TGIF

Yeah, it's Friday!  Being Friday the 13th doesn't bother me in the least, just that it's Friday and the weekend is just a short few hours ahead.  We are blessed with sunshine, so I am soaking some of it up by sitting near the sunniest window in the house. 

I want to touch on a subject today and that is COLOR!!  Why do so many people have trouble with color?  Just the mere mention of color (like yellow) sends some people running for cover.  I LOVE yellow!  Actually, there is no color I don't like.  If you like a particular color, what is wrong with using it? 

Does Orange bother you?  My fall pumpkins attic window quilt is full of orange. 

How about blue?  Or the center squiggle, an orangey red?  Do these colors make you cringe?  Especially when they are put together like this? 

Do you like black and white?  This has a bit of yellow/gold, and yes, it hangs this way so the bargello stripes are vertical instead of horizontal.  Probably another of my "mistakes", but hey, I love it. 

My surprise boxes quilt was made using whatever was in my scrap bag at the time.  It's a mix matched selection of great colors.  It's tremendous freedom to just reach in and pick whatever is on top for each one.

The colorful stripey squares around the first border were already cut pieces in my scrap bag from the

"Color My World" quilt.

"Color My World" won a design competition in July 2000

Do these colors make you scream?

This one is full of texture in the quilting and just that thin blue line of color makes this quilt. 

Jinny Beyer's "Sport" pattern.  To add interest to my quilts, sometimes I infuse just a spot of unexpected color.  Notice that the bridles on the horse heads are not all the same color?   Next time you make a monocromatic quilt or one using just 3 colorways, try an element of surprise in color and see if it works for you, if not proceed with your original design or pattern. 

Years ago I took a color class with Jinny and I bought 3 of her books one of them was "Designing Tesselations".  It is a wonderful book.  I have taken other color classes with different teachers and they were all great resources.  The best tool you can make or buy is a color wheel which will help you make some decisions on color choice, but ultimately if you love a color don't be afraid to use it.