Choosing fabrics is child's play

Anyone who has followed my blog will know that the idea of  "a jolly good rummage" is close to my heart, not least because the phrase has a delightfully rude, naughty feel to it (or is that just me?).

So when I finally confronted the large pile of rumpled fabrics that had accumulated on the floor as I pulled them from shelves and boxes while making my rainbow quilts, it was with a sense of excitement as well as despair at the formidable tidying chore ahead. I wish I had taken a photograph - the heap of colours and patterns were a sight to gladden the heart.

And so when a six-year-old little girl with a love of drawing and painting came to my house in the expectation of being entertained, I decided to let her loose on the fabrics, telling her to choose her favourites.

Not having children myself - my recent enthusiasm for children's quilts having been more focused on the quilts, not the children - I had no idea what to expect, but I was thrilled and astonished when I looked at what she had pulled out of the pile. She had ignored the dinosaurs, dolls and faerie fabrics I had sorted into a separate heap and homed straight in on large scarlet roses and tulips, blue-on-white spots, rich purples - she rejected a blueish purple I offered - and a dash of mint green. Gorgeous. Sophisticated. I love them so much I immediately want to make a quilt for her.

But that will have to wait a while - because now I have to get to grips with the much delayed family "commission" to make a wallhanging in memory of my late aunt. I need flowers. And gold. And saints. A snail. Some butterflies. And a puffin. Another rummage came up with some suitable flowers and owls, above, and so I've officially started on the next project... This is the best bit. Such fun.

(Did anyone else spot how similar these selections are? I have so many fabrics, it has to be a coincidence. Either that, or I have the same aesthetic judgment as a six-year-old. Hmmm. I shall have to think about the implications of that one.)