In my creative life, I work mainly with words and with fabric. I often get inspired by just looking at the fabric on the shelves in my quilting room. I have this bookshelf full of fabric positioned so I can stare at it while lounging on the couch.

But sometimes it’s rewarding to get out and find inspiration in other places. This morning I took a detour from my usual routes and visited the local trendy shopping street, where Christmas is in full swing.

There’s so much in the shops to excite the eye — from the shiny ornaments shown at the top of the post, to this display of Father Christmas statues:

Or this wall of wrapping paper:

Or even these silicone spatulas. (I love spatulas.)

After seeing all that, I came home and started enthusiastically cutting up fabric for a new quilt.