I went to the library today and borrowed some knitting and quilting books, and this art book. It's called Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green, and it taught me an awful lot about colour the first time I read it. It's meant for artists wanting to mix their own colours, but I find his idea of 6 principle colours instead of three primaries really useful when choosing fabric colours. And when I dye fabrics I have much more control over what I'm doing. It's well worth a read if your library has it.

I have to admit that I don't know a lot about colour theory. People have tried to teach me, but I end up thinking 'What's that outside the window....?' while they drone on about it. I like to work by instinct most of the time, and throw away what doesn't work.

This book taught me why so many pretty prints turn to grey or mauve mush from a distance, wreaking havoc with the quilt's overall look. Why that wonderful dark floral actually reads as a medium-light from a distance. It taught me not to buy prints that I know won't work. It taught me how to choose prints to get the effect I want the first time. Other books on colour are just as good, but this one is the one that spoke most strongly to me.

I'm busy making my new blocks, and not being too concerned about the theory behind the colours. I just like 'em. They start out as rail fence blocks, then I turn them into Half Square Triangles and sew them into squares on point. I like the original rail fence blocks so much I might make an entire quilt just out of those. But I also like the soft florals I'm using in the corners of the finished blocks.

I made another 70" square backing from my 10.5" squares, which cleared some more fabric out of the stash. That's another 3 or 4 metres used, even if it has just been transformed into a single piece of fabric instead of many. I'm still on a roll, even if I'm slowing down a little.

This is the next quilt in the binding pile; another colour sampler. This is one of my favourites, soft and pretty and comfortable. Another quilt that was thoroughly enjoyable to work on, from start to finish.