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Nov
3
My 6th Grade Shoes
Filed Under Books, Color, Designers, Hand appliqué, Patterns | 1 Comment
My 6th Grade Shoes by Penelope Tucker and Ronda K. Beyer was another one of my favorite quilts at PIQF. That’s putting it mildly. Actually I had a little “moment” when I saw it.
See, what you don’t know is that this design is one of my all-time most worshipped. The blocks are from Fairmeadow by Jeana Kimball, a quilt that completely captivated me as an early quilter. Here’s my Fairmeadow book from like 15 years ago, long out of print, battered, scuffed, and much loved.
I made my own Fairmeadow back then, slavishly collecting fabrics that replicated Jeana’s as closely as possible, and enjoyed every minute of the appliqué.
I heard a couple of years ago that my friend Pam Crooks was working on Fairmeadow in a hand appliqué class taught by her bud Penny, and now I finally got to see Penny’s version. According to the show description, “Penny was inspired by her beloved 6th grade shoes — lime green and turquoise — while selecting fabrics for this quilt. It reminded her of hot summer days in California in the 1960s. Excited to begin quilting, Ronda added her own design elements with her longarm machine.”
And guess what… this quilt won the PIQF 2008 award for Best Machine Workmanship! Congratulations Ronda! And thank you, Penny, for making this delightful rendition of the the blocks. Here are just a couple, and you can see the incredible quilting.
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Oct
31
Pup Art
Filed Under Color, Designers, Fabrics, Hand appliqué, Spotlights | 2 Comments
It was easy to choose my favorite quilt from all the entries at the recent Pacific international Quilt Festival.
Paws down, it was Pup Art by Nancy S. Brown of Oakland, California.
In the quilt description, Nancy wrote that she loves animals and they are almost always the inspiration for her quilts, and that Charles Schultz got it right when he said, ‘Happiness is a warm puppy.’
I contacted Nancy and she graciously sent me a little more information about this happy quilt. “I like to make animal portraits with hand appliqué but don’t get to use bright colors (which I love) very often in them. I have been telling my students for years that you can make animals in any colors as long as you keep the lights and darks where they belong. I finally decided to take my own advice. I chose puppies as a theme after making a baby quilt with a blue laborador on it and of course, I just love puppies. I dyed most of the fabric myself and overdyed some black and white prints to add some texture.”
Here are a few of the colorful pups from the quilt, which, as Nancy says, “celebrates those wonderful, bouncy bundles of joy.”
And, it wasn’t just me who was captivated by the puppies. I was delighted to learn that Pup Art won the 2008 PIQF Viewer’s Choice Award!
When I visited Nancy’s website at nancybrownquilts.com, I was reminded of one of her earlier quilts that I had fallen in love with when I saw it at PIQF. Be sure to check out all of her incredible quilts, especially Sunday in the Park with Mittens and look for the papillon in the front row! (Little dog, big fluffy ears.) Unbelievably, Nancy tells me that the papillon in that quilt belongs to a friend of hers and his name is Willie too!
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Oct
4
Color and appliqué
Filed Under Color, Designers, Fabrics, Guest posts | 2 Comments
This is quite thrilling. Maria Peagler, author of the forthcoming book Color Mastery, has consented to do a guest post!
Our mutual photographer Gregory Case put Maria and myself in touch with one another, then we found ourselves shoulder-to-shoulder more than once at Quilt Market in May, where much chatting ensued. I was privileged to see an advance copy of Maria’s beautiful book and to write a blurb for the jacket.
Here’s Maria now to clue us in on how to begin our journey to appliqué color mastery.
I’m delighted to be with you here today at the All About Appliqué blog. Thanks, Kay, for inviting me to share about my favorite topic: color. I’ve been quilting for over 15 years, doing piecing and appliqué, and hands down my favorite, and most challenging, part of the process is selecting the color palette for a quilt. For too long, my color results were hit or miss, until I developed my own unique approach to color based on my experience in other artistic mediums, like watercolor (shown below) and colored pencil.
Watercolor by Maria Peagler
When I started as a quilter, I didn’t really understand how to use color effectively in my quilts, so I copied what other, more experienced quilters did. Here’s a block I completed in a Harriet Hargrave Machine Appliqué class. I can’t tell you why I chose these colors, because they certainly don’t reflect my style. I was simply doing what I thought appliquérs were supposed to do.
Because it didn’t reflect my style, I never did anything with it. I believe that’s why we as quilters end up with so many UFOs. We had a great idea that we didn’t quite know what to do with or it didn’t end up as we had hoped.
Fast forward ten years, and here’s my appliqué style now:
What made the difference? Two things really:
- Knowing my own color preferences and style
- Understanding the DNA of color and how to manipulate it for outstanding results
How did I get there?
It certainly wasn’t overnight, and I really had to find my own way. I tried many of the color books out there for quilters, but nothing struck a chord with me. They were beautiful books filled with gorgeous quilts, but I couldn’t relate to any of them. So I started my own color adventure.
