Tilkunviilaaja®

Choosing only five quilts out of the nearly 100 that I’ve made was easier than one might think. In this post, I share the chosen top five and one bonus quilt. If you enjoy scrappy quilts and bold colour combinations, you may find ideas and encouragement for your own projects. All of these quilts are examples of how value contrast matters more than colour choices. What makes a quilt become a favourite? My favourite quilts have all evoked a specific feeling in me. Surprise, delight in discovery, satisfaction of applying a gained insight, accomplishment, joy, and pleasure. 1. Empress Ramandu – strange blocks turned into a surprisingly lovely quilt Empress Ramandu quilt is one of my favourites because it surprised me so pleasantly. When I was sewing the blocks for my quilt Empress Ramandu, I honestly began to worry about the result. The fabrics looked strange together, and I thought that I would have to use the eventual quilt as nothing more than a picnic quilt. At the same ti...

Grey is one of the most – if not the most – versatile neutral colours in quilting. It is a softer colour than black, and it will help your highlight colours stand out. In this post, I share practical tips about the use of grey in quilting using my own quilts and quilted items as examples. Grey represents neutrality, simplicity, peace, future-orientedness and logic. Grey is not an emotional colour, and it is associated with technology, industrial activity, control, professionalism and even with elegance. Not all greys are colourless – a pure mix of black and white. There are all shades, ranging from yellowish to purplish and brownish: And then there is the special brown-grey colour called taupe. Taupe is the colour that is just as brown as it is grey. The word “taupe” comes from the French word for mole whose fur is of that colour. It may be that quilters find taupe more interesting than other people because Japanese quilters use it abundantly and in very chic ways. They are maste...

What is most important in quilting? Is it the design, the fabrics, straight/curved/matching seams? Or is it most important that one’s quilt looks unique – or just like the model in the pattern? All of the above may be important to you, but when you get the basics right in quilt construction, one more thing is key. It is important to have proper value contrast in your quilt. What makes a quilt work visually? Your quilt colours will look better when you consider value contrast before you think whether your fabrics match. I’ve learned this from my quilting idol Timna Tarr: ”Value does the work, colour gets the credit”. If there is only one thing to remember, it is this: value contrast determines whether a pattern in a quilt or quilt block can be seen at all. When colour isn't enough When I first started quilting, I did not understand the importance of value contrast. I had carefully planned a design and purchased fabrics that matched the colours of the ...