JWD Publishing Blog

Before moving on to the colors of purple, fuchsia, and magenta, I would like to show you some quilts that incorporate an extended analogous color plan—-a range that includes more than seven colors, but not more than half the color wheel.  Just to jog your mind—an analogous color plan is one that uses closely-related colors. They are usually side by side on the color wheel, but they can be in larger incremental steps, such as every other color within the range, etc. (If you want more information about analogous color plans, see the post  Using an Analogous Color Plan).  

The quilts in this post use varying ranges of greens, blues, and violets. This color spectrum is a beautiful range of colors. Nature must like this combination too, as she uses this spectrum often. In the photo above, the hydrangea blossom is just emerging in soft, subtle blends of aqua blues, blues, blue-violets, violet, and red-violets. When the sunlight hits the leaves, the colors flit from yellow-greens through to blue-greens.  

You can see similar color ranges in quilts, jewelry, wearable art, watercolors, and other paintings and artwork. In this post you will find four quilts that use this expanded analogous range of greens, blues, and violets. They are all colored differently even though their ranges are similar. Today the featured quilts in this analogous color range are by Chris Porter and Lois Dunten.

My Field House Iris Garden by Chris Porter

My Field House Iris Garden was created by Chris Porter from Bristol, England. Rather than using one or two greens for the quilt’s background, Chris used an assortment of greens ranging from yellow-green to dark blue-green. Using many greens in garden quilts create a more interesting background. It also adds richness to the overall design. Chris’s irises are in blues, blue-violets, violets, and red-violets. Touches of yellow, chartreuse, and golden-yellow are included in several of the iris beards.

Continue reading the rest of the post »

Are you hankering to make a charming traditional Christmas quilt this season? I think you’ll love this small 43” square wall quilt from Chris Porter’s pattern Deck the Halls with Nine-patch & Holly.  This small quilt has 9 nine-patch blocks, 4 holly leaf blocks, and a holly leaf and berry border.  It’s cute, cute, cute!  (Sorry, no photo of this little quilt yet.)  This quilt is fairly quick to make and beautiful in traditional Christmas fabrics. We used red buttons for the berries to great effect.

Chris’s pattern features a much larger cover quilt (61” x 84”), which is pictured here. We have also designed a Christmas table runner. Our favorite quilt, the small wall quilt, has not been photographed, as it is being exhibited in a trunk show.            

Shop Owners:  Deck the Halls in Nine-patch & Holly  is a great quilt to kit. You may purchase this pattern from your distributor or directly from us. Suggested retail price is $ 9.98. 

Quilters:  You may purchase this pattern from your local quilt shop. Please contact us if you are unable to locate this pattern.  

Christine Porter has a talent for designing easy- to- construct quilts that are colorful and really fun to make. Summer Breeze is no exception.  This quilt is really fun for selecting fabrics and is an excellent way to learn or refresh one’s basic rotary cutting and strip-piecing skills.  For the shop owners, if you have wonderful focus, theme, and/or large-print fabrics, then this pattern quilt is really an excellent class project for you.

To see more information on this pattern, please view the Summer Breeze pattern page at our website.

Skill Level: Confident beginner

George R. Brown Convention Center

Today we find Houston in the rain. Coming from sunny Seattle area, we were amazed to find ourselves settle into a dreary weather day. However, inside the George Brown Convention Center was filled with positive, hopeful thoughts. Hundreds of vendors were working hard to prepare their booths for Quilt Market. A few dozen vendors made presentations at Schoolhouse, an activity that gives quilt shop owners the opportunity to meet with vendors and see the products they have to offer. Our late afternoon Schoolhouse session gave us the opportunity to show our newest patterns, which we love: Honey Bears by Alex Anderson, Summer Breeze by Christine Porter, In a Pickle by Larisa Key, and Snap, Grab & Go Tote and Quilt Ensemble by Teresa Fields (aka Quickie Chicks). We also introduced Ricky Tims’s Arabian Nights and Cindy Walter’s Poinsettia Christmas ensemble of beautiful painted table runner, placemat, coaster, and wallhanging. Ricky, Christine, Charlotte Warr Andersen, and Teresa Fields introduced their quilts, answered questions, Tomorrow is the first day of Quilt Market. When I left the convention floor just before 7pm tonight, vendors were still working hard to finish putting their booths together.

Tomorrow is a day of hope and excitement. We hope everyone has a great day tomorrow―both the creative vendors who sell their products and the shop owners who select products for their quilting clients. Here’s to three great days of great surprises and findings.

Market is coming up this weekend!  Cindy Walter, Christine Porter, Ricky Tims, and Joen Wolfrom will be at our booth (600-601) this year, so come on by and see our brand new patterns!

We also will be providing a schoolhouse presentation at 3:10-3:40pm in Room 371F on Friday, October 9th. 

More info about the new patterns to come on our blog and website!