One of my favorite parts of making a quilt is selecting the fabric. I just love all the colors and how the prints create visual texture. The fabrics you choose can either make or break a design.
This is Timber. He is a one-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I am convinced that his sole purpose for existing is to be cute and cuddly. This is a picture of Timber the day we adopted him and now at one-year old.
I chose these fabrics for my Timber quilt block from my stash of fabrics. Because I am constantly designing new quilt blocks, I try to keep a complete spectrum of colors and neutral fabrics on hand. Solid fabrics aren’t very interesting to me, so I usually choose fabrics with a subtle print. Large prints or a print with too much contrast in the colors compete with the design, but a small monochromatic print can often accentuate certain elements of the design.
For Timber’s white fur, I used two different white fabrics and two cream fabrics. This helps me differentiate between his snout, lower jaw, forehead, and neck and chest all of which are the same color fur. All these prints have swirls creating continuity between them. I chose a larger swirl pattern for Timber’s neck and chest because his chest hair is one of my favorite qualities of his.
Timber’s eyes and nose are both black. I could use the same fabric for both, but eyes and noses have very different textures. Noses have prints, so I used a small flower print for his nose. Eyes are glassy and smooth, so I used an almost solid for his eyes.
For Timber’s auburn fur, I chose two brown fabrics. For his face I used a small floral print, and for his ears and eyebrows, I used a directional print with thin wavy lines. I usually try to avoid directional prints because you have to pay extra attention to the pattern, but in this case it really helped accentuate the direction of his ears and eyebrows.
It was so much fun making this patchwork puppy portrait!
