4 Ways to Get Out of a Color Rut

Have you ever been in a color rut and just didn’t know how to get out of it? Or are you there now? Being in a rut like this really messes with my sewjo! I think all quilters can relate to these questions, so today I’m sharing four ways to get out of a color rut. Here’s how I got here:

I’ve been organizing my online photo albums and have been looking at pictures of my quilts over the years. I’ve noticed very distinct trends in my color preferences. At one time, I loved putting bright colors on black backgrounds to make the colors really pop. Then it was those same bright colors on white backgrounds. (I wasn’t much for switching things up!) Then there was a black and white phase, a rainbow phase, and an “all the colors” phase. Now I’m working through the Playful Color Quilt Guild exercises to really refine and define my color style.

But there were still times I just looked at all my fabric and couldn’t create anything without getting stuck in that groove I was already in. It was frustrating because I really admired quilts in other color ways. I just couldn’t figure out how to get there. These ideas came to me as I was putzing around aimlessly in my studio one day. I hope they help you.

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I’m a Rockstar!!

A free motion quilting rockstar, that is! And I’m so dang proud of myself and everything I accomplished over the past 12 weeks in the Free Motion Quilting Academy with HollyAnne Knight. I’m not even going to try to humble brag – I’m going full on woooooo hooooo on this achievement. So strap in.

The class is 12 weeks long, you learn 28 quilting motifs, and you have access to HollyAnne and her amazing community. To graduate, you have to submit pictures of your motif sampler and a whole-cloth quilt. Here’s my finished sampler.

picture of my finished FMQ sampler Read More…

2021 Aspirations

I fell into a bit of a trap when creating goals for last year, so 2021 is about aspirations. I don’t want to measure success against anything but my own happiness and progress, so aspirations just seemed a better way to frame it this year. Plus 2020 really did us dirty last year and messed up everyone’s plans. Aspirations will help me be more flexible and focused, I think.

Three words sum up these aspirations: color, modern, and quilting. So without further ado, here they are:

Color

The first area I want to work in is color. A couple years ago, I joined the Playful Color Quilt Guild from Rebecca Bryan. I literally did nothing with the group for a long time, but I started hopping into sessions back in October, and I’ve already learned a lot. I realized how predictable and juvenile my color choices were, so this year’s aspiration on color means I’m going to find my signature color palette.

Which means I had to clear out all the old to make room for new projects where I could play and learn. I’m slowly chugging through my pile of quilts to bind, and I’ve already finished three!

a stack of finished quilts Read More…

Quilt-Life Crisis Update

I came to this space a couple months ago having a quilt-life crisis. I guess staying at home all the time during a pandemic can really make you over think some things! But it’s all good. I’m still refocusing my quilting purpose, and I’m pretty excited about the goals I’m setting for 2021. I’ll share those next week.

But before I moved on, I knew I needed to get my WIP list under control. I had jumped on quilt along bandwagons for the past several years, and some of those were still hanging on… from 2018. I also had a few fabric piles that had been pulled for projects that I never started. There was no space left to create anything new and keep it all organized.

So I went on a tear to try to finish everything I could before the end of the year. That’s a lot of sewing, but I’m proud to say I made it happen! In just over two months, I finished 5 quilt tops, basted 9, and quilted 8. I now have a stack of 14 quilts that need the binding sewn down!

a stack of finished quilts

While I still have a lot of binding ahead of me (I love it!), there are only four projects left on my WIP list that I’m carrying over to 2021: two EPP projects and two hand appliqué projects. This really does feel like the fresh start I hoped it would. So I guess it didn’t end up being a quilt-life crisis after all!

See you back here next week to talk about my plans for 2021.

2020 Highlights

2020 was simultaneously the most boring and most hectic year of my life. I can’t leave the house! (Boring.) And my workload exploded! (Hectic.) But I couldn’t let that crazy minx get out of town without another look to see what my 2020 highlights were. I’ll start with the quilty goodness and share a couple cool things from my work and personal life too.

2020 Highlights: Quilting

I went into 2020 with six quilting goals. Looking back, that was way too many! I managed to meet most of them despite All This, I crashed and burned on one, and I completely never understood why I made another. So here’s how I did: Read More…

What am I Even Doing Here?!

I know this sounds like the tagline to 2020, but I’m talking specifically about here: this blog and my quilting life. 2020 has really had me thinking about a lot of things, but the thoughts about my quilting life have been really unexpected in some good and bad ways. Let’s dig into some sweet, sweet therapy on it all.

Joni emoji Read More…

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