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Dreaming in Color - Examples of Pushing Color

February is always a favorite month for me as I start dreaming of spring and planting my garden. Half the fun for me is exploring what I might try to grow this year that is new to me and how I can couple it with my garden favorites. I love to try out new seeds starting them in the greenhouse, but for now I am still in the dreaming stage.

As I looked at our shipment of 24 new solids from Andover today, I began grouping them for our ever popular Pencil Packs. Customers tell me how these collections of solids are so helpful in extending their palette choices. Thinking about that reminded me of one of the concepts that I find so useful in quilt design - pushing a color. Pushing a color is a phrase that I use when pulling fabrics for a project. Once I have determined the colors I think I want to use, then I look for lighter, darker, brighter, and duller colors in the same family. You never know when you will need to pep up a color, or enrich it once you begin combining it with others.

Last year in April, John and I took a field trip to Woodburn to see the tulips. In this first tulip photo you can see the different value changes from red, to pink, to orange. In the closeup of the pink tulip, notice the solid red petals in the background and what the white mixed with the pink in the foreground of the tulips does in the composition. The deeper red is needed to complete the palette.

The color in the flower above varies from yellow to orange, and there is so much depth in the combination of values. Speaking of value (lightness and darkness of a color), this is a great example. The light yellow is almost white and feels cool next to the true yellow which feels warm. Then in the red-oranges you see the same thing. The petals toward the back are darker in value with the light values in the front. “Variety is the spice of life,” you always hear. Well, it is certainly true. Start noticing value changes in your surroundings.

Those photos inspired me as I was arranging colors for the pencil pacs, and I really liked this mix. I named it Coral Magic. It just seemed to fit with the wide variety of colors. The deeper tones that are almost rust and a bit dull can be a foundation for the bright values in any palette you choose to work with.

This photograph of Wizard Falls on the Metolius River is a favorite of mine. The water is flowing fast through a volcanic fissure that is very deep. That aqua, blue green color is so difficult to describe, but once you see this body of water it is hard to forget it. Water Dance is the next pencil pack group I arranged featuring lagoon style blues inspired by Wizard Falls. The white adds an ice like cold feeling. When I see photos I am in awe of like this one, I write down words to describe what I am seeing beside the photo. Sometimes when you are in the creative process those words will help you in your journey as an artist.

 

In the photo of the river above you can see how the sky and the color of the water are similar - this happens a lot with the color of the water being a reflection of the sky.

The third group of colors I want to visit is represented in our Violette Grace Pencil Pack, named after my granddaughter. I think of violet as a softer purple leaning more toward red violet on the color wheel. Chives are the first flowers to appear in my planter boxes and a beautiful violet color. They are such happy flowers.

These beauties that are a bright purple are some of the first wildflowers you see along the Metolius River in May. If you mixed this color with the chives and the wonderful spring green you would have a dramatic color palette.

In parting, when you come across a single photo that just feels beautiful to you and you want to capture the essence of it, put on your detective hat and identify all of the color families in the photo. Then determine what percentage each of the families is to the whole and follow the formula that you have created. You are as attracted to the percentage of each of the colors as to the whole.

Keep Dreaming in Color!

Jean

Simple Sashiko Projects

Some days you want to enjoy the peace of sewing without a lot of thinking. Ambitious projects, new techniques, and stretching your creative muscles all have their place, but so do simple projects. These elegant placemats, napkins, and coasters are wonderful examples of the beauty of simplicity. 

Whether for yourself, or a quick gift, it's the fabric that makes these projects shine! The placemats below are constructed from two colors of French Sashiko for Moda (one for each side). The fabric is a heavier cotton with contrasting sashiko stitching. The texture is so lovely!

This set of placemats couldn't be any easier. Mats are simply two 18 1/2" x 14 1/2" rectangles sewn right sides together and turned. Push out the corners with a chopstick or turning tool (don't forget to clip corners before turning), then press and hand stitch the opening closed. Last, top stitch around the mat one inch in from the edge. You are finished!

For our mats we used two different fabrics, once for each side. The blue side is French Sashiko in Indigo and the cream side is French Sashiko in Pearl Indigo. We have two other colors of this fabric with the added stitching and three solids (Indigo, Oyster, & Pearl). The solids would be wonderful to add your own stitching to or to use as backing if you don't want reversible mats and/or coasters.

