Stitched in Color

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A second Penny Sampler... it's both exciting and intimidating.  I love the idea of making those special blocks again and of taking the journey with you, especially without the extra work of creating and writing the patterns as I sew.

But it's challenging too.

the Penny Sampler

Last time I had a very clear image of the quilt I wanted to create - it's color story.  I envisioned a controlled color scheme that spoke of snowy Scandinavian winters.   I brought that vision to life with plenty of white and gray neutrals, as well as many shades of blue.  And it turned out pretty much as I'd hoped!

But this time... this time I'm not sure where to start with colors.  After some very pragmatic lessons on supplies and quilt specs, The Penny Sampler begins with Color Story and Cultivating a Vision, two lessons designed to help launch your fabric choices.  To get myself into the groove, I studied those lessons.  Next, I browsed through all the many lovely Penny Samplers created by past students.  Today I'm sharing some of my favorite samplers with permission.  If you'll be joining in with the 6-month or 12-month Penny Sampler in 2017, I bet that these lovely quilts will inspire you too!

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::Sarah Schraw::

Snowy December weather intensifies Sarah's pristine color scheme.  Even though she included warm peach tones, all the bright white and cool blues give her sampler a bright wintry appeal.  Many of Sarah's fabrics are saturated beauties by Anna Maria Horner.  This strikes me as a more playful, prettyful version as compared to my color scheme.  Read more about this quilt on Sarah's blog.


::Nicolette Jansen::

Traditional folk Scandinavian shades of red, navy and yellow merge beautifully with tan, cream, gray and aqua in Nicolette's Penny Sampler.  I particularly like way Nicolette balanced color with neutral spaces.  It keeps my eye moving over the quilt, but it still feels so harmonious.  She also changed some blocks when other ideas struck her fancy, rather than strictly following the sampler.  I like that and want to give myself permission to do the same.  Read more about this quilt at DutchComfort.


::Lindsey Sanders aka LindseyfromCali::

Two Penny Samplers can use basically the same colors but result in markedly different quilts.  Like Nicolette, Lindsey used red, yellow and blues (though Lindsey's blues aren't as dark as Nicolette's navy).  She sprinkled in some soft pink too.  To me Lindsey's color scheme feels very confident and consistent.  Her medium aqua solid and red solid used in the "plus" block sashing adds dramatic sweeps of color among the sampler blocks. 


A photo posted by Cindy (@yayaquilter) on

::Cindy aka YayaQuilter::

Now here's a completely different take!  Cindy's fabric choices are soft and gentle, like a fairytale dream.  She used low volume prints in many places where I had used solids, a choice which emphasizes the soft, blended look.  Notice though, as different as Cindy's quilt is from the previous three, that she really used three main colors:  aqua, pink and yellow.  It seems many of us gravitated towards three lead colors.  Hmm...  I wonder if I want to choose three again or have a more scrappy, less controlled color scheme?

In honor of @stitcherysewistshop opening of her new brick and mortar shop #stitcherygrandopening this is my fave quilt I've made so far. I didn't realize I never posted my finish for this #pennysampler . I was planning some handquilting but the recipient 

::Agnes aka FinallySewing::

Agnes is one of the few who embraced a wider color scheme.  Her quilt brings together all the colors of the rainbow, mostly in soft, pastel shades.  Despite all the colors employed, Agnes' Penny Sampler doesn't feel a bit chaotic.  Her fabrics share a vintage-inspired, flowery splendor that harmonizes the whole.  I love it!  Something about the sampler aesthetic marries so well with vintage fabrics.  See the individual blocks up close here

Well, I could go on and on admiring Penny Samplers past.  I also flagged this favorite by Cassie, which has more of a funky, playful vibe, and this closeup of Sharon's quilt, which shows off beautiful quilting and a different color scheme of green, yellow, burgundy and black.  But this post is getting long!

I'll be back later this December to share color and fabric choices for my 2017 Penny Sampler.  In the meantime, you can still register to join us at my Pattern Shop in whichever version of the journey suits you.  Both the 6-month and 12-month samplers start sewing in January!