Shannon Brinkley Studio Blog

Did you know that you can dye fabric and yarn from tree bark, heartwood, leaves, cones, and acorns?

Trees are loaded with natural tannins, which means they make fabulous dyes. You can use any of the ...

Imagine soaking the fabric or yarn you will be using to make something for a loved one in a pot of flower water and getting the most beautiful (and permanent) colors from it! You are saturating those ...

As a quilt designer, this might be heresy to say, but I think fabric selection is even more important to the overall look of the quilt than the actual quilt pattern. And the most important element of ...

The right colors in a quilt can make any quilt pattern look amazing. As you likely know, there are 3 layers of design in a quilt: the fabric, the quilt pattern, and the quilting design. Often we spend...

Let's talk PATTERN!!!

We all have those fabrics in our stash. The show stoppers. Those prints that practically jumped off the shelves at the fabric store and into your cart!

They are large in scale,...

Ever find yourself in a color rut?

You find yourself going back to the same type of fabric palette again and again. 

One of my favorite ways to get out of a color rut and pull together a palette tha...

Ever planning your fabric for a project and ask yourself:

How can I make this section POP?

Today we're talking about the magic little tool called temperature!

There are warm colors and cool color...

Today I'm going to share one of my favorite methods to add a pop of color to your quilt: it's called the Print Pop!

Let's say you know you want to make a mostly orange quilt, but you want to add a...

I've taught color to thousands of quilters from all around the world, and a common struggle I hear from them is around Print Mixing. 

How do you pair different prints from different fabric collection...

Let's start off the day with a heavy dose of color!

One of the areas quilters struggle with most is color, and specifically print mixing. 

I have a stash full of beautiful prints, but how do I ac...

Do you feel like you’re in a bit of a creative rut? Or maybe a creative canyon?

I’ve been there. Many times. You feel restless, a bit hollow, aimless. You’re not sure where to start or what you’re...

Have you ever wanted to turn a photograph into a quilt? 

That's exactly what we've been doing in the Meander Quilt Guild this month!

I started with a photo of my beautiful Grandmother, Dorothy, ta...