In my earlier life, the floor in my house was always covered with toys from my three wonderful sons and my lovely daughter. No matter how hard I tried to keep that floor clear, their creative minds had a new game or an invention that just had to be built or designed.
Today, the boys are grown and moved to their own homes. That lovely daughter still has a bedroom floor under all those clothes and I’m becoming my children!
Each time I start a new baby quilt, out come those storage bins of color choices. Choosing the right color combination for designing my baby quilt can be a slow process. Color schemes for a baby quilt just don’t grow on you, so I make piles of fabric on the floor, continue to rearrange, scrap my ideas, and start over as I design my newest baby quilt idea.
Once a group of fabrics are chosen for the baby quilt, I spread them out on the floor, glancing at them every so often from different directions over a few days. That perfect combination of color for the baby quilt just doesn’t happen overnight.
Many times the pattern that I design for my baby quilt also dictates my color and fabrics. Running out of a certain fabric with that color or pattern design for that next baby quilt isn’t always the end of the world. Look at these little stumbling blocks as a blessing in disguise that can force a new block design, sashing, or border for the baby quilt. Substitution of other colors and textures may just create a more beautiful baby quilt than the original design.
In my old age, I have taken to squinting at my fabric. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees, but either I just take off my glasses, and squint my eyes. The overall feeling of the pattern and color takes on a new perspective for my baby quilt.
In the world where the pinks are so lovely for the little lady’s baby quilt and a little boy can just cuddle up with the shades of blues, don’t overlook the power of the neutral shades of the whites, creams and even a few beiges or light grays to blend in. The color scheme may easily come to life in the baby quilt as colors are also chosen from across the color wheel. The addition of an accent color, in small amounts or a bit darker shade, adds interest and excitement to the baby quilt.
From experience, once you find that perfect fabric you really love, buy more than you really think you might need for your baby quilt. Smaller pieces of that special fabric will be the perfect scrap for an appliqué or a patchwork on another baby quilt project.
If you were at my house right now, you just might find pieces of color all over my floor since I am designing a new baby quilt. Shh, Don’t tell my kids!
