I’m currently working on eight different tile boards and will post some images when things are a little further along. In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few photos of the fat quarters that arrived in the mail today. In case you’re not familiar with the term, a “fat quarter” is a piece of fabric made by cutting 1/2 a yard of fabric into two equal pieces. I think it’s a hilarious term for a big swatch.

Back in December, while participating in a holiday craft show, glass artist Connie Munford suggested doing something with the tessellating patterns I use for my back drop. I researched companies that print custom designs on products and came across Spoonflower, a company that lets you design your own fabrics. Back in February, I ordered a sample of my walrus pattern to see what the quality is like. It turns out that the quality of their fabrics is very good and I made a pillow cover with the sample.

Not long after the pillow cover, I mustered the courage to make my first quilt.  I’ve been inspired by quilt patterns for years but thought it would be too difficult to make a quilt without a lot of sewing expertise and special equipment. While browsing the shelves of the Elliot Bay Bookstore, I came across a good book for beginners called Simple Geometric Quilting by Laura Preston . I considered designing custom fabrics for the quilt but given the cost of the fabric and my own lack of experience, I decided to use old sheets and pillow cases instead. It was a challenging project, but I learned enough to make a simple twin size quilt. With my new (and very basic) sewing skills, I was also able to make a few dozen face masks to donate to local hospitals at a time when masks were hard to come by.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with the new fat quarters. Each is a different type of fabric. There are a couple of canvas samples, a linen, and a denim. All are quite nice and will probably make good pillow covers but I think I’ll be ordering lighter fabrics in the future. It will be fun to make some tessellating pattern face masks and, at some point, I’d love to make another quilt. Now that I know I can do it, I’ll invest in the custom fabrics.