And here it is!!
My book Freestyle Color Collage is out and available! Several cartons with books have been delivered at my studio and I will bring the books with me wherever I go. In February that will be at a local quilt guild in MD, at AQS Daytona, FL and the MId-Atlantic Quilt Show in Hampton, VA. You can also order the book directly from me and I will be happy so sign it for you and/or make it out to someone else. Pre-orders are now being signed and mailed! Next you can find the book soon at your local quilt shop (I hope), at online shops and at general book distributors, including Amazon. The book is available to international quilters through their national channels.
Any guild interested in lecture/classes can contact me as well. The schedule for 2026 and 2027 is starting to build....
The book is full of information about how I look at fabrics to make color collage quilts. It guids you in little steps with many samples and you will be amazed to discover how you too can make these kind of quilts. There is a method! Color collage is about making a design by finding many fabrics that are placed in such a way that a smooth path is being created. So many students have been thrilled with what came out of their hands, just by looking at their stash in a new way. It is a more free and open form of collage as you will not have a pattern to follow. For some this will be a little scary, for others this will be more creative!
The book is my first obvious source to help you. My website collagefabric.com is the second form of support. It is mentioned in the book and I think many more people will appreciate an access to a big variety of small cuts. I make "builders" in ranges of colors that help you expand a color that is low in your stash . These are not just messy scrapbags! Builders are carefully created by me to help you find a flow in colors. It can be from dark to light or from one color into another. It can be a big variety in one color close in value or not close in value. It can be a brandnew collection that has harder to find color combinations. It can be a builder of "connectors" that help you make bridges in color. They all set you up for collage but can also be helpful for any other more "planned" scrap projects. These last couple of months I have been steadily building the inventory and you will find more and more fabrics on my site. It can be your source for depth in color. I buy many fabrics from manufacturers (and quilt shops!) and cut them into smaller pieces for curated builder packages but I also leave many fat quarters bundles just as is as a manufacturer sometimes requires minimum amount of bundles that I need to buy. Some companies are very strict, others are happy to give me whatever I want because of the excellent relations built during my retail years.
That means you will see more and more fat quarter bundles on the site as well in the newest collections. Sometimes you will find yardage but that is really going to be very selden. My goal is not to sell as much fabric as possible. Been there done that. Collagefabric is not a quilt shop out on financial profit. Collagefabric is a collage support place with the idea to help anyone who wants to try (color) collage quilting. As far as I know, that is a complete new way of supporting quilters. Indirectly it is also supporting quilt shops, because once someone is bitten by the bug, more visits to more quilt shops will follow....
If you want to make a dog and need lots of browns, greys, beiges.... it is almost impossible to find all the varieties you need in most quiltshops. And if you find something, you would have to buy way more than you would ever need. Big chunks of the same fabric is a no in collage. That could make it harder for someone to try collage. It is in this situation that it is nice if you can buy single pieces in a particular color or builders with 20 fabrics that go well together. It brings collages within reach for more quilters. Not everyone has a big stash and even most people with a bigger stash still have very much the same kind of fabrics. Then there are plenty of people who don't want to go through their stash and love the convenience of pre-sorted fabrics. I have learned all this during my classes. Since I love playing with colors and love cutting fabric and making packages, it is a win-win for everyone!
A book, a website, a third way of support is just asking this author. Anyone with a question regarding color or collage, can pick my brain and ask. You don't have to be a student. You don't have to have my book. I am happy to help you if I can and even when I can't, it is always fun to chat with a fellow quilter. That's the community we have created these last 20+years and I am pretty proud and grateful at the same time that we can do this.
I hope my book will help you find yet another way of joy in working with fabrics!
