Where to find color inspiration….

You know, I love to be color-inspired by beautiful pictures that I find in magazines, on the web, and and by my own backyard:

 

And sometimes it’s the fabric itself that inspires me:

 

 

I would like to introduce you to some wonderful resources on the web that can really get your motor turning (at least in a color sense)!  The first one is called Design Seeds.  I get a daily email from them with beautiful photos and color swatches that make me happy:

 

You see what I mean?  You can browse by color palette and get lost in wonderful color heaven.  I can use one of these palettes to select a group of fabrics for a project I’m considering, or it comes in handy when I’m making a card for someone and I need a color nudge.

Another awesome resource for color inspiration is A Creative Mint.  About once a month, blog author, Leslie, shares some color candy that is to die for.  She also writes a column  for Decor8 called Color Me Pretty.

 

I love this color palette, so I had to plunder my stash and came up with this color combination (minus the kitty grey):

It reminds of rainbow sherbert!

If you would like to learn about color theory from a quilter’s standpoint, you should check out Joen Wolfrom’s blog: JWD Publishing Blog.  She also has several books, one of which, Color Play, focuses on color theory and color combinations that look fantastic in quilt designs.

My personal favorite book of Joen’s  “Visual Coloring, A Foolproof Approach to Color Rich Quilts,” guides you in using nature and photography to pull colors from.  She challenged 20 quilters to use her visual coloring technique to select colors and fabrics for a quilt of their own choosing to be featured in her book. The quilted examples along with the graphics are just stunning.

Finally, you have to check out Jeni’s blog, In Color Order.  Her blog banner alone makes me happy:

Jeni has some wonderful tutorials, a block of the month and since we’re discussing color inspiration, a series of posts discussing fabric and color (two of my favorite words) in The Art of Choosing series.  It’s one of the most comprehensive and inspiring selections for quilters that I have seen.  Check it out and you’ll find information about organizing, building, folding, and storing your stash, and more with color in mind.

 

 

Are you “sew” inspired and just dying to whip out your fabric stash and start a new project?  Me too!

Happy Quilting!

~ Julie