The napkins are made from the fabric Ebb & Flow in Pearl Ocean, using our Placemat & Napkin Pattern by Valori Wells. The simple stripes look fantastic with the stitching in the placemats, and really make the set feel pulled together. 

The reversible coasters above are made with two 4 ½” squares and constructed in the same manner as the placemat. They would look great on any coffee table and are so fast to make. With a half yard of each fabric and an hour or two, you can make 18 coasters! Keep them on hand for the next time you need a gift or want to brighten a friends day. 

Our final project, the grey and cream placemat shown above, is made from another textural woven fabric collection called Boro Foundations from Moda. We followed the Placemat & Napkin sewing card pattern by Valori Wells to make the mat. The black and grey combo looks crisp and modern, while the pattern and texture of the fabrics soften the look and make it something special. 

If you're interested in making these projects or your own with these special fabrics, you can find the French Sashiko collection here and the Boro Foundations collection here. The Placemat & Napkin pattern is available in PDF or printed versions.

Happy Sewing! 

Dreaming in Color - Palette Play

Back to school for me is more time for creative pursuits. I am putting the garden to bed, and this weekend I cleaned the studio. I found so many lost treasures, and color stories started presenting themselves right before my eyes. “Palette Play” is one of my favorite pastimes. Usually a printed piece of fabric, a snapshot, or a memory will spark an idea. At this point in the creative process, I just play and have the question, "What if?", in the back of my mind. I pull any color that seems to want to play with the rest of them.

This floral print from my stash caught my eye. I kind of like the true red with the raspberry, and the pinks set on the soft rust that just felt like fall. To balance out all of the red families there is a bit of forest green, gold, deep navy, light blue, and white.

The fabric palette got my creative juices rolling and I started pull friends that might work in the creative process. As you can see from the pieces below I “pushed the blue” to a warmer turquoise and it felt right so I kept it. I also stepped up the reds.

I always feel better during this time of discovery when I cut into the fabric and make a couple of samples to see what relationships I can create. As you all know a color will look different depending who it is next to. Take a look at the two pincushions below and you will see that in the first one the colors are richer and there is more depth (read the end of this post to see how you can win one of the pincushions). 

In the second one I added the soft pink and the light gold. I am not sure about the pink. It almost feels like it should have been narrower. As I look back if I had taken more clues from the fabric I would have realized that the light pink is like little brush strokes. I could have repeated that in the composition and it would have worked better.

With my explorer hat in place, I wanted to try to simplify the colors using solids for my next experiment.

Here are more experiments.

Here is an example of pushing a color lighter, darker, brighter, duller in one family. I use this technique to create variety in my compositions.

What I have learned from an afternoon of palette play with these fabrics is that I will make a larger quilt from these and develop the plan working intuitively. Referring back to the two pincushions, my favorite discovery is the raspberry color and how it created more interest in each composition.

I teach ongoing workshops at the store using my two books Journey to Inspired Art Quilting and The 2^nd Edition of Intuitive Color and Design as the foundation for gaining confidence to trust your instincts and dive into the creative process. I purposely put text in the books about the creative process, and encouraging words that will help students who cannot be in the classroom.

Do you want to win one of Jean's pincushions? All you need to do is leave a comment on this post by Oct. 6th. We'll draw two names from the commenters on Oct 7th and announce the winners on the blog. Be sure to check back to see if you've won, so we can get in touch to ship your prize. 

Congrats to Kathy Sperle and Carmen Che!! You've each won one of Jean's pincushions. Please get in touch with your address. 

Alchemy of Fabric - Ombre Surprise

Our April Alchemy fabric selection is Gelato from Maywood Studios. This fabric is a beautiful ombre that transitions from dark to light to dark, from selvage to selvage, with tone on tone lines. Photos can't do it justice. 

The rich colors and visual texture make this fabric the perfect blender, but it can also be the star of the show.

We paired Gelato with Kona Cotton in black and white for this Polanco quilt. This pattern puts the focus on the color and how it transitions. Stunning!

