Colour Class 2

I signed up for a year long colour class at our local quilt shop.  It takes place on the first Saturday of each month.   We each pick our "block" and that block will be used throughout the whole year.  Each month it will be slightly different depending on the colour rules we are learning.

I'm hooked, I love taking classes that really teach me the whys and wherefores of things.  I know that I like certain colours together, I enjoy going through the bolts of fabrics and fat quarters, picking things that to my eye meld nicely together.  But I've never known why.  Now is my chance to learn.

First step is to get the tools in place.  It's time for a colour wheel.  I had a small one from my Colour Class 1 last year.  At the first class  I learned that I needed something more.  I needed a 3-in-1 Colour Tool.

I tell you, this little baby is priceless.

Next step is to pick our pure colour.  My choice?  Turquoise.

Isn't it lovely?  I chose a white-on-white tone (with snowflakes!) for my background fabric.   I just wanted a bit of continuity throughout my sampler quilt.

The next step was to learn about tints, shades and tones.

Tints = adding white to the pure colour
Shades = adding black to the pure colour
Tones = adding grey to the pure colour
 
We had to pick several fabrics in the various tints, shades and tones of our pure fabric.  Here are mine:

Alone the left side are 3 shades, along the top are first two tints, then a tone, and finally another tint (the lightest tint I could find, it's nearly white!).

We have homework every month.  Basically just playing with fabric, glue and paper.

Next, it's time to play with block we have chosen.  Finding my block was very difficult for me, I couldn't find anything that really appealed to me that I could use at least 5 fabrics in that I wouldn't hate or get bored with by the end of the year.  I finally found a scrappy block called Twinkling Star.  With it I can use my white background and still get in a variet of the other fabrics.

Here is a mock up of my Twinkling Star (with fabric and markers).

I have my fabric cut out and my HST's done.  Now I have to piece it all together.  That picture you will see later in the week so don't forget to come back!

While I have you though, I thought I would show you a row I completed for a swap that I am part of.  This is my food row for my Robin Rower's group.  One more row and we'll each have enough rows to make a quilt.

It was made by paper piecing.
I don't think I like paper piecing.  It's a bit of a pain.
Which makes sense to me as I'm lactose intolerant...LOL...so ice cream would be a pain for me in real life too!
Anyway, thanks for coming by, I can't wait to show you my finished homework for the month.

Vivian