31 days of Posts... Fabric as comfort back to quilt making!

The song puts "tidings of comfort and Joy" together for a reason. Comfort leads to joy at times...

I love collecting and using fabric. I like to use my collections when I can in the same quilt.

I enjoy working on the colors in the current season, so I start a Christmas quilt in December. This time I'm trying Bonnie Hunter's block bargello pattern (free on her site)

I started with scraps of Christmas fabrics but there were very few 2.5" strips so I culled what I could, then moved into my red, then green, then tan scrap boxes for that size.

I thought I'd make one block to try, but figured I needed more to see a pattern emerge. Right. I made 6  12" blocks

Now I need more.

Next stop, the Christmas collection... I keep all of them in one place (two drawers that include scraps and projects started, and printed whole quilts) I chose small scale prints, or colors I wanted, or small quantities to use up. I got a grand mix of them.

When I start a project in general, I go to my enormous collection of cloth... my Magnum of material, my fabulous fountain of Fabric. Why not? I like all of it and it's here!

When I decided to do more blocks I went back and repeated the process to cull out 38 more strips.
6 strips make a block.

To enjoy this you have to give up some control. The colors fall where they may. I put strips next to each other to please me but when it's all made, the block is quite different when the print is cut up..

Sewing gives me comfort. I know how to cut (I don't know where to put things in a new house)
I can lift the scrap boxes but not heavy bins of fabric. I know how to piece accurately. I get to see colors that make me happy, and visit a collection I don't see every day.
Joy!

so if you need me, I'll be in studio 1, happily sewing and cutting up and sewing more fabric!

Linking to

lovelaughquilt.mondays
oh Scrap Sundays 
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Let's be social Wednesdays 
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