oatw13

I think we all feel that way sometimes, too! I know whatever you pick will be great! When in doubt look for solids and marbled solids. lol

jetnica, I also peeked at the blog! :wink:

I received F8's from collettakay, mistiliz, sandiannie, and Sugarpumpkin today!

I will be mailing back several blocks on Saturday when I get to the post office. And, yes, Odessa, they are my friends. lol (They drive me crazy!)

CraftsByRobin

My problem is I don't have a huge stash ... and I have bought so much material lately that I don't have anything to store them in yet ...

I may get a hold of someone on here and take pictures ... and show them before I make them to see what this person thinks...

sew cornie

Got an F8 from Colletta today - so much fun! I have two little boys and lots of nephews . . . it's so nice to get to play with some really girly fabric! LOL. I'm trying to match up fabrics and choose a pattern for each as they come in although I won't be able to start on them for a couple more weeks. What I've learned so far is that my stash is oh so woefully inadequate. Two trips to Joanne's for those 99Cent FQ's already. :-D :-D Hope lots more F8s get here before the sale ends! LOL.

Karen

Robin this has helped me with color, I always try to match the pattern color, not the main color of the fabric, at least to try to get something close to those colors. Sorry i am not the greatest at explaining things!

OdessaQuilts

Here's an easy way to work it (and it works for times when you get behind and need to get it done, or if you just don't know what to put with a fabric):

Find a simple, but effective block that is a 2-color block (Hole in the Barn Door, Churn Dash, Ohio Star, Variable Star, etc.). Put the piece you received as the "pattern", and put it with black, white, or muslin as the "background". Black will make a lighter coloration "pop", white will do the same for an intense color (or even batiks). Muslin is good if the fabric has more of a "neutral" coloration as part of its design. If it's a darker fabric that has some tan/ivory in it, muslin would likely be a good choice.

Learning color is a tricky thing. You don't need an art degree to do it successfully. But take a look around you at things that are colored in ways you like, and take your color cues from those things. For instance: the Kraft Mac & Cheese box is yellow, blue, and a little red. Watch the intensity of those colors, and the percentage of each color in the box (maybe 60% blue, 30% yellow, 10% red). Use the same approximate intensities and percentages in your blocks. Big companies have paid a lot of $$ for graphics art people to design these awesome marketing tools -- use it to your advantage!

And feel free to ask us questions. We've all started somewhere and not every quilt we've ever done was ultimately successful for whatever reason(s). We'll help you along. We WANT you to be successful. After all, if there aren't enough quilters to buy all that awesome fabric out there, what will the Michael Millers, and the Paula Nadelsterns and the Ginny Beyer's going to do with their design time???

Stay positive and stay focused. You'll do just fine.

Odessa

Sugarpumpkin

Received f8's today from:

Nancy in Louisiana
sandiannie
colletakay
mistiliz

They are starting to pour in now. It's like Christmas everyday at the post box!

Fabulous fabrics ladies!!

sandiannie, yours makes me think of picnic's! I love it!

CraftsByRobin

Thanks ... I'll get something done and if I'm not sure I'll reread this or take a picture and ask... :D

KBunn

I got squishies from Collettakay, sandiannie, sugarpumpkin, mistiliz today. I so can't wait to get started on my blocks but it will probably be the beginning of the week before I get going on them. My husband's brother that he has not seen in 7 years is coming for a week long visit. Once he is here they will be off doing boy stuff all week but it's the spring cleaning BEFORE he gets here that has me a bit tied up.

Karen

What a great explanation Odessa! That really is helpful to keep in mind! Actually I printed it out to keep on my board for reference!

OdessaQuilts

Happy to help. Personally, I like a little black in every quilt. I feel as if it "grounds" the piece and makes the colors explode. And I used this same "rule" to finish 22 blocks for Boomerang 1.0 in the span of about 4 days. I had several that I just didn't have anything that was quite "right", so I put them into a 2-color block and suddenly I found the perfect thing to go with each (at least I thought so).

This is an old trick I used to teach my beginner students when I taught quilting years ago. Sometimes beginners think they have to put every color in the crayon box in a quilt and it just isn't so in every case. And some beginners start with one line and don't want to stray from the line. It's a good place to begin, but if you want to stretch, make an attempt at something different.

There is NO right or wrong. Some colors will work well, some will not. But everyone had to start someplace, and this exchange is a really great way to stretch your creative skills. Jump on in and have fun!