JWD Publishing Blog

A RARITY—-LUSCIOUS, RICH SHADES

The Shade Scale

There are four color scales in the world of color: pure color scale, tint scale, shade scale, and tone scale. During these next two weeks we’re going to investigate the shade scale.

A shade is created when black is added to a pure color. A shade can be slightly darker than its pure color, almost black, or it can be a color that lies anywhere between these two extremes. Every color that is a shade belongs to the shade scale.

An Important caveat: A shade NEVER has gray in its makeup—even a tiny bit.  If there is any hint of grayness in a dark color’s makeup, it is not a shade. It’s a tone. Only black and a pure color can be present in a shade.  Don’t be fooled into thinking a dark color is a shade because most darkened colors have a hint of grayness in them.

The Changing Colors

When you first add a touch of black to a pure color, the pure color becomes a bit darker. Also it begins to lose its intensity. It is not quite as brilliant as its pure form.  As each bit of black is added, the color lessens its intensity and increases its darkness. Eventually the color will appear almost black—-with a hint of the pure color as a subtle  influence.

You can probably see the effect of the black added to this green.

The color is darker than its pure color, but not dark enough to call it dark green. 

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It’s a beautiful time of year with the anticipation of all that December has to offer. I am madly attempting to finish a project by Friday noon. I assume all of you have your own deadlines and seasonal stresses to deal with too. Recognizing that we are all maxed out on time and energy, there will be no color lessons this week or next.

In this post I am featuring another  group of quilts that caught my eye at the Houston IQA show this fall. They are each amazing in their own unique ways. Whenever possible, I have added links to the quilt artists whose works are shown. I hope you check out their pages when you have time. (Again, you’ll find black stands with white papers, ribbons, and other distracting objects in front of some of these quilts, which couldn’t be helped. Photos are informally taken with my little Nikon point ‘n shoot.)   Enjoy!

Summer Fantasy by Joanne Baeth, Susan Massini, Dona Ford, Cheryl Carbone, and Louise Page

I absolutely love this quilt.  When my eyes fell upon it, it reminded me so much of a delicate watercolor painting. Later I learned this quilt was a recreation of a watercolor painting by Bev Barmore, Joanne’s cousin.  Summer Fantasy was created by a five-member art group from Oregon. A photo of this painting was divided into five sections. Each member completed one section. Joanne pieced together the sections and then quilted the artwork.

I find this a fascinating group quilt, as it’s not an easily divisible image at first or second glance. Without a doubt, this art group is both talented and skilled. Perhaps this quilt will entice others to create a different group quilt—one that is both challenging and fun.

Now for those of you who love pieced quilts based on traditional roots, this next quilt is a real delight!

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It’s a busy season and much of our energy and time are taken up this month with the holidays, family, special friends, and the celebration of Christmas and Hanukkah. So this is a good time to share a few more photos of quilts from the 2011 Houston Quilt Festival.  No doubt, the actual quilts are more beautiful in real life than what you see in my informal snapshots. The colors shown may not be true to the quilt, but I think the quilts still look great. Enjoy!

Autumn Splendor by Noriko Endo from Tokyo, Japan

If you have been in the quilt scene for a few years, then you will be well aware of Noriko Endo’s glorious naturescapes. They are filled with exquisite textures, subtle colorings, and enticing imagery.  Autumn Splendor fills the bill. It is amazing. Standing in front of this quilt brings you into the scene. The realism is extraordinary.  This particular quilt really speaks to me, as it’s a scene reminiscent of many years of woodland walks. This original design is created with cotton, tulle, and luminescent fibers. If you would like to create your own woodland scenes filled with textures, or if you just want to be inspired by Noriko’s beautiful creations, consider purchasing her book Confetti Naturescapes.

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When Alex Anderson designed her Holiday Lights quilt many years ago, she designed a winner. It’s been extraordinarily popular with people of all ages.  This year has been no exception. The pattern keeps selling and Holiday Lights quilts continue to brighten the homes of people during the month of December.

This year The Piece Corps and Friends chose to make Holiday Lights their selection to raise funds for the Sutter Hospital Quilt Auction to benefit breast cancer research and patients.  The Sutter Cancer Center holds their auction every three years at the Sutter Hospital in Sacramento, California.

The Piece Corps and Friends named their auction quilt Trees of Hope. You can see their finished quilt (above) with several of the fourteen-member group:  Sally Scholz, Barbara Wexted, Martha Flanagan, Della Goss, Connie Seale, and Donna Bays. They enjoyed making this quilt and were extremely happy with the results.

Below are several in-progress photos that you will enjoy seeing. Also, if you are part of a quilting group that might want to make a group quilt for an auction or any other purpose, you’ll be interested in reading how this group organized themselves and how they worked on this quilt.  At the end of this post, you can see Alex’s latest version of Holiday Lights.

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COLOR CASCADE—- It’s a show-stopper!

A COLOR CHALLENGE FULFILLED!

Four of these color-challenge quilts are featured in this post, as well as artists’ thoughts.

