As I was handing out the exercises in one of my color workshops, a student in the front row put her head on the table and cried, "Oh no! Not the color wheel!" The class laughed, of course, and I thought to myself that it would be a very long day.

It wasn't. It never is when I teach color. The time flies, and I am always amazed and delighted by what students create. "We are the sum of our experiences," the saying goes, and a good color sense comes from all that we see and do, in quilt-shop classrooms, mini-groups, guild meeting halls, and our own sewing spaces. My hope is that what you find on these pages will be yet another kind of color experience, motivating and encouraging you to "color your quilts" in exciting new ways. Welcome!

Color Workshop Note: I’ll be teaching my five-day workshop, “Color: Many Paths, Endless Possibilities,” at Empty Spools Seminars, Asilomar, California, June 27–July 2, 2010 (Session V). It’s geared to both traditional and contemporary quilters of all levels. The opportunity to work with color for so many days (and in such an exquisite setting!) is incomparable, and students often say at the end of the session that their work has changed forever. If you haven’t been to Empty Spools, it’s the conference from heaven, situated right on the ocean in Pacific Grove. For more info on my class (and others), check out the website www.emptyspoolsseminars.com