By themselves, colors have a general light, medium or dark value, but this can vary when they are put with other colors of different values. As a designer, you want to become familiar with the value of colors because it is the value and contrast of the fabrics that creates excitement in the design rather than the colors themselves. If you put too many fabrics of the same value together, the quilt will seem dull. Also, by manipulating the value of colors, you can create dimension in your design. In addition to value, you want to consider the intensity of colors.
Intensity refers to the brilliance of the color.
The more pure a color is, the more brilliant it will be. As you add colors together, they become more muted. Colors such as brown and grey are easiest on the eyes. Below you see a color wheel that is made up of twelve colors - the letters inside each wedge indicate whether they are a primary, secondary or tertiary color. There are three primary colors from which the rest of the colors are derived by combining these primaries in various concentrations.