Squares: The Girl Version

I started with the Heather Ross Princess fabric in dark plum.  I added the mustard yellows, bright pinks, and grassy greens.  This combo sat on my shelf for a few months, waiting for it's moment in the spotlight.

Then I decided to make a girl quilt from simple squares and decided to use this stack.  Once again, my original choices had only half the fabrics you see here.  Somewhere along the way, I decided to add aqua to the color scheme.  And then I decided that most of the fabrics were too much in the mid-value range.

Technical terms like values and intensity, rarely enter my head when choosing fabrics.  I just put together what I like, and don't analyze why it does or doesn't work.  But lately I've been thinking a bit about values.  Putting it very simply for me, that would be the light, medium or darkness of the fabrics.

Take a black and white photo and you'll see the true "value" of each fabric.

As you can see, a majority of these blocks blend together in their mid-value loveliness.  I am not promoting any type of "rule" here, since I'm a firm believer in making things you love, not things that are "right".

It's just some interesting observations, since I've been thinking a bit more about this.  If you want your quilt to "sparkle" or certain aspects of the design to stand out, then definitely think about using contrasting values.

An interesting read about values here: (Scroll part way down to find the section titled "Values".  And check out the computer generated diagram of the two quilts.  Doesn't the one on the right just "sparkle" a bit?)

And a bit more about values here.

Anyways, whether this quilt has the right balance of values, or not, I'm rather in love with these colors right now.