First, I kept a color journal. I filled it with photographs of quilts, gardens, furniture, decorating, children’s clothes, artwork, and anything else that had colors that spoke to me. I needed to find out what I loved and why, and this exercise really helped me. I now have about five of these journals and I refer back to them frequently. Knowing my own color style gave the confidence to use a black background on this Christmas appliqué quilt.
Second, I begrudgingly learned color theory. That wasn’t my intention, but I took a watercolor painting class and quickly learned I couldn’t get the results I wanted without understanding the color wheel. It took a lot of practice and many color wheels for me to finally understand why the color wheel is important and how it is a visual map to how colors interact: the closer together colors are on a color wheel, the less contrast they have. The farther apart colors are, the higher their contrast.
For appliqué, contrast is important to make the appliqués stand out from the background and from each other. In the poppy quilt shown below, I used low-medium contrast to define the poppy petals, and high contrast colors (red vs. green, directly across from each other on the color wheel) for the poppy to stand out from the background.
My top three tips for getting outstanding color in appliqué quilts are:
- Start keeping a color journal to develop your unique color vision.
- Make a color wheel using your own fabric stash. I have a fun and easy tutorial on how to do this here.
- Play with appliqués made with colors in varying amounts of contrast to see which color combinations you like best and give your appliqués great definition.
My quilting style transformed after learning color theory, as I had the confidence to not only develop my own color palettes, but my own designs as well. Now that I understood how to marry my color preferences with color theory, I also included my love for drawing and sketching into my own quilt designs.
My background is in technical writing and instructional development, so after finally “getting” outstanding color in my quilts, I immediately thought, “Why hasn’t anyone ever explained colors to quilters this way? Quilters don’t need to know everything about the color wheel, just the stuff that applies to fabric!”
So, I wrote the book I had wished for as a quilter trying to understand color. It’s for experienced quilters who have a stash and like doing quilts that are stunning, but simple to construct. Focus on the color, not on complicated piecing or appliqué instructions. And it has a fun appliqué project I’ve done in two different color harmonies so you can see the stark difference a color palette makes in the same quilt. The book is Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts, and will be in quilt shops in February.
It’s been so much fun stopping by and chatting with you Kay! I look forward to your book coming out in March and it will certainly be in my quilting library.
Maria
Kay here… visit the Color Mastery website to read more about Maria’s upcoming book.
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Feb
17
Fun with thread color
Filed Under Articles, Blanket stitch, Color, Designers, Guest posts, Machine appliqué, Raw edge, Threads | Leave a Comment
Here’s a fabulous guest post by Diane Dixon of Metro Quiltworks about how your choice of thread can work a little magic on the look of your machine appliqué. Thank you, Diane, for this wonderful article!
Let’s Have Some Fun with Thread Color!
Thoughts about thread choices by Diane Dixon of Metro Quiltworks
The color of thread can be a very important feature for you to consider with your next appliqué project. The way the thread color interacts with the fabric can make the stitching either stand out in a bold contrast, or it can create subtle outlining of the appliqué piece without much contrast at all.
Some basic points to consider:
Matching thread color to fabric color:
Do you want the thread color to match the color of the fabric? This will create a subtle look that blends well with the appliqué pieces and may emphasize the overall look of the project since the thread color blends much more into the background.
Here’s an example of a lily flower having the thread in the same color family as the fabric. By using the blue thread in the center, the flower is more formal and contained. Notice the use of yellow thread on the yellow petals. Although both fabric and thread are in the same color family, there is still a subtle contrast because the fabric is lighter in some places than in others. Subtle, but not dull! Also, the lily pads are sewn with green or brown stitches to keep the pieces from getting too “busy” since the batiks used here are quite wild.
Contrasting thread color to fabric color:
Do you want the thread color to contrast with color of the fabric? Using contrast can create a wonderful visual look that can define edges and give excitement to individual appliqué pieces.
Here is an example of two pears on a plate. The purple stitching in different shades really defines the green pear from the green plate. Notice the yellow stitching on the green leaf, the outside plate stitching, and the effective purple on the stem as well.
In the close-up of the red floral appliqué example, there’s a combination of techniques to make this flower sing! Notice the center has a bright red center that uses the same thread color on both the center, and on the interior petals. By using the same thread color on different fabrics, another subtlety comes out. The bright blue stitching on the outside petals, and the red on the green leaf brings all of the colors to another level!
I sometimes enjoy using this technique specifically with smaller projects such as miniature wall hangings, pillows, or table runners because the thread choices really stand out in a more intimate piece - but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try this out with larger pieces as well!
Thread colors play important roles and can change the look of any project. Don’t be afraid to go for it and have lots of fun!
Diane Dixon
Kay here again — be sure to visit Diane’s website to check out her colorful contemporary patterns for quilts, table runners, and wall hangings at Metro Quiltworks - A fresh look at quilt design. Thanks again Diane! I’ve been a “matcher” so far but now I’m inspired to try mixing it up!
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs