A jolly good rummage

Having indulged myself by blogging about my fabric hoard, the only logical next step was to pull some of them off the shelves and have a jolly good rummage.


This was rummage No 1, centred around the bold purple lotus design and the yellow and magenta to its left - fabrics I bought at the same time, loving the unashamed complementary colours that almost vibrate in juxtaposition.

At the bottom right is one of my all-time favourite fabrics, an audacious cerise floral against acid yellow with unequivocal slashes of black. But perhaps it is the story I love almost as much: I bought it many years ago from a street market in Florence - not by the yard or the metre, but by the kilo!

Below: Out go the lotuses and in come more traditional, but just as purple pansies. But as always happens when I'm collecting fabrics to make a quilt, it is the very last one that creates the problems. There are only eight fabrics and I need nine. The small mauve spot is OK, but OK isn't good enough.

The mauve spot is replaced by a trusty Kaffe Fasset floral. But, oh dear, am I finally becoming a bit bored with this? I'm beginning to miss the lotus, and the excitement that it seemed to offer. I shall sleep on it.....


And in the meantime, there's rummage No 2. Having tried before to choose a muted, understated palette, I shall try again with the greys and soft browns that I promised myself - see post of February 28.

Well, the browns didn't last again. Probably because I've only got one brown, so what did I expect. The vintage-style print in the bottom left also gets pulled out time after time but is never used.


I apologise for the presence of my cat, who has wandered uninvited into this blog - which in my view is no place for a fluffy animal - and refuses to leave. But I may as well introduce you: this is Milhouse, who sits on fabrics, eats earplugs and bites. Say hello Milhouse, then run along like a good chap and do something useful like catch bluebottles.

The "vintage" fabric, true to form, doesn't fit in. But I love the red, pink and green accents. So another mini-rummage brings out two floral fabrics - very muted for me. But I've still only got eight designs....

And here's the missing ingredient, below. Taking off my new dip-dyed, pink and floral shirt last night, I realised it was the perfect design. Except that it's chiffon. And a shirt. And I like wearing it.

I have used cotton fabrics from clothes in my quilts before - and I'm happy to make up "memory quilts" for people from their children's or their own clothing - but I don't think I can beat a friend who chopped up an expensive Dolce & Gabbana scarf because it happened to be just right for her latest project.

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Handmade textiles for stylish interiors, off the shelf or to commission

email: valerie@valeriehugginsquilts.co.uk; 020 7515 0701 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 020 7515 0701 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting; 07518 885960