Inspired by Color

A few months ago I was contacted by the lovely Sonu Mathew, who is a Senior Interior Designer for Benjamin Moore & Co. She also is the host of Benjamin Moore's Living in Color with Sonu, a wonderful blog full of color inspiration. Sonu wanted to know if my little Abstract No.5, (pictured below) which I created about a year and a half ago as part of a small series, could be included in a future post featuring quilts as color inspiration. (Absolutely!)


Today the post ran and I am really delighted to find my work included in a post also featuring the work of Jan Myers-Newberry and Denyse Schmidt, both genuine rock stars in the quilt world! (Geez Louise, I sound like a silly groupie !)

Please be sure to check out Sonu's great blog and quilt inspired post here.

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A big Thank You for all the great comments in regards to my current work in progress, (see post below) and the struggle to overcome the critical voice of the perfectionist, (something apparently many of us share). This piece is so personal to me, (not in terms of private, but in terms of a journey) and I am truly grateful for everyones encouragement and support. I will be sure to share the final results once I finish. xo

Wash Day

New Ikea fabrics,


all washed and hanging out to dry.

Fun with Color!

Below are two very fun devices I came across on the web. Each one interactively illustrates the effects of color and simultaneous contrast. Click on the links and give it a try!

Simultaneous Contrast: How two colors, side by side, effect how they are visually perceived.


Click here to enlarge and move the control. Explore how your color perception of each circle is altered by increasing and decreasing the outer color "aura" around the circle.


I love this one! Click here to enlarge and move the cursor all around to change the background color. Watch instantly how it effects your visual perception of each of the colored circles! Cool!!! Call the kiddies to the screen and let them play, too!

To learn more check out this : link.

And while we are on the subject of color, I just loved reading the comments triggered by the Avocado Green/Harvest Gold post. Hearing about everyone's 1970's color scheme decorating memories while growing up, what a hoot! Here is a sample...

'Avocado green and gold wallpaper; crushed velvet gold couch and avocado green shag carpet; harvest gold wallpaper with lines of glittery gold all mingled in; orange and gold shag carpet, (which came with a rake!); green shag carpet, (which was like living with a golf course); yellow and avocado green walls; multi-orange-to-rust shag carpet; and last but not least... peach walls with bright yellow, green, & orange print fabrics!

Goodness, it's a miracle we weren't all driven to madness! Thanks so much everyone for sharing!

And here is one more funny personal '70's color combo from me... In 1972 I was 9 years old and my parents took me to see my very first concert, (Arlo Guthrie playing at the local college campus where my dad worked... how cool was that?! I still love Arlo!) Anyway, I remember what I wore that night... a bright yellow ribbed turtle neck sweater, with lavandar/purple crushed velvet pants. Talk about a color statement... I was one hip 9 year old!

In Search of Simplicity

"Think simple" as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.”
~ Frank Lloyd Wright



I am in search of simplicity.

Simplicity in design. Simplicity in form. Simplicity in function.

This new functional art quilt is back to the basics, with simply block piecing and straight rows of quilting. I hope that the simplicity of the design, coupled with my best craftsmanship and fabric selection, translates into a touch of eclectic elegance in which ever way it is used...



“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci


"Simplicity, carried to an an extreme, becomes elegance." ~ Jon Franklin


“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” ~ Albert Einstein

Note: One thing that is not simple is getting the colors to show true in each picture. Something I was not able to achieve here due to fluctuating lighting as I took the pictures, as well as the various places the photos are loaded on. Blogger, Etsy, and Flicker all show the colors differently. Drives me crazy! I would say, at least as far as my monitor is concerned, that the 1st and 3rd pictures shown here, are most accurate in representing the quilts true colors.

Color and Simplicity

I think over the last 3 days, the sun only came out for approximately 20 minutes. The rest of the time was cold dark and gray, with lots of rain. This, coupled with recent life events, left me craving two things... color and simplicity.


As I considered how to channel this craving into some new stitched work, my mind kept wandering back to a recent visit to a Free People clothing store. The clothes there are great, although out of my humble price range. But the thing that always catches my eye in this particular store, even more so then the clothing, is the beautiful stitched Indian patchwork which is used as upholstery on the chairs and couches as well as for the curtains on the dressing rooms. Bright patches of fabric with colorful, alternating rows of hand embroidery. The stitching creates a secondary woven-like overlay pattern on top of the richly patterned patchwork. Below is an example of a similar piece of upholstered furniture, an adario patchwork ottoman from Arhaus...


Inspired, I decided to start exploring some simple constructed patchwork, in brightly colored patterned fabrics. However, having done lots, and lots of hand embroidered art quilts this past year, I decided to take a break on the hand stitching, and subsitute machine stitching.



I quilted the entire surface in horizontal and vertical rows of stiching spaced just a smidge over 1/8" apart.

The colors cheered me, and the piecing and stitching soothed me.


I'm happy with how this first piece came out, and am now working on my next piece. This time I am paying a bit more attention to stitching more deliberate and defined rows of alternating colored threads. My goal is to create a more definite overlay pattern, not as random as in this first piece. (I'll post the results as soon as I finish.)

Also, I was tagged by the lovely Victoria, (hey, there's a nice name!) from A Mile A Minute. Thanks Victoria! Now, as soon as I can think of 7 semi interesting things about myself to share I will play along, but right now I feel about as interesting as a slice of melba toast!

Two Sides to Every Fabric Pile

Along with my purchase of those gorgerous new solid fabrics that I showed in my last post I also treated myself to some lovely striped prints that were designed by Kaffe Fassett. Below is a picture of them all grouped together, after being washed, ironed and folded...


And this is the back side... those colorful frayed threads were just to pretty to cut off!


I will be using these fabrics for some new art quilts as soon as I finish up my current works in progress, (which I hope to show soon!)

Beautiful Solids

I really have a passion for beautifully colored solid fabrics. Most of my quilts feature the wonderful fabrics and colors found in the Robert Kaufman Kona collection.

Yesterday I treated myself to 16 different colors from Robert Kaufman's Chambray collection. These new fabrics have a gorgeous quality to them!


Their beauty is due to how they are woven. Instead of one color used for both the warp and the weft, two different colors are used.


See how the warp and weft in this fabric are different colors? When woven together the colors blend to create this beautiful "Moth'" color!


Can you see how the this also gives the fabric a luminous iridescent look? Gorgeous!

Glorious Color!

Outside it was gray and overcast again, but inside I focused on glorious color!

A bowl of thread on my sewing table


A pile of paint chips on my cutting table. They provide wonderful inspiration for new color combinations, and the best part is they're free!


My latest embroidered mini art quilt, photographed against a vibrant piece of yellow paper.

Show me your colorful inspirations! If anyone has recently posted something bright and colorful on their blog, feel free to add a link to it in the comments section!