fabric – tierneycreates

Two Sundays ago, right before the Super Bowl game, I decided that I needed a studio refresh after I had completed my year long purge of my fabric stash.

It began in Winter 2023 while I was recovering from a broken ankle where I realized that 1/2 my fabric stash was fabric that other quilters had generously given me over the years. This happened with my fabric scrap stash and my UFO pile and I purged and donated what I didn’t want any longer.

It was now time to get really honest with my fabric yardage stash (again, as I’ve had other purges); and a couple Sundays ago I finished what I began in early 2023.

In addition to the fabric purge, I did some reorganization in my studio.

Here is my studio the morning of Super Bowl Sunday:

I realized I needed more vertical storage so I repurposed some of the wine crates I was storing scraps or fat quarters in and had John mount them to the wall:

And here is the “refreshed” studio right before it was time to sit down and watch the game:

Someone (or someones) are going to have a very happy surprise at the charity thrift store as I donated bags and bags of fabric. I now mainly have fabrics that I have selected/purchased or those others have given me that I REALLY LOVE.

The refreshed space feels good!

A quilter walks into a quilt shop and see fabric. The quilter does not just see fabric, a quilter sees INSPIRATION! In the post “Creative Inspiration: Family” I introduced a series of posts exploring my resources for creative inspiration. This post discusses another important source of my creative inspiration: FABRIC.

Have you ever browsed in a quilt shop and been strongly drawn to a particular bolt of fabric or to an entire collection? You do not have a project in mind for this fabric but you know you just absolutely positively have to have the fabric (or a sample of each fabric from the entire collection) as it inspires you to make something with it (eventually)! However, every quilter knows this is the primary source for an out of control fabric stash, eh?

Fabric/Textiles are a major source of creative inspiration for me. When I find interesting and unique fabrics they inspire me to create something that honors their beauty. Last year I was fortunate enough to be given a small collection of African textiles from someone’s estate. I was overwhelmed with the richness and colors in these textiles. This inspired me to create a piece, called African Windows, to showcase these fabrics. I used a basic “attic windows” pattern concept where shadows are created by piecing a darker solid fabric (in this case black fabric) strategically to create the illusion of a window.

Below are photos of my quilt African Windows (2014) which was long arm quilted by Betty Anne Guadalupe of Guadalupe Designs.