Have you ever needed to repair a fallen pants hem or skirt hem? Or what about keeping a shirt collar in place or pockets flush? Well, if anything like that has happened to you, there is a new temporary fabric adhesive that goes on in seconds and dries clear. It is called Lapel Stick. Keeping a Lapel Stick handy for those little emergencies is a good idea.

But I’ve been thinking about other uses too and experimenting with it. Guess what? It can be used for more than just fashion emergencies. There are all kinds of tasks this little Lapel Stick can do for quilters.  It can be used just as easily in crafts, sewing, and embroidery too. Think about this:  It can replace baste stitching, pinning, tapes, spray adhesives, and stabilizers. When I was experimenting with it, I was pleased to find it did not gum up my machine or my needles.  It is water soluble too!  You can use Lapel Stick on cotton, blends, leather, wool, linen, and silk. All you do is twist the cap off and apply it. It can’t get any easier than that!

I think one of the first ways I might use my Lapel Stick is to temporarily hold down the applique pieces when making the quilt Rabbit Tracks by Charlotte Warr Anderson. This quilt is absolutely adorable with those five little bunnies romping around  the quilt.  It doesn’t have to be Easter to make this soooo cute quilt. I’m thinking baby shower or even a birthday.

A Lapel Stick will keep those rabbit pieces perfectly in place while I applique them onto their pieced background blocks—a perfect task for this little stick. To see more of Charlotte Warr Andersen’s award-winning applique quilts, click here.

Well, I’ve got to go now and search for new things to bring you!

Teresa

Although there is a more scientifically based definition for analogous colors and the analogous color plan than I am offering here, the following definition and information should suffice for the purpose of selecting analogous colors to make beautiful quilts, fabric art, and other designs.

Analogous colors are those colors that are closely related to each other on the color wheel. Looking at the color wheel, you can see how the colors lying close to each other appear related and look beautiful together. When you work with colors that are closely related, you are working analogously—-in an analogous color plan. Nature uses this plan often in her own colorations. Its beauty lies in its sense of harmony created by the close relationships of the colors. For this presentation I have used one section of the color wheel, but you can use any analogous colors that you like for your own quilts or other designs.

Here are a  few guidelines to consider when using an analogous color plan:

1. If you want to use a small color range, use a minimum of three colors. Your design will be better balanced using three colors rather than two or four, because your eyes have a place to rest with an uneven number of colors.  Most often you see analogous colors shown in art books in a combination of three colors. This works, but it is the most limiting of all the analogous options. Consequently, its beauty is not as great as when a wider color range is used. Below is an example of a three-color analogous range:  chartreuse, yellow-green, and spring green.

2. If you want to work with a bit wider range than three colors, consider using a range of five colors. Below you can see a span of five colors including chartreuse, yellow-green, spring green, green, and blue green. You can see this range gives you more color possibilities than the traditional “three” color range does.

3.  If you want more of a color range than five, consider a span of seven analogous colors. This creates quite a beautiful blend of colors, as you can see below. The colors in this range include chartreuse, yellow-green, spring green, green, blue-green, aqua green, and aqua blue.

4. If you are a person who would like to use  even more hues, then you may do so—-but there is a limit. Do not go more than half the distance of the color wheel. Therefore, if you love greens and blues and want to include as many as possible, try to stay within eleven pure colors and their families. The absolute maximum is twelve colors. Once you go beyond half of the color wheel, analogously, you begin compromising the beauty of this color plan. This, then, can weaken the beauty of your design. Here eleven colors move from chartreuse to yellow-green, spring green, green, blue-green aqua green, aqua blue, turquoise, cerulean blue, blue, and blue violet.

5.  Perhaps you like the idea of using the widest span possible, but you do not want to use all of the colors within that range. If this sounds good to you, I’ve listed some options below. The important thing to remember is the colors should be evenly distributed through the range you have chosen.  This even distribution provides visual color balance.

