"Stash Buster" Quilts
01-23-2013, 10:12 PM
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Valley of the sun, AZ
Posts: 1,070
It's not so much a question of color, but rather one of value.
If you divide your scraps/stash up into at least lights/med/darks and use the them in the appropriate patches, you can successfully make any block look great.
Value is more important than color.
eta:
And if by chance they all happen to the exact same value (unlikely, but bear with me), you can break them into color categories - brights vs. darks., warm vs. cool colors, etc.
There has to be some sort of contrast, otherwise you get ....mush.
And sometimes that might be what you want.....mush. Makes a great interesting background for applique.
The problem is when one doesn't want mush, and the fabrics used in a block don't have any, or very little, contrast - value or color.
Or you want a mush background, but it's all over the place and the applique pieces don't stand out - they get swallowed by all the noise in the background.
If you divide your scraps/stash up into at least lights/med/darks and use the them in the appropriate patches, you can successfully make any block look great.
Value is more important than color.
eta:
And if by chance they all happen to the exact same value (unlikely, but bear with me), you can break them into color categories - brights vs. darks., warm vs. cool colors, etc.
There has to be some sort of contrast, otherwise you get ....mush.
And sometimes that might be what you want.....mush. Makes a great interesting background for applique.
The problem is when one doesn't want mush, and the fabrics used in a block don't have any, or very little, contrast - value or color.
Or you want a mush background, but it's all over the place and the applique pieces don't stand out - they get swallowed by all the noise in the background.
01-24-2013, 03:57 AM
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Misssissippi
Posts: 3,196
I really like the frugal block on quilter's cache. It takes 1 1/2 inch pieces. It does require a scrappy neutral but I am using anything in the cream/tan family for mine. I have a lot of muslin scraps that fit in this category.
01-24-2013, 08:35 AM
#18
Super Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Pacific NW
Posts: 9,488
Another thing you can do is pick one color to use as your neutral, and avoid it in the rest of the quilt. For instance, make the quilt mostly reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, etc. and have your neutral be greens. Or blues.
01-24-2013, 10:36 AM
#20
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Clovis, CA
Posts: 69
I knew I could count on all the lovely people here to talk me off my ledge. I am new enough to quilting that I hadn't thought about using the value of the color to make distinctions and contrast. Of course I asked here right before I started searching for other scrap quilts. I found one called "attic stairs" I think, that I really like, it's all scrap all the time and I think perfect for what I have on hand.
I don't have a link to the pattern, but it's pretty straight forward. Here is a link to the pinterest photo I found.
http://pinterest.com/pin/13159023883398103/
I don't have a link to the pattern, but it's pretty straight forward. Here is a link to the pinterest photo I found.
http://pinterest.com/pin/13159023883398103/
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