Pecking & Joe’sMom: Thanks for your reply. My quilts tend to be scrappy, so blenders aren’t high on my list of stock-up fabrics. But I can see how having favorites can be helpful particularly when ordering online. Do any of the companies sell swatch cards of their blender lines?

I'm not sure, I've only purchased my blenders from quilt shops. You'd probably have to look up Moda Grunge or whatever line you're interested in online to see if they have swatch cards. I've only ever heard of Kona offering swatches.

I'm going to sound like a skipping record, but I too am another grunge girl. Like Joe'smom said, it took me a long time to warm up to the line, but the movement it provides is amazing. I was sold after the first quilt I used it in.

And yet another vote for grunge! It reads as a solid, but gives interest a regular solid just doesn’t have. Of course there are lots of grunge fabrics, some with big polka dots and other styles, but I keep going back to the more plain ones for basic blenders.

Yes Grunge is a great line of fabric, but find that DitDot from In the Beginning by Jason Yenter works well, too.

I tend to use tone-on-tones and will adapt to each quilt's requirements, but really like the Robert Kaufman fusions 5573 range.

oh for pete's sake. i finally figure out how to add a pictures, but now it's huge-mungous. (i may try and figure that out and edit later, but at least it's pretty fabric)

well, anyway...I've used all these as "blenders." I tend to have bright bold quilts, and i suppose it depends on the rest of the quilt, but i would totally use any of these as sashing / borders. etc. Some are more tone on tone than others, but to me, these would be significantly smaller prints than the main fabrics I would use, so I think scale plays a part as well.
.https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...dw&oe=6344F925

some other bold color with prints. I also tend to buy fabric that speaks to me, even if I don't have a specific project in mind, which results in these fabrics being, honestly, some of my more "subtle" fabrics. :shock:
https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...pA&oe=6344ED2A


again, depending on the "main fabrics" or blocks used, the soft florals can make a nice blender too
https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...tg&oe=6345E119

I could never warm up to the grunge fabrics. It reminds me of old fabric with worn places of color fade outs. I have a few different color 1/2 yard pieces that I received as samples. I couldn't bring myself to use them...

I instead use the light and not overly busy, barely there, marbles, or I use tone on tone, depending on what the quilt design/subject leans to. For backgrounds I go more for solids, using a white, bone, cream, black, or a tone on tone, especially the white tone on tone.

Naominjeri: Love your blenders! Probably the only ones I might not use (though they are gorgeous) are the large scale florals. I would either need to use them only in large pieces or use them a whole bunch so the eye puts the design back together.

I appreciate this thread as I'm apparently not spending enough time in the Grunge isle of my LQS - will definitely work to incorporate more Grunge into my projects.

Naominjeri - I love your blenders, too!