The Colors of the Rules

By the time I posted the first hint about the quilt for Helen, I had completed all the letters.

While Helen didn't know anything about the design I was planning, I had asked her what colors she liked. She replied that she liked the close values of red, oranges, and yellow. Throughout the winter, whenever I was at a quilt shop, I would pick up a few fat quarters in those colors (letters don't use much fabric). At one visit to Quilted Threads, I bought half yard cuts of various yellows, since I had decided the letters would be the reds, red-oranges and orange, and the background would be yellow. And I bought a fun fabric for the binding and the background of the word "FUN."I have very few solids in my stash, and although I love the larger scale designs of some of the hottest fabric designers (Amy Butler, Jane Sassaman, Kaffe Fassett, etc.,) for this quilt, I wanted fabrics that were (generally) a smaller scale so the individual letters would be easy to distinguish. The letters had to stand out from the background, so pale or light values of the reds and oranges wouldn't work.Susan says I always seem to find the best fabrics. That's a great compliment, but I don't think it's because I -have- the best fabrics, I think it's because I -use- the right fabrics in the -right- places.

About six years ago I made a quilt made completely of fabrics with black backgrounds. One of the fabrics had a series of stylish ladies wearing black sunglasses. I was going through my stash, and I found it again, and saw a lady with red hair. I was happy because Helen has red hair. Trimmed of the black background, the lady wouldn't be very large - perhaps an inch and a half square. Where could I use this lady? There was only one spot, and it would be perfect - The dot of the exclamation point.They key here is not just to look at something for what it -is-. Look at it for what [else] it can -become-.