::Warm & Cool Hearts Color Value Quilt::

I’m not quite sure what happened to January, does anyone know where it went?  Apparently time flies faster than I sew.

I spent much of the month happily digging through my stash, cutting and piecing in an attempt to showcase my Warm & Cool Hearts Color Value Quilt LONG before Valentine’s Day and here it is a week and change away.

Lately, I’ve become obsessed with heart shape blocks and appropriately, L-O-V-E best describes my feelings for my new quilt.  I haven’t bothered to asked Jefe how he feels about it yet.

Revisiting my Color Value Quilt Tutorial and workshop using the heart shape has been on my bucket list.  I’d been asked to place it on the teaching calendar, but adding a new sample to demonstrate how value works in this quilt’s design was necessary to keep teaching the workshop fresh for me.

Certainly the hearts can be a mix of colors (see early morning iPhone photo below), but consolidating them to a single color created a more cohesive and visually appealing shape to my eye.  The challenge of finding the perfect tints and tones for each heart slowed the process down, but made it more enjoyable.

It was also a good exercise in ‘seeing’ what color values my stash lacks or is abundant in.

I reached out to quilty friends for an additional here and there square and some light values for the background.  I recommend a swap if you find some holes in your stash.

Value is relative, but for the most part I stayed away from what I considered medium values with the exception of the turquoise and mustard blocks.

I spent a great deal of time staring at my design wall and moving things around before piecing them.  Keeping the value focused on darks for the hearts and light for the backgrounds was a good exercise in what your mind’s eye thinks works and reality.

 This became especially apparent when I stepped away.   My view into the studio from the kitchen was an extremely helpful tool for determining whether the value of the background blocks was working for or against my heart blocks.  We’ll cover useful tools like this in the workshop.

I didn’t piece the quilt together by rows or columns, but worked by completing each heart block into its background and moved them around for the final layout.  I’m not a preplanner or a drawer in general, so this process suited me.

I think the best part of a Color Value Quilt is gazing at all those fabrics I was drawn to for whatever reason in one quilt.  Especially those that don’t exist in my stash anymore.  I just love print.

Some flannel of course for the back.  I’m still trying to stick to my stash when it comes to shopping for backing.

I’ll run this workshop and my Free Motion Fundamentals/Nesting Baskets through March.   Reserve your space by simply emailing me at sewkatiedid@gmail.com or calling and I’ll reserve you a spot.  (the website is sooooo close to done).

 Open Studio dates have also been updated.

The Value Workshop is a great opportunity for cutting into your growing stash and use all those fabrics you love that haven’t found a place in a quilt yet.  I’ve dug into my stash and have a load of pre-cut squares for sale to supplement your designs or we can dig through my stash and cut.  Keep up on my Instagram and/or Facebook for a major destash of these.

As usual, once finishing a quilt top of a traditional/classic design I’m itching for something improvisational, so look for something of that nature for workshops next month.

Happy week(end) Peeps;)