WOW: Playing With Colour

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

UPDATE: I'm officially on Instagram now! I never thought I would bother but I have been convinced by my class that its easy (I hope so) and that it really doesn't take much time once you know how to do it (Hmmmm). I'm officially 'giving it a go' so if you'd like to follow me, simply click my Instagram link on the sidebar. I really like the idea of posting images of the things that spark my interest during the day - I often find myself falling in love with fabrics and sharing quick glimpses seems like a good idea.

Time will tell...

One of the benefits of teaching 'novice' sewers is that I keep reviving my own interest in sewing knick knacks too. Like cushion covers and hemming curtains and all those things that really don't interest me ordinarily...until I start showing others how it's done and then I get 'all inspired' and launch into whole new projects when I really shouldn't. I've had to be strict with myself on that regard or things could get out of hand on the table runner, custom curtain, cushion and casserole dish pot holder front. Frankly I've got too many quilts to let domestic sewing ideas creep into my WIP pile.

However, last week I received a parcel from my most favourite online quilting shop - the Jinny Beyer studio and one of the things I picked up was this palette. Goodness, I forgot how good it was to have one of these, I haven't had one for years (my last one went walk about during a workshop at least 5 years ago) and I never got around to replacing it.

I've been trying to demonstrate fabric relationships to my group and have released a lot of my fabric stash to them. It's been liberating to let go of so much fabric as well as knowing it was going to good homes and would be put to use. But it became clear that they were facing the same issue I've always had - gathering beautiful fabric together because they're so beautiful but without regard to their suitability for projects and pre existing fabrics.

So now, we talk about what fabrics they've selected and each week when I bring in some more fabric to give away, they 'match' it, and doing so means the fabric they're stashing is 'ready' for immediate use in an actual project. It's been wonderful to see the 'penny' drop for them and now they are selecting 'batches' based on coordinated groupings. Its really the best way to plan those sewing projects without building up beautiful but (let's face it, in my case basically useless) shelves of fabric you don't have much chance of using because it doesn't work with anything else you have.

Now I just have to learn to take my own advice....

What's Your WOW?

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