Kona Cloth and coordinating Aurifil Thread

Stumbled across this Kona/Aurifil .pdf somewhere.  Great chart!

Eleven pages of wonderfulness.

http://siterepository.s3.amazonaws.com/531/kona_aurifil.pdf

I noticed Red Rock Threads in NV has a blog post that describes the suggested use of each weight.

http://www.redrockthreads.com/aurifil-thread/?gclid=CPPq5K_HiLkCFa9cQgod50EAQw

Deciding on Fabric Colors, my approach

Here is how I solved the color problem.  It worked with another quilt I did and it worked out in pleasing colors.  

I have a color wheel called "The Color Star" by Johannes Itten.  ISBN: 0-471-28931-0

Inside the package are a bunch of cutouts.  

I choose a color I really want to use, teal and purple are the main colors I want in my quilt.   Now the choice is what colors will look good with these two colors. I place one of these wheels over the color star and it revels only the colors that go with it.  The color theory is used to determine these cutouts.  The star points are graded from light light through dark dark in each star point. I try each of these cutouts and see what combinations I like.  I was surprised to see that i could safely add green (for leaves) and gold and some other blues.  Then I go to my inventory and select fabric candidates. 

Then I sort the fabrics from light to dark using my value thing.  Then I stack them on my shelf with notes about the colors e.g., light, medium, dark, etc.  I put the rest away and now I know to select my quilt's fabrics from these groupings only.  When I am not sure about what will show up on another color, like the circles on the compass ring I am currently working on, I look through the value finder and see how the two fabrics look together.  

The choices are reflected in my compass in the previous post.  Hope this helps someone!

Love Enduring (LE) Applique Block of the Month

While trolling the Web looking for a Dear Jane quilt-a-long (QAL), I stumbled upon Esther's applique QAL.  I read it a few times and decided to give it a try.  A few parameters I set for myself.  I want to keep up the best I can, and I want to primarily use my 'fabric inventory'.
So first I tried to hand piece the center compass. Not a success. I couldn't make my stitches invisible. So I decided to English Paper Piece (EPP). This went better. Here are my compasses.


I can see my stitching, yikes!



But the EPP turned out better, to me.






The next step is the compass ring. See if I can get to that tomorrow.
Thanks to Esther and everyone who so selflessly gives expert advice.

Location: Mesa, Arizona, USA