Tumbler Quilts with Valerie Prideaux

I am all about colour. In Tumbler Quilts: One Block, Endless Possibilities, I give lots of colour options, and encourage quilters to play. Even though most quilts in this book use just one shape—the tumbler block—once you start combining and moving those blocks around you have seemingly endless possibilities.

One of the elements of colour that I discuss in my book is colour value. Using a design that uses 8 tumbler blocks per fabric, I made several versions in a monochromatic colour scheme. The first shades from light to dark, similar to the example shown below.

Using patterned fabrics adds to the visual complexity—one of the reasons my fabric stash is so large! In the pink quilt on the left below, the design features clusters of tumbler blocks transitioning from light to dark values. In other versions shown in the book, I wanted contrast between the blocks of colour, and so kept similar values apart. For example, in the red version below, a more complex arrangement has some areas with similar shades of red clustered together and these surrounded by blocks of contrasting values. 

There is an expression you often hear quilters say... "Colour gets the glory, but value does the work."

Look closely at the quilt below. You can see a mix of colours—dark blues, dark greys, blacks, and dark purples in the dark areas of the quilt—different colours, but similar in value. It is these value changes from lighter to darker areas, not the colours, that you see when you look at this quilt.

You'll find a lot more useful tips and suggestions on how to use colour in your quilts in Tumbler Quilts: Just One Shape, Endless Possibilities by Valerie Prideaux. Available now at bookstores and C&T Publishing.