• Instead of using every color in this large range, use every other color, making certain you select an uneven number of colors. In this example the colors would be chartreuse, spring green, blue-green, aqua blue, and cerulean blue.
• You could choose to use one-color and skip the next two colors, but this gives you an even number of colors: chartreuse, green, aqua blue, and blue. If you are determined to use chartreuse, then eliminate the blue. If you want to include blue, then eliminate the chartreuse. Since the colors need to be evenly spaced, it would not be a good idea to eliminate a color within the inside part of the range. If you really want to use all four of these colors, make certain the colors flow well through your design. If this is done, then the viewers’ eyes can move through the design with the flow of analogous colors.
• If you only want to use three colors in a wide range, make the color span evenly spaced. This will provide your design with a natural color balance. If you begin with chartreuse, your other two colors would be blue-green, and cerulean blue. Three colors would lie between each of these colors.

Additional Comments

1.  Using only three colors in an analogous plan is very limiting. A wider range offers you more flexibility and an easier way to create the beautiful color nuances that nature so often shows us. My usual preference is seven analogous colors. However, I do love working with a full range of analogous colors in some designs—-staying within the half-color- wheel limit. .

2.  If you use seven colors or less, make certain you are using an uneven number of colors in your span. If you are using more colors than seven, you can opt to use an even or uneven number of colors—-unless you design appears to be compromised when the colors are even in number.

3.  I like to use the color wheel to get a quick overview of the colors I want to use. Once I have determined my analogous range, I then go to my color tool, pull the cards of the colors I am going to use. Then I use those cards to help me select my fabrics.

4.  When selecting fabrics for a quilt using an analogous color plan, try to use some fabrics that incorporate two or more colors within your selected range. These fabrics make great blenders and help bring a cohesiveness to your design. Do not use any fabrics that incorporate colors outside of your analogous color range—-even if they are in little amounts. They will attract our immediate attention and create visual confusion, as they don’t belong with the other colors. It really pays to be disciplined making an analogously-colored quilt. You will be much happier with your results.

A COLOR CLARIFICATION

Each color on the color wheel is a pure color. This means the color is at its most saturated, brilliant form. Each pure color can be transformed into hundreds of other hues (colors) by adding white, black, or gray to it. For instance, pure green can be changed into numerous light greens, such as mint green when it’s whitened; green can become a beautiful emerald green as well as many other dark greens when it is blackened; and green can turn into a wide variety of winter greens when it has been grayed. All of these “new” colors are part of pure green’s color family. A color family includes the pure color and every color derived from it.  The pure color is the head of its own family.

When referring to a color, I may be referring to only the  pure color, but most often I am really meaning any or all colors that make up that pure color’s family of hues. Thus, if you use three analogous colors in your design, you are not using just three pure colors. You will be using a multitude of hues from each of those three color families.

A selection of analogous quilts will be posted for your to  view soon. Also, for more information go to the post Nature’s Favorite Color Plan.

Happy Coloring!

© Joen Wolfrom, 2011

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel was used in the above illustrations. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her upcoming book Adventures in Design will be released in September. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.

When you read the JWD Publishing blog I hope you will either be inspired, laugh a little, learn something new, or just feel like you’ve spent a few minutes with a friend. People ask me how I find the products or subjects that I write about. Sometimes I will come up with a product that intrigues me. Other times, it is a product or an idea that someone calls me about. More often than not I will simply be surfing the web and stumble upon something new that I think you need to know about.

So here is something you need to know about— Heat Press Batting Together

Yes, that is the name of the product. What is it?? Heat Press Batting Together™ is a 1 1/2 inch cloth tape on a 10 yard roll. It will allow batting edges to be fused together with a soft fuse that stretches, eliminating the old pinning and stitching of extra batting pieces needed to fit a specific project. The product can be used on any batting content. Think of this— all of those leftover pieces from other projects can be fused together and made large enough to do another quilt. No more waste! This fused batting is easy to needle by hand or machine. What I also love about this product is that it is made in the USA!!

Go to www.heatpressbattingtogether.com and check out Heat Press Batting Together. Then, if you love it as much as I do, ask your local quilt shop to carry this great product.

Thanks for spending time with me!

Teresa

One of the organizations that is dear to my heart is Project Linus. If you do not know what it is, let me give you a brief summary. Project Linus is comprised of hundreds of local chapters and thousands of volunteers across the United States. Each local chapter and volunteer work together to help achieve the mission, which is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. Project Linus provides gifts of new handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer blanketeers. Together over three million blankets have been distributed since the inception of Project Linus in 1995. That is great news, but what does that have to do with Skip-Stitch? Read on…..