This exhibit features a wall of beautiful quilts flowing with colors. This wall of color was a group challenge for the Sewjourners, a group of quilters in Oregon. This challenge was Inspired by the  3-in-1 Color Tool (designed by Joen Wolfrom with C&T Publishing). This group of twenty began their color exploration by each randomly drawing a color card that would determine her featured color.

Today’s post features four of the quilts and the artists who created them for this challenge.  (A later post will include an additional selection of these color-challenge quilts).  Let us what you think.

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Having been away for much of the last few weeks, behind in everything, and with an exhausted mind and body, I decided my brain is not worthy of thinking clear thoughts this week. This is a perfect time to share a few photos that I took at the Houston IQA show. I wasn’t able to take pictures of all of the quilts that I thought were so impressive, but I did take sevral handfuls. Today I have selected eight to show you. They are not in any particular order. I visited the show during Quilt Market. At that time, no awards had been awarded, so I have not information on any of these quilts being award-winners. However, as far as I am concerned, these are all award-winning quilts as they are a visual feast for our eyes.

First a few photo comments:  These pictures are very informal and taken with my little point ‘n shoot Nikon camera. You will see signs, pipes, barrier ribbons, and other items in some pictures. I apologize, as there was no choice in the matter. If I wanted the picture of the quilt, sometimes extras went along with it. Also, some quilts were impossible to view straight on, so they are skewed a bit. My apologies. No doubt, the actual quilts will be more beautiful in real life than what you see here in my snapshots, but I think you’d like seeing these quilts regardless of the quality of photo. The colors shown may not be true to the quilt, but I think the quilts still look great. Enjoy!

Again, in no particular order, here are eight exquisite quilts:

Oriental Triptych

This triptych  by Karon Huggler of  Columbia, Missouri is stunning. The color use is dramatic. The curves set an elegant, sophisticated mood. Karon used both hand and machine piecing, applique, and quilting. She included three-dimensional feathering on the cranes. Karon’s original design was inspired by Louisa Smith’s work. At the time of the exhibition, this piece was available for purchase.

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This week the colors of the leaves are getting so beautiful, so I decided we needed to take a breather and celebrate fall with quilts. Some of these quilts are my all-time favorites in autumnal colorings or in theme. They are a wide variation in technique. Some of these quilts were made in the 80s and 90s while others are more recent. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Autumn Praise by Carol Webb

This is one of my all-time fall favorites!  When Carol made this quilt, she lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, she now lives in the Bend, Oregon area. She is a most talented quilter, as you can see. I love the way Carol used value in this quilt, allowing some leaves to evaporate into the leaf background while others catch our attention. If you look carefully at this quilt, Carol has used fillers between each leaf block. These fillers allow her extra space to play in the background. It also gives the design breathing room.  Because of the fillers and her value play, this quilt has a very organic feel to it. It’s still one of my favorites after all of these years!

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Alex Anderson’s The Grape Escape debuts at Quilt Market this week. If you are going to Quilt Market in Houston, be sure to stop to see this quilt and order patterns for your shop.  Our booth number is 333-335. See you there. For more details about the quilt, see below:

The Grape Escape by Alex Anderson

When Alex showed us this quilt and asked if we would be interested in patterning it, we immediately said, YES! It’s not only beautiful, but after taking a close look at it,  we realized even those of us who are not skillful appliquers could actually make this quilt because the pieces are fused (or glued for those of you who prefer that route) and then everything is machine appliqued. Alex used a small buttonhole stitch to finish off her edges. Now those who prefer hand applique can prepare by adding seam allowances to their pieces.

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We’ve spent the last few months concentrating on  24 of the most popular pure colors—–all of them very beautiful.  As you have probably noticed, these colors are very much like people: they have their own unique personalities. Many of them are emotive; several cause physical reactions in our bodies when in close quarters or surrounded by them. It’s now time to think about the roles they can play in our designs. To be sure, these brilliant, clear, intense colors are the ones most responsible for creating the WOW factor in a design.

In this post,  I would like to present some ideas about the use of pure colors in our designs. In the next week or  two, we’ll expand the discussion twofold: First, we’ll see how  pure colors can play an important role as an accent rather than a focus. Then we’ll move the discussion to interior design—using pure colors in our  homes and businesses—–and perhaps our clothing.

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To get you into the mood for fall and give your home a new seasonal quilt to decorate your walls with, here’s Alex Anderson’s classic fall quilt Welcome Home. Welcome Home is our most popular fall quilt pattern. It comes in three sizes: wall, lap, and twin bed.

Welcome Home by Alex Anderson

This charming quilt can decorate your entry hall, your family room, or some wall that needs a quilt to bring it warmth and cheerfulness this fall season. If you have a twin bed that is need of a fall quilt, perhaps this is the quilt for you. It is entirely pieced. Here you can see  the wall quilt. It is made from three different blocks: a leaf block, a house block, and a star block. Two detail views of this quilt can be seen below.

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