New Year - looking back

2006 began as usual - with deadlines! However things looked up considerably when the proofs of The Quilter's and Patchworker's Colour Mixing Bible were checked and dispatched. But then that felt a bit odd as I'd been on deadlines more or less continuously for four years.Freedom is elating - then you have to consider what to do with it.

A cold, hard look at the workroom provided some clues: there were boxes containing over 300 patchwork blocks, returned from the publishers when various books were finished. Too good to waste and I was too mean to give them away, even if anyone had wanted them. Trying not to dwell on the investment of time and money they represented, I decided on a practical solution: Sampler Quilts.This turned out to be a much more interesting exercise than I could possibly have imagined.

First, I saw that the only possible 'theme' I could use for each one was Colour. Choosing the necessary number of blocks for, say, a double-bed quilt bearing some colour relation to each other took a little time.Then a setting and some borders and/or sashings had to be chosen to enhance and re-inforce the colour theme, where possible using fabrics from the stash or buying them cheaply in sales. This worked surprisingly well - it was gratifying to find that as I was able to 'practise what I'd preached' in the theory section of the Colour Mixing Bible and confirmed my notion that you can achieve wonders with judicious colour combination.I've now made four colour-themed Sampler Quilts, which I shall part with reluctantly when I find buyers for them. The picture shows a detail from The Deep-dyed Sampler Quilt. One, titled The Spring Sampler, has been sold already and I really miss it!