage is needed, cut out the quilt, sew the quilt, quilt the quilt, and finally bind the quilt?

Choosing the fabrics would have normally been around the third step of my design process but hey, let's live on the edge.

One of my constraints for this project will be to try to use fabrics from what I already have and build something around these new arrivals. Let me repeat--TRY. I think I am off to a good start to hold firm to this "use what you have" constraint. I pulled prints and solids from my stash closet and this is what they look like spread out on the bed.

There's a nice mix here of new and vintage prints, varied scales, florals, geometrics, and different visual textures. I still have no idea what sort of quilt design I will be using or what the end use of this quilt will be. But these prints and colors are cueing me to make a playful quilt. I think I will just make something around a throw size. Maybe something to set aside for some future grandchild someday. 

Now that I have some sort of direction the next step will be to decide on what the quilt block or overall quilt design is going to be. My next post, Design Process: Part 2 - Designing the Quilt will be about the my selection process, drafting and coming up with a quilt concept. 

Till then I will be looking through my quilting books gathering some ideas.