Using positive thinking...

I am part of a membership, once a month we have a Mind Set Coach (Corinne Crabtree) talking to the participants, I enjoy very much her state of mind. Her view is that our brain has a tendency of thinking everything negatively, so we have to remind it constantly to be positive.

I have always used that method in my everyday life, if I have a negative thought I immediately try to find a positive reply to it. I also try to avoid using negative expressions such as the word "ugly", that word can come up quite often, we can use it to say what we think about a fabric print or a quilt.

If i go in a shop and see something that I would say is "ugly", well I am not going to think that way, I am going to say: "it isn't to my taste" or "it isn't pleasing to my eye".

We have an expression in french that says "taste and colors can't be explained", meaning that everybody has different visions of the environment, what we find pleasing others might find displeasing.

In the quilt world, this has its importance as everybody has a different vision of the colors, some might make mixes that we don't find pleasing, but that doesn't mean we should say that it is "ugly". We should always have an attention to the time that the person has spent making the project. I don't say that I will take pleasure in all the fabric prints I see, but I just say that I avoid being critical by using strong words. So if my brain starts thinking "wow that's ugly", I reprimand myself and say to myself "no, don't think that, it is just not pleasing to my eyes".

Choosing fabric prints and colors that fit well together is not something that is natural to everyone, it is something that might need to be taught.

I have put together a method on how to use the color wheel as a tool to help out in choosing the fabrics that will fit best together. The colors don't have all the same power on the color wheel, some are warm and others are cold, some are dominant and other submissive, knowing how to balance these powers is important as it will influence the visual aspect of the quilt.

If you are curious about all the observations I have done in this domain, have a look on the website and you will find several projects that I have put together for you quilt lovers.

Have a great week.

Emmanuelle