I was drawn to this fabric design – Fox Nap, from the Chipper line designed by Tula Pink for Free Spirit – despite the fact that the colour scheme contained not even a hint of purple! The serene mood captured by the designer focuses on a calm, relaxed (and let’s face it, very cute) single fox curled up amongst flowers, having a snooze. I bought a fat quarter (18” x 22”).
As often happens, I added it to my “recent acquisitions” stash when I got home and forgot about it for a while, occasionally pulling it out and fondling it with a wide grin on my face. Isn’t it just enough to have it, let alone use it?
A few months later, the day came when I was ready to start a new project. Yes, it was time to root through my vast collection and extract some fabrics to not only accompany the foxes but to showcase them.
I still couldn’t bring myself to actually cut into the fabric.
Since I knew I wouldn’t be able to cut through the foxes, I cruised the Internet for inspiration to utilize “focus fabrics”. I 
didn’t find an actual pattern, but since I determined that each fox could be easily fit into a 4.5“ x 6” rectangle, I got the idea to add interest by placing the blocks on a slight angle.
I was aiming for a contemporary look, so to help achieve that objective, the background was going to be grey/white.
It was satisfying to discover fabrics in my decades-spanning stash that complemented such a fresh new (2016) fabric.
I’m happy with the result (it measures 29.5” h x 34” w), and no foxes were slashed during the process – heck, they didn’t even rouse from their naps!
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