Tilkunviilaaja®

The other day, I started thinking about the thing people call “an eye for colour”. Some people get compliments on their eye for colour, but I’ve also heard people claim that they don’t have one at all. Perhaps it’s more to do about recognising one’s preferences – or not knowing what one likes? If you aren’t certain about your eye for colour and would like develop it, you may find it difficult to know how to start. Here’s a solution for you: seven quilting habits that you can adopt – and develop your colour sense at the same time. At a glance, the 7 quilting habits are: 1. Know your own ways 2. Think about what you really like 3. Forget about pleasing someone else 4. Stop comparing your work to others 5. Face your fears 6. Give yourself encouragement 7. Return to your successes 1. Know your own ways For a long time, I thought that there was only one correct way to sew a quilt. I thought one had to pick a block pattern and choose the fabrics, then one would sew as m...

You may have read about my quest to find the perfect binding for this quilt – if not, here’s the post. You may not agree with my choice, but I’m happy. Here she is: the Maxim quilt sewn of X blocks: The finish makes me even happier than identifying the binding fabric! I keep track of all my quilty makes and it is so satisfying to be able to add the entry when an item is finished. The sunny pictures of the Maxim quilt make me happy too: it feels that a quilt doesn’t get properly represented if the celebratory finishing photos are shot when the sun isn’t shining. And summer sun makes the colours look perfect, don’t you think: This quilt is the 98th that I’ve finished since I made my first quilt in 1995 (note that I didn’t make another quilt until 2009 when I launched into quilting for real). It is the 641st quilted item that I’ve finished since I started blogging in November 2009, and the 54th whose name begins with the letter ‘M’. You can see I’m a sucker for s...

This post is one of my Splendid colour tips series, where I share information to help you choose fabrics and colours for your quilts with more confidence. Today’s quilt colour is beige, and I’ll be sharing the following: My thoughts and helpful tips about using beige colour in quilts What to watch out for, and ways to use beige effectively in quilting Practical examples from my own quilts and quilted items Beige is a calm, balanced colour, and it can make us feel comfortable. Quilters usually categorise beige as a “neutral”. What to watch out for when using beige in quilting A quilt with an abundance of beige, especially if there isn’t much contrast may look and seem boring or drab because the colour is probably the most neutral of the colours that quilters call neutral. Because beige is a neutral, it will go with pretty much any colour as long as you remember value contrast: make sure that your colours are clearly lighter or darker than the beige fabrics next to ...

This post is one of my Splendid colour tips series, where I share information to help you choose fabrics and colours for your quilts with more confidence. Today’s quilt colour is green, and I’ll be sharing the following: My thoughts and helpful tips about using green colour in quilts What to watch out for, and ways to use green effectively in quilting Practical examples from my own quilts and quilted items Green represents wealth, health, calm, and nature. It is the easiest colour for a human eye to process, and it is believed to have a relaxing effect on us. Green is the second most popular favourite colour for both women and men. Therefore, it is a great choice for a quilt or quilted item that should attract both sexes. An interesting piece of information related to the colour green is related to a Namibian tribe whose language has a single word for both green and blue. And it seems that consequently, it takes them a long time to identify a more bluish green square ou...