When I attended a class conducted by quilter, Billie Lauder, I was intrigued by her topic—“Quilt Blocks, Understanding Values and Calculations”.

I work in a quilt shop, so I have helped plenty of customers pick out different values for their quilt projects. I have helped them pick out their darks, mediums and light fabrics for their quilt. Heck, I can even spot a medium light or a medium dark!

What I did not understand is how these values can change the look of a quilt block.

What Billie taught was how the placement of your different values determines how a quilt block will look. I still did not quite get the impact of what she was saying until she held up one of her quilts.

In the above photo, the black and white quilt has 24 blocks that are each made exactly the same way, but using different values of fabric!

 "Wow!", is what I think I said out loud in class, as I began to understand what she was talking about.

This is an awesome way to use just one quilt block, but it shows how unique it looks when you use different values in each block, “ said Billie, at the schoolhouse workshop I attended recently  at the International Quilt Market. “This is not high-tech—but, this is a very user-friendly way of getting people to understand color values".

What I came to understand, is that I still have a lot more to learn about color values!

In her booklet, “It All Starts With A Square, Quilt Blocks, Understanding Values and Calculations” from easymade publications (Billie’s patterns are developed under the name of "Patterns by Billie"), Billie will teach you how to better understand color values. She writes in a user-friendly way and tends to write her books as if she is talking to you in class. She will take you step by step through the process of figuring out values. Then she will help you work through several different projects to show off your “new found knowledge of fabric values”.

Billie has been teaching Quilt making for 25 plus years and has the ability to make quilt making easy and understandable for every level of quilter. She is the author of numerous books and has been on HGTV’s “Simply Quilts”.

I found her to be a great “value”.