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Spring and summer are the times of year to take a new look at the colors around you. Have you ever realized how different the greens of spring are from those of summer? A couple of years ago I went into my garden in early April and picked some of the spring flowers. I scanned them into the computer and was able to isolate all of the wonderful colors. I did a fabric collection called "Shades of Spring" and then designed a quilt with all of those spring colors. I show these images to you here so that you will see what a wonderful wealth of color is available in nature. The more varieties of color you use in your quilts, with subtle shading from one color to another, the more you will be able to approximate the beauty around you.

If you look at the colors found in the flowers you will see that no one color stands alone. There is not just one yellow, but several different yellow tones. Likewise with all the other colors. Furthermore, one color shades subtley into another. I keep what I see in nature in mind when planning color schemes for quilts, I select the main colors I want to use and then find whatever other colors I need to allow me to shade all of those colors together. You will be surprised at some of the colors that are necessary to shade from one color to another, but it is the dirtier, duller, "off" colors that make all the others work.

For more information on color, see my book, Color Confidence for Quilters.