This pattern really shines a light on the ombre effect in the fabric. You can achieve the same effect, with other strip friendly patterns like Birch Bark or Flora.

Patterns like Cranberry Chutney and Preppy Pod, that have large pieces of fabric would also be a good choice to showcase the ombre colors. 

Want to show off the ombre without committing to an entire quilt? Try a fat quarter apron.

You can also fussy cut Gelato to feature the exact color, or blend, you want. Prefect for quilts like Arctic Feathers or Himalyan Pink.

Add some of this months companion fabrics and you'll have a great mix to work with for either quilt.

From top left our fabrics are: Heath in Eggplant, Quantum in 8957-O, sold out, Quantum 8960-E, Heath in Berry, French Press 8888-Y1, All Squared Up in Scout, Grid 50403, French Press 8888-B, and Treasure Hunt

Looking for just the right smaller project to show off your fabric? 

What about a Lisa the Unicorn pillow? That mane would be fantastic in Gelato.

An adorable animal stuffie? Any little one would be thrilled to have one of their own to cuddle.

Try Pincushion Party from Jen Kingwell Collective. The four sizes and 15 appliqué designs are ideal for experimenting with color, or getting a quick sewing fix. Plus they are darn cute!

Whatever you choose to do, don't forget to share it with us. Use #stitchinpost on Instagram or tag stitchinpostor on Facebook. 

Dreaming in Color - Opposites Attract with Jean Wells

 

Putting on my explorer hat in this new calendar year I wanted to challenge myself to work in a color palette that was completely new to me. I chose blue and orange, which are opposite each other on a standard color wheel. I always begin by pulling as many fabrics as I can that “might work” in the composition. Log cabin style blocks are my very favorite and allow the use of a variety of fabrics with a mix of solids and prints.

My first block ended up more blue than orange, and you can certainly see the variety in the different oranges. As I worked it became evident that one of the colors needed to be dominant, there was a bit of a struggle for a time. Because of the strong contrast, each wants to dominate or be most important.

Once I had a few blocks made I wanted to start designing the quilt. Using a piece of foam core board, with the background fabric I had chosen pinned to it, helped me to see how the blocks might play together. I struggled with rearranging for a while, and realized that most of the blues were flat or dull. I looked for a brighter blue that was more intense and it certainly added interest. At the same time, I came across a red orange that I didn't use and added small bits of it, like little brush strokes. I think I am ready to sew it together.

This was a good exercise for me. Below you can see a small piece I made featuring yellow and purple, opposites once again. This was another experiment and I found out how very strong the yellows were that I choose to work with. This is a totem style composition and works well for putting smaller, experimental blocks together.

“Hidden Stone” began as a red quilt. I pushed the color red, to red violet and to red orange. An ancient rock wall was my inspiration for the shapes and once the quilt was finished it looked better on its side. While working on it, it was feeling a bit boring, so I snuck in some acid green and for me it felt more complete.

In "Landscape" you see a mostly green quilt with just a touch of red.

An idea for you is to audition a color palette by making a small log cabin block, or two, experimenting with the fabrics to see how they play together.

To construct the pincushion, I free-cut the strips to fit as I add them around the center unit. I do not use a ruler, but trim and angle shapes as I work. I do plan the end size for the block, and keep adding strips in a variety of widths until I reach that number. I find that I feel more and more creative as I go and start seeing some results.

I like to fill the pin cushions with crushed walnuts. They keep the pins sharp. 

-Jean

Alchemy of Fabric March 2019 - Starburst

March's Alchemy of Fabric collection combines bold colors and geometric patterns. The addition of orange and black freshen up the classic red, yellow, and navy color scheme and give the collection a modern feel. The ten companion fabrics draw from the same colors while introducing more pattern and scale to the mix.

The lovely and skilled Fern will be making all our Alchemy of Fabric projects from now on. This month, she chose to use her fat quarters to make two pillows, focusing on the yellow, white and navy fabrics. 

The first pillow is pillow #6 from Val's pattern Jewels for the Home . The finished pillow is 18" x 18" and features an adorable bird applique. Fern used the Navy Metsa Saihke for the front, Sunshine Herringbone for the bird and half the back, and the white woven for the remainder of the back. The hand-stitched feet on the bird add a lot of character to the pillow.

