Donna Lynn Thomas, a very talented and profilic quilter/teacher from Kansas City came to Omaha’s Cottonwood Quilt Guild in April of this year. That morning, I was distracted and running late for that meeting. I was not really prepared to actually pay attention to the speaker even though it was a divinely sweet spring day.
Luckily for me, Donna Lynn Thomas’ chat captivated me totally. Isn’t it nice when someone draws you out of yourself and takes a manic morning in a totally different direction? It was like the first whiff of your favorite perfume. Ah, so sweet.
Ms. Thomas got my attention in two ways. First, she makes quilts a couple of fat quarters at a time. Forget about a “stash” of fabric. Or rather a stash of cash because face it, that is what a mountain of yard goods really is. What to do with it all?
Secondly, she chooses a pair of fabrics in the same color (hue) but of different values. Value changes with the addition of either white or black.
Color Value Tool
Interestingly, Grace Errea had been our speaker the month before Ms. Thomas came, so color value was still fresh in my mind. The Color Tool above makes it easy to find fabrics that work together well because they are the same color (hue) but a different value (darker or lighter.) You can buy this tool from Grace’s site.
A fat quarter goes a long way, actually. If you are working with 5 inch squares, you get a dozen blocks. Five by five is 24 square inches. You are getting 12 blocks, so the coverage is just under 300 square inches. At that rate, 14 fat quarters makes a queen size bedspread top. Since you work in color pairs, that is 7 colors.
Donna has an amazing eye for color. There is a quilt featured just inside the front cover of
that will be my first fall project. I will send you the picture when I finish. If you have a lot of “stash” or none at all, I highly recommend anything in the impressive library from Donna Lynn Thomas. No less than 11 of her books can be found on Amazon. Don’t forget the fundamentals books, either. Even Tiger Woods takes lessons!
The pink links are your gateway to easy purchasing. Enjoy!
Oh, and next newsletter, we will talk about Donna Lynn Thomas again. Make “on point” blocks and FORGET THE MATH. Can you believe it, there is a way to make “on point” blocks effortlessly.
ForeverQuilt 