I was in my local quilt shop, the Little Scrap Quilt Shop in Kokomo, Indiana when my eyes stopped. What is a Skip-Stitch™? It is a blade that can be used on most 45mm rotary cutters. It perforates your fabric, making perfectly spaced holes. It comes in three sizes. The holes are a perfect size, so that you can add fringe, crochet around a blanket, or do lacing. The Project Linus website provides several ideas for making fleece or flannel blankets and then finishing them with the Skip-Stitch.

Now let me tell you how this great idea came about. I spoke to Joyce, the co-owner of Skip-Stitch.  (To digress, I must say she has the best Georgian accent. I am always go, go, go, but her slow, relaxed voice just slowed me down for a minute or two.) One day Joyce was making holes for fringe on the edge of a fleece blanket for the Project Linus. She was using an ice pick and was at her dining room table. You guessed it; she slipped. It made her start thinking that there had to be a better way. Joyce came up with the Skip-Stitch tool. Her co-owner husband makes this tool one by one in his garage.

Joyce, this is a great idea!

Everyone, please check this wonderful tool out at www.skipstitch.com. Then, after you have purchased it, make a blanket for Project Linus. See ya later.

Teresa

I was starting to get calls from people saying where are you at? There is nothing new on the blog!! Sorry. I have been playing hooky. With the warm weather and the gardening and now the apples are coming in I just got side tracked. But I haven’t forgotten my promise to you to continue to bring you new and unique products.

I do have one thing I would like to share with you. It’s something sad that also caused me to delay from writing on the blog. August 25th my faithful companion Nico, a beautiful German Shepard, died. That morning she was with me in my sewing room. I was designing a new block for Quiltmaker Magazine 100 blocks series that will come out in 2011. I looked at her and said, “I should name this block after you”. She tilted her head like to say, “ya mom that would be great”! It’s a star and she is one of the stars in my life so I thought it would be appropriate. That evening she was sitting at my feet and she had a seizure. Before I could get her to my veterinarian she died. My veterinarian said it was a blood clot to the lung or heart. My husband, my other dog Mystic, and I have been sad for her leaving but are happy that she decide when to go and that we were with her. By the way, the new block is named “Nico’s Star”. I think she would love it!

Let me touch on one product I did find for you. Carol Doak’s Foundation Sheets by C&T Publishing. I have used these myself. You can use them in most inkjet or laser printers or copy machines. No shrinking, curling, or turning brittle! And the best thing is it tears away easily! What makes it different is it is lightweight so, it won’t create bulk. It’s absorbent so less ink transfer where you don’t want it. And it’s non-coated so fabric won’t slip on it! It comes in 100 sheet package for around $10.00. Check it out! See you later, Teresa

I was at a quilting event and there was a lot of chattering about a really cool ruler called Rapid Fire Hunter’s Star. Well, I had to find out what this was all about. You are not going to believe this―Have you ever been afraid of making the Hunter Star block because of the matching in the middle? Not a problem anymore! This Rapid Fire Hunter’s Star ruler makes piecing the block fast and easy. It is based on using strips of fabric. So all those jelly rolls you have around now can be put to good use. It’s easy to use two, three, or four colors in this block with this ruler! 

The ruler comes in two sizes. There is the petite-size ruler for 5″ - 8″ blocks. The larger size makes 7″ – 10″ blocks. Deb Tucker is the “creative kingpin” and she got this right! This is not the only quilt you can make with this ruler. Deb has many other patterns on her website― may I say they’re soooo beautiful too. Instead of me trying to explain how to use this ruler, I would rather you go to www.baysidequilting.com, put Hunter’s Star ruler in the search bar, and  then see a great demo on how to use it (they have Deb’s permission to do this and they did a great job). Then mosey over to Deb’s website, www.studio180design.net and see all of her other products and fabulous patterns. I have two other rulers that Deb has created that I am going to review for you too, but you will have to come back…… The cat needs feeding, so I have to go for now. Everyone stay safe and keep quilting.