The second pillow was pieced to use the remaining navy, sunshine, and white fabrics with a black Metsa Saihke back. Fern did a fantastic job fussy cutting the navy to feature the diamond design. She also added interest to this pillow by altering the direction of the herringbone print. 

The pillows look so fresh and springlike, it's hard to imagine that we are still struggling through multiple feet of snow!

Starburst - March 2019 Alchemy of Fabric Collection

In order from top left : Metsa Saihke Black, Flower Market Trellis Orange, Mixology Coordinates Herringbone Grey, Metsa Saihke Navy, Metsa Saihke Red, Mixology Coordinates Woven White, Mixology Coordinates Herringbone Sunshine, Starburst Collection

Starburst - Companion Fabrics

In order from top left : Musings Charcoal, Kona Cotton Tomato, Manchester Royal, Quantum Color C, Heath Red-Yellow, Kona Cotton Duckling, Panache White, Essex Yarn Dyed Navy, Eliana Yellow, Musings Charcoal

 

Project Pattern

Please post your project to Facebook or Instagram with the tag #alchemyoffabric or #stitchinpost, we'd love to see them.

Cheers,

Samantha

Croatia - January 2019 Alchemy of Fabric

If you can't get away from winter by traveling to sunnier shores this month's Alchemy of Fabric collection, Croatia, can make you feel as if you have. 

This collection is full of sun drenched color and vibrancy! The fabric feels full of life and energy. 

I can see these fabrics as a cute box bag, or a bright luggage tag, or so many other things. We settled on placemats for our project. Placemats are such a useful project, and a great way to add a bit of color and fun to your décor without a long term commitment, or needing to worry about coordinating with all your decor.

We made two placemats and two napkins from Valori's pattern. 

Placemats can be made from three fat quarters, and napkins require one fat quarter each. If you want to make a set, like ours, you will need extra fabric. 

You can find all of the Croatia collection fabrics and the ten coordinating companion fabrics here. 

What will you make? 

-Samantha

Rosalie Table Runner featuring Charley Harper Fabrics

Charley Harper is one of my all time favorite artists. Imagine my excitement when I discovered an entire line of Charley Harper fabric had arrived. Happy dance doesn't not even being to cover it. 

I immediately knew I had to do something that showcased Charley Harper's amazing talent, and showed this beautiful fabric at it's best. 

Valori's pattern, Rosalie, fit the bill perfectly. Large hexagons to display the prints, and strong graphic lines to compliment the art style. The table runner is one quilt row using the larger size templates with a one inch border (finished size) added to each long side.  I have a long table, so my runner has seven hexagons. You can easily change the length to fit your table, by changing the number of hexagons. 

Construction is simple (no Y seams!) and I was able to put mine together over a weekend. I love how it turned out and can't wait to have it on my table. 

The pattern includes templates for the hexagons & triangles that make up the body of the quilt. I want to show you how to accurately copy and use the templates... First, gather your supplies. You'll need template plastic, a fine tip Sharpie (or other permanent marker), a ruler, and some painter's tape.

Place the template plastic over the pattern template and secure with tape. Make sure you tape the template plastic to both your work surface and the pattern. Then using your ruler and Sharpie trace the template.

Remove the tape and rotate the template plastic 180 degrees. Line up your template with the dotted line on the pattern template (see above). Secure with tape, and trace. Using your ruler add a vertical line (not on the pattern template) so your template lines cross in the center. This will help you line up your template with your fabric, and center it, when it comes time to cut.  

You can cut your template out with scissors, but I find you get more accurate, and straight, cuts with a rotary cutter. However, don't use your fabric blade/cutter on the template plastic. I keep two sets of rotary cutters in my workroom, one for fabric and one for other items. Beside working wonderfully with template plastic, I use my non-fabric cutter for wrapping paper, ribbon with wire, freezer paper, card stock, poster board, etc... Don't forget to label your cutter so you don't mix them up! 

Now that your template is ready it's time to cut out your hexagons. Template plastic is translucent so it is easy to use the center lines to place your template, and ensure the print is straight and features the elements you want. In this case, I used my template's vertical line and matched it to the bird legs (see above). With such strong lines in the fabric pattern it would be very noticeable if it was cut askew. 

