Well, Skeat, I for one am going to check out that book. I am marginally okay with putting colors/tones together. I need all the help I can get with color, and I love the "taking the fear out of it" thing. Thanks for posting the information and I'll let you know how I progress.

Thanks - very helpful.

Ah, a colour book, what a fun idea.
I read "Color Magic for Quilters" and was inspired to create a fabric colour wheel, but that didn't get far beyond the initial collection and separation of colours so I still don't have one.
So, I'll confess to being colour challenged. I go with what I like, try to spread out in tones and hues, then read something else that makes me think, hmm, maybe I should be doing this. I think that ultimately my challenge is feeling disorganized in the way my fabric is stored. Wouldn't it be nice to have everything sorted like in a quilt shop? But I'm NOT going there with my stuff. I will not......I will not.....I will.........

I personally like bright colors....I choose bright bold feature fabrics and then put blenders/tone on tones with them or throw in some black or other really dark colors to make the brights pop

I love to go through the rows of fabric and stack boldts of them all up together on a table and then stand back and look at them...some come out then, and I may go find something else to replace it...I will keep doing this until I am happy with the combination.

I have been collecting eye hurting bright, bright pinks and oranges for a while, added a piece of the brightest light neon green to them a while back....I guess I am not afraid of color 8)

My struggle is with hues/tones...muted fabrics....

This is another chicken or egg issue for me. When I decide on a project, I pick from my stash and see what fits. From start to finish it's a happy mess of pulling pieces and laying them out. I immediately know what doesn't work and when I have a general idea of thumbs up, I leave the pile and review them for a day or two. (Different times of day - different states of sober lol)

I have had color classes and have read assorted books, but I have never just doodled to come up with a design. I have taken a design and doodled it into submission.

On occasion, the plan gets scrapped and a new one emerges. ....but that was BQB. Now, if I get stuck, I can ask here. :lol:

I do the same thing with my projects, except I pull bolts of fabric off the shelves at the LQS and match them up for my project. It keeps the stash intact, that way. :D

I pick my fav floral fabric because I love florals and that seems to be the majority of my stash, then pick the brightest bright, med and dark color to complement. I also try and pick my favorite colors, but have recently discovered that green works well with just about everything, but there are way too many shades of it! If I have to pick more than 5 colors to a quilt I panic, so I'm not that brave yet. I did however pick up the book "Beyond the Block" - talk about color! This is something I may attempt someday on a small scale.

Another thing I do is look at LIFE mag photos, hot air balloon colors, close-up pics of gardens, seashores, forests. Inspiration is everywhere.

That is my ultimate favorite(Color Magic For Quilters) and did I say 'favorite' color book???:)It is!! I had that book way before I ever started quilting. It does help organize the thought on color. Now, let me tell you that you can get too swallowed up in all the techno names for colors, etc.....I like to take a difficult situation and simplify! This book does help that too and in my previous art-it was a precious jem! Too many times we look at something, like a quilt and oooohhh....ahhhh...and you have to stop and ask yourself the big question...is it the pattern?The colors?What made you stop and hold your breath?:)
I have my fabric divided in certain groups such as 30's, Christmas, Halloween/fall....then I have my retro groups and antique looking reproductions.....there some of it works in a group and some just don't. Like the repro's....I have the defin. groups of yellow/golds, blues, blacks, reds, etc. Then you have an obnoxious piece that looks like the aliens delivered it here ! How else would that piece be here??I have always set that piece aside and decided what color is the dominate color in the fabric...then it goes in that catagory. She talks about that in the book. :)Great ideas!
I also know from past experiences in past arts that you will find a color that is a definate in a quilt...you found a pattern and that fabric came to mind. Let's say 'purple'...the pattern could be a windmill. You have to decide where you want that purple. If you want it (purple)in the background and can't decide on the points of that windmill.....I'd tell you to pull out that trusty color wheel and see what is across from purple...you would find 'yellow'....the background is a pretty large area...so, to balance the scales in a sense...you would want to put what is across the wheel from it in a larger area...being the points. This isn't a 'have to'...but, a good way to find direction. You can also remember how purple is made...blue and red...again, a good choice to continue. Just an example people:)Again, a simplified way to think color.

This Sloane's book gives you some experiments to do....and, I am going to do it myself and even challenged my local quilt group to do it and everyone is. The idea of this is to not only find what color you lean to, but, finding great combinations you would have never thought of before!! I like to step out of my box and this a good one to do it too:)
Great posts here!! (((applause!!))) Everyone's input on their thinking of color is a treasure!! And, a wealth of input!! Keep it up! Skeat

honey, if it has to do with quilting/sewing etc. I am addicted.
I have not read Pat Sloane's book, but will have to check it out.
I have Color Magic for quilters written by two sisters.
funny that you mentioned, about Pat clipping and saving pics, etc.
I have been doing this for about five years, now, and never heard of anyone else doing it.
I have hmm, if i got them all into notebooks, would probably be at least four of those huge ones!
I have finally stopped clipping everything in site! hubby used to think I was nuts, but I do look at them again. They are a great inspirational tool for color combo's.
Sometimes, I group by color, and other times, by seasons, or whatever.
I am also a famous paint card collector. I have only had one person, to ever come up to me, while browsing and collecting. Imagine! They are free, and I was really going to buy some paint for my living room, just not that day. These cards were so I could match my drapes.
She wasn't rude, but I could tell she didn't want me to get so many cards.
As long as I make purchases in these stores, I have no problem with it.
:D

Oh, now this is a subject near and dear to my heart! I love love love color. Most of the people who see my quilts in person mention something about my color/fabric choices so I think it's my strong point. I have inherited an "eye"- probably from my dad's late mom- she had her own craft business- because I can match a fabric that has been sitting on my shelf at home for years without having it in front of me. That said, not everyone likes the crazy wild colors that I put together, but I sure do! :0) My quilts make me happy!

I will have to take a look at those books. I have been requesting books to be sent to my library with the interlibrary loan program so I will put those on my list. They even ordered the first Material Obssession book for me. (Awesome book! I want to order it and the sequel. There is a blog too. http://materialobsession.typepad.com...ial_obsession/)

How I choose my stash fabric is: if it is a bright clear color in a polka dot/stripe/floral/geometric and the price is right- it comes home with me! I like fabrics that are more blenders than focus fabrics. I think if you have a really standout fabric then the focus is going to be on the fabric itself instead of on the quilt or the design of the quilt. I do like a really cool focus/larger scale fabric for a back, though, so I do buy those. I try to get larger amounts of those, too, then.

I have my fabric sorted by color and somewhat theme- the holiday is in a stack, the 30's are by themselves, solids are by themselves. I have about 10-15 "future quilts" pulled on a separate shelf and these are fabrics that I either have bought for a certain quilt or ones that I have a couple of the fabrics picked out and am looking for more. I let them sit there and keep looking at them, maybe picking up more coordinating prints here and there, and the design will "ferment" in my head. I am always thinking quilts in the back of my mind so I may take a year or two to come up with a design for a stack of fabric. Or I will see a quilt I like- say a zig-zag quilt and it will hit me- oh! The purple and green stack would look great like that! And then I know what that stack will be made into. I usually will end up pulling more blenders from my stash and adding them to the pile because I like a lot of different fabrics in my quilts.

On occasion I will see a pattern I like or think of a design and then go right to the stash, pull a bunch of fabric and then hit the quilt store to round it out. Usually, though, I start with the fabric and the design follows.

This is a neat thread- I like seeing how other people do things.