The Color Connection

Christine's Color Connection

A newsletter for quilters in love with color

September 2011

In This Issue

This month's issue features an in-depth look at transparency, plus my "Workshop Schedule."

The Quilter's Color Club covers transparency, with both parent/child and overlay examples. You can find my book on my website, at C&T, and in quilt shops and bookstores.

Join Our Mailing List!

Transparency

Of all special effects, transparency is the one that gets the most oohs and aahs. And no wonder. It's trompe l-oeil for the quilt world, an illusion so convincing that I've had people believe they were actually looking through one fabric to a fabric below. "Where do you find these fabrics you can see through?" a non-quilter once asked me. Now that's fooling the eye!

What is transparency? It's the illusion that one transparent color lies on top of another, and where they cross, a third color is created. I first heard the terms "parent" color and "child" color from Judy Warren Blaydon, and they perfectly describe the source colors and the resulting mixture. A dark-value parent and a light-value parent produce a medium-value child (a transparency of value). Or, a yellow parent and a blue parent create a green child (a transparency of color). Below are various transparencies, from super-simple to subtle and complex:

apircot

A Nine Patch is perfect for playing with value transparency. Here, light, medium, and dark values of yellow-orange make it appear as though one band of color crosses another, with the mixed color in the middle.

rans leaves, USE

Above is another parent/child transparency that involves both color and design. What makes this block so convincing is the matching blue in the horizontal parent and the child. I lucked out because both are Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

trans apples, use

This Apple Star block is much more subtle. Large green triangles appear to overlap same-size violet triangles, resulting in smaller triangles of mixed color and value.

hometown cropped

This Hometown Hero block has a barely-there transparency, one that I refer to as an "overlay." Instead of parent and child colors, a transparent shape seems to float above the surface, dramatically altering the colors underneath.

trans complex star

Another star block, another overlay. Here my goal was to create the effect of a yellow star floating above an on-point, blue-green Puss in the Corner block.

trans Connecticut

This Connecticut block also illustrates overlay transparency, with the illusion of a light, on-point square suspended above an on-point center square and rectangles around the perimeter. The corner squares aren't part of the illusion; they're just there, completing the block.

Alex Henry trans block

And finally, if you think fabric manufacturers don't consider transparency, look at this Alexander Henry fabric, which is full of overlay transparencies. Many of them don't make sense (green and orange make blue?) but it works for me. I'm saving it for the backing on my new transparency quilt.

I'll be teaching transparency in Rocklin in November; check out my schedule below. This workshop is intense, but the results are worth the effort, and we have so much fun.

To immerse yourself in four special effects, including transparency, see my schedule for June 2012, when I'll be doing a three-and-a-half day-retreat at Lake Tahoe.

I'll be teaching a two-day color class, which will include transparency, at Sisters in July, 2012. It's my first time teaching at Sisters, and I'm excited!

Scraps

The three blocks that make up the banner at the top of this issue come from a quilt I'm working on that uses shot cottons and hand-dyes. The lighter shot cottons are wonderful for transparency, especially those with white warp threads; they look transparent without any work on your part. I'll show you the finished quilt in a future issue.

To see more examples of parent/child transparency, check out the quilt "Galaxy" on my website. Success in transparency depends on finding the just-right fabrics, and the hunt is half the fun, of course!

If you're new to my newsletter, you might like to read the article about my kitchen redmodel, which was inspired by one of my quilts. It appeared in Generation Q Magazine, on August 3.

Lecture and Workshop Schedule

Note: You can often attend guild meetings and take their workshops if you aren't a member. If you're interested in any of these lectures or classes, let me know, and I'll put you in touch with the guild.

2011

October 5, Roseville, CA, "Color!" lecture, Roseville Sun City Needle Arts

October 11, Modesto, CA, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, "Luminosity" workshop, Country Crossroads Quilters

November 2, Ukiah, CA, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, Grapevine Quilter's Guild

November 11, Rocklin CA, "Transparency" workshop, Meissner Sewing and Learning Center

November 17 & 19, Citrus Heights, CA, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, "Color Camp" workshop, Capital City Fiber Arts Society

December 4, Grass Valley, CA, "Elegant Circles" workshop, Sugar Pine Quilt Shop

2012

January 5 & 7, Hanford, CA, "Color!" lecture, "Color Camp" workshop, Common Threads Quilt Guild

February 14 & 15, Folsom, CA, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, workshop TBD, Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild

March 9 & 10, San Luis Obispo, CA, "Color!" lecture, "Color Camp" workshop, San Luis Obispo Quilters Guild

April 22 & 24, Arroyo Grande, CA, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, workshop TBD, Central Coast Quilters

April 26, Nipomo, CA, "Color!" lecture, Olde Towne Quilters of Nipomo

May 14 & 15, Auburn, CA, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, "Black Opals & Ribbon Candy" workshop, Foothill Quilters Guild

June 17-20, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects Retreat." Learn to create the special effects of transparency, opalescence, luminosity, luster, and depth in your quilts using fabrics that have light and life, all in a gorgeous Lake Tahoe, CA, setting. Details soon!

June 23, Oakland, Ca, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, African American Quilt Guild of Oakland

July 9-13, Sisters, OR, "A Quilter's Affair." I'll be teaching "Color Camp" (two days), "Lotus Leaves Squared" (one day), and "Christine's Collage Vest" (one day).

July 19 & 20, Santa Rosa, CA, lecture and workshop TBD, Santa Rosa Quilt Guild

July 21, San Rafael, CA, "Color Camp" workshop, Mt. Tam Quilt Guild

August 27 & 28, Santa Clara, CA, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, "Luminosity" workshop

September 9 & 10, Aptos, CA, "Luminosity" workshop, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, Pajaro Valley Quilt Association

September 20 & 21, Benicia, CA, "Magic Fabrics, Special Effects" lecture, "Lumiosity" workshop, Carquinez Straits Stitchers

October 5-7, Weaverville, CA, gallery lecture, show, and workshop, Main Street Gallery

Coming in the Next Issue. . .

I'm not sure what I'll be up to next month, but I guarantee it will be about color!

If you've received this newsletter, you probably attended one of my workshops or bought one of my books, patterns, or color wheels. It's easy to opt out, below, but I hope you'll stick around to see what's in store. It's all about color, using it, enjoying it, and sharing it with other quilters.

Thank-you!

Contact Info

Christine Barnes

cebarnes@sbcglobal.net
www.christinebarnes.com