Teresa Fields

Last weekend I was invited to go to the Winter Woolen Workshop in Kokomo, Indiana. What a treat! It is put on by the Howard County Historical Society and Beth’s Main Street Folkart. It is held the last weekend in February, so mark your calendars for next year. It takes place at the Seiberling Mansion and the Elliott House in Kokomo. This year there were day workshops and demonstrations in early samplers, colonial painting, punch needle embroidery, rug hooking, spinning, weaving, hand quilting, tatting, rug punch, needle felting, knitting and crocheting. Wow! What a weekend! And there were 22 vendors! The mansion….. oh my gosh…. it was sooooo beautiful.

Let me tell you about one thing that I did learn while I was at the Winter Woolen Workshop:

Kumihimo? Know what it is? I didn’t until last weekend. It is where you weave ribbon on a braiding loom to make cords for necklaces, bracelets, etc. They use eight bobbins and a loom. The loom is about the size of a large grapefruit. You bring the ribbon up and across― and the next one down and across. Thankfully the loom has numbers on it, so you don’t get confused. It was really cool to watch and it looked pretty easy to do!

Tip of the Day is something we should all do…. Put things back where they belong. It sounds so simple, but sometimes we get in a hurry and we don’t. When we do put things back, what we are looking for is always there waiting for us the next time we need it.

See you next time! Keep quilting!

Beth starts out telling you how to do appliqué the usual way with freezer paper. Then she surprises you with another easier way that is over the top! She worked with C&T Publishing and came up with a new product called Wash-Away Appliqué Sheets. This stuff is great! To quote Beth in her book, she says, “For some time, quilters have had water-soluble paper that we can use instead of freezer paper, and it works okay. Without a fusible side, this paper must first be glued to the fabric and then glue basted―a fiddly process. But now C&T has come out with Wash-Away Appliqué Sheets. This iron-on stabilizer will soften and practically disappear with washing. In other words, it’s like water-soluble freezer paper. I know! How awesome is that?” 

And Beth is right, it is awesome!

Now if you are frugal and are wondering if there are other uses for the sheets, I can help you out with that also. It is a stabilizer, so you can use it with trapunto or paper piecing. You can run a sheet through your printer for paper piecing and you won’t have any paper to tear off!! Fantastic!!

The book is full of tips and a few personal stories that I especially enjoyed reading. The patterns! Oh, I didn’t mention the beautiful patterns that are in the book. This is another item in my “things you never knew you needed” category. You need this book and a package of the Wash-Away Appliqué Sheets. There is just too much in this book to tell you about. You just have to go to your favorite quilt shop and pick it up. You won’t be sorry.

Tip of the day comes from Beth Ferrier:  Don’t forget both sides of the fabric! Sometimes the perfect shade can be found on what is commonly called the “wrong side”. Using both sides of the fabric instantly doubles your fabric stash! Thanks Beth! Everyone have a great day and keep quilting!

I will tell you that when I first saw it it look kind of strange. I then went to Checker Distributor website and watched the video of how it works. WOW! It is really cool. The Double-Strip ruler is one of a range of strip rulers designed to make cutting 1/2-sq-triangles, 1/4-sq-triangles, 60 degree triangles, trapezoids and more from 2 1/2″ wide strips quickly and easily! When I said it looked funny at first it is because one side of the ruler is to cut strips and the other side has triangles. You use two 2 1/2″ strips sewn together to make a 4 1/2″ strip. You then cut your pieces from that. If you sew two 2 1/2″ strips together and make a tube you can cut a diamond shape. The rulers come in three sizes. You need to go to the Checker Distributor website and watch the short video on it. You won’t believe it.

Now I have another tip for you from one of my quilting friends and this is a good one that I have never heard of. If you have a project you are buying fabric for but you know you may not get to it right away, then photocopy the page in the book or magazine of the project and put it with the fabric. That way when you pull the fabric out you don’t have to wonder, “What did I buy that for”? I have done that so many times. Great tip! If you have a tip let me know in the comment section. Until next time keep quilting!!

Now I promised you some sewing or cooking tips. Today it is a sewing tip.

If you are collecting a certain color of fabric, for example black and white, keep a small swatch of it in a small notebook in your purse. If you are like me you get into the fabric shop and wonder, do I have that one? Just take out your small notebook and look it up. It saves time and money. Have a wonderful day and keep quilting!