Incorporating Gifted Fabric

Back in February a "quilty" friend gifted me a fat quarter of a really pretty cotton. I happened to have a bit of down time, so I rummaged through the scrap bin and found some cutaway leftovers from an earlier appliquéd project which picked up the orange in my inspiration fabric.

I might not have put these two colors together on my own, but this improv piece seems to glow with the energy of the color combination. 

My grandmother always used to say "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Don't think my friend would ever regard a single piece of fabric as "trash," but I do think she decided that this fabric no longer spoke to her. I'm grateful she passed it on. It pushed me to look for a way to incorporate this cool pattern into a new project. 

That's got me thinking about releasing some of my fabric stash into the wild. Maybe I don't need to hold on to fabric that doesn't inspire me to look for a way to use it. Somebody else might have a vision for it.

I would love to think that a simple, generous act of sharing inspired someone else to be creative!