Step inside the classroom...

At Empty Spools Seminars in Asilomar, my classrooms became true color labs.

During my Albers-inspired Log Cabin workshop, students explored how color, value, contrast, and placement can completely change the feeling and structure of a quilt.

In SKY Is the Limit workshop, the focus was on building simple blocks so students could concentrate on color: how it interacts, blends, shifts, and transforms. Many students worked from the Our Sunshine, SKY Grand Star Glow, or SKY Log Cabin quilt patterns. These simple HST and strip-block designs gave students a clear structure, allowing them to explore color relationships without overcomplicating the construction.

Instead of overthinking design, students made blocks with a clear goal and intention based on color. Each exercise gave them a focused way to explore value, hue, temperature, intensity, and emotion.

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My Favorite Color Tools

The Essential Color Card Deck

I use color cards to move colors around, test combinations, and build palettes before cutting fabric. They help you see value, contrast, and unexpected color relationships.

The Essential Color Wheel

A color wheel is a great guide for understanding how colors relate. It helps show opposites, analogous colors, warm and cool colors, and where energy or harmony can come from.

The Palette Builder Color Tool

This tool helps pull a palette from an image, fabric, painting, landscape, or mood. It is a great way to turn inspiration into a usable quilt palette.

These tools are not about rules. They simply help you practice seeing color with more confidence.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP MY FAVORITE COLOR TOOLS

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Why Value Matters

One of the most important lessons we explore in class is value, the difference between light and dark.

If you take a colorful quilt and turn it into black and white, the color disappears and all that remains is value. Suddenly, you can see the true structure of the quilt.

In a Log Cabin quilt, value is what gives the design its movement. When lights are grouped together and darks are grouped together, the quilt gains contrast, rhythm, and a clear visual path for your eye to follow.

Even when the fabrics are many different colors, what often makes the design successful is the balance of light and dark. This is especially important when working with ombrés, where one fabric can move through many subtle shifts.

It is always worth stepping back and asking...Do I have enough contrast between my lights and darks?

Watch the video below to see students combine their log cabin blocks. Note how the position of the blocks changes the pattern design!

Playing with the Interaction of Color

Another idea we explore in class is the interaction of color, or how colors change depending on what sits next to them.

Traditionally, Log Cabin blocks are built with two light sides and two dark sides, creating that classic sense of structure and contrast. But within that framework, there is endless room to play.

A slightly warmer color next to a cooler one can create a spark. A deeper value beside a lighter one can make an edge glow. A quiet shift in hue can create depth and movement without shouting.

In class, I encourage students to play and choose the colors that feel right to them. Sometimes it is best to pick a color and move on to continuing your block, don't hesitate, just keep building! These small decisions are where color confidence begins.

Watch How I Build A Log Cabin Block

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Watch My Color Lecture

Color Exercises

Students worked through simple color prompts using their quilt blocks.

Contrast

Creating obvious light and dark zones that are eye catching. These log cabin blocks below show contrast where one side is built with light strips and the other side built with dark strips.

Complimentary (Opposites) vs Analogous

Hue Relationships. Placing opposite colors together creates energy and visual punch. Colors next to each other on the color wheel create a more harmonious, blended look.

Temperature: Warm vs Cool

How does temperature shift the feeling of a block?

Intensity & Emotion: Quiet, Loud, Electric, Calm

What do you feel when certain colors come together and begin to shape a quilt?

Enjoy some more content from my classes at Empty Spools:

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Color Treat

Leave a comment below and tell me which color lesson speaks to you most: high contrast, low contrast, warm, cool, analogous, complimentary, electric, or calm.

Then place an order this upcoming week and we’ll tuck a little mystery color treat into your package as a thank you that matches your answer. Comments need to be entered by 5/14/2026.