When cutting your fabric with a plastic template use a quilting ruler along the edge. Template plastic is meant to be a guide not a surface to cut against. I make my first cut, then secure the template and fabric with a bit of tape to ensure an accurate cut. Taking time with your template and cutting will make your sewing a joy and improve your results. 

Once my row was complete, I added a one inch (finished size) boarder to each side. Instead of binding the sides, I made my quilt sandwich then sewed a quarter inch seam down both long sides. I turned my seamed sandwich right sides out, pressed it, and added binding to both ends. 

We have all the Charley Harper fabrics used in the runner, and the rest of the collection, in stock.

To make our runner you'll need:

1/3 yard of five prints (I used Upside Downside, Lovey Dovey, Snowy Egret, Magpie, and Cardinal)

2 yards backing & background fabric (I used Twigs Black)

20" x 116" batting

Rosalie Quilt Pattern

1 sheet template plastic

As always send us your pics or bring in your finished projects. We love to see them! If you post your project on social media be sure to tag us with #stitchinpost or #sewmuchinspiration.

Cheers,

Samantha

 

 

 

 

Putting it all Together - Marmalade Dreams Quilt-a-Long

Hello! Happy New Year!  I hope everyone has recovered from the holidays and is back to sewing.

We are on the final stretch of the Marmalade Dreams quilt.  You have made all your parts and it is time to sew together the top.

Follow the diagram in the picture below or your pattern.

Now this beautiful top is ready to quilt. I thought I would share my quilting to get you going on ideas.  There is such high contrast from the background greys and neutrals, to the colorful blocks so I picked a neutral thread that would look good on both. When I am choosing thread I like to pull the end of the thread from the spool and lay it across the quilt top. It gives me a better idea of how it will look when quilted. Just laying the spool on top of the quilt top doesn’t give me the same perspective of a single strand.

For the large log cabin blocks I decided to quilt lines in the small colored areas and my style of meandering in the neutral logs, continuing the design throughout all of the light backgrounds.

Even for the little log cabins I did lines in the colored logs.

The diamonds I wanted to keep simple and not take away from the prints or the piecing. I quilted a curvy diamond shape in all of the diamond sections. I am not one who likes using rules, or my walking foot, so these are free form. If you want them perfect I would use a ruler or a walking food depending on what type of machine you are using.

My meandering quilting is a flowing designs that intertwines with itself, lots of swirls, flower and leaf like shapes.

I hopefully this will give you some ideas for quilting your own Marmalade Dreams Quilt.

Lastly I have included the final recipe…. I had to laugh because it is snowing outside and the recipe is for Summer Berries. You can make this with frozen berries. Enjoy!

 

Thank you for being a part of Marmalade Dreams Block of the Month. I would love to see any finished quilts! Have a great day!

 

XO,

Valori

Part 3 - Marmalade Dreams Quilt-a-Long

Hello and Happy October!!!!

We are half way through Marmalade Dreams Block of the Month and this month is quick and easy.

We are making mini log cabins that are set with rectangles.

My biggest tip on this section is to be really accurate with your sewing and cutting. The pieces are small and even a little bit of unevenness can mess with your size of block.

I like to cut out all my pieces first and lay them in order and chain stitch all of the blocks at once.

As you can see they are super cute and go together really quick.

Once you have all the blocks cut and the setting rectangles lay them out in order and sew together.

I got so excited about these little blocks I decided to make a little pincushion.

With some help from Oliver….

Take one block and cut a background piece or make two blocks and you have a two sided pin cushion.

Sew around the block leaving an opening for turning and filling. Clip off the corners.

Turn pincushion right side out and press. I like to use crushed walnut shells for pincushions.

Fill as much as possible, I do like to use a funnel if possible. Let the cat help if he wants.

Hand stitch the opening closed and tada…. Little mini log cabin pincushion!

Onto our yummy treats for this month….

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

They are so good and don’t use any eggs, almost like a cake texture when baked. They are my husband’s favorite cookies!

I hope you all have a great month. I am off to market next week in Houston, TX and then leaving to teach a retreat in Bali.  Next months BOM will post after Thanksgiving Weekend.

Xoxo

Valori