Focus on Color: Yellow

I think a lot of it comes down to the words we use to name colors.

Perform this experiment either in your mind or by looking at your stash or a color wheel.

Think of blue. Think of solid saturated medium blue. Picture it. Now add black to it. You get navy blue. You still think of it as blue. Now add white the medium blue. You get light blue or sky blue or robin's egg blue. They're all blue. Add grey. You get cadet blue. They all go in your blue drawer.

Try the experiment with yellow. When I add black to yellow, I get a tobacco color that I'm likely to put in with the browns. When I add white to it, I get cream or ivory. Add grey, and it becomes grey very quickly. You don't notice the yellow undertone. It goes with the neutrals.

If you think of it this way, lots of use yellow in every quilt-- except we don't think of them as yellow quilts. I believe the trouble with yellow is that it's the only color that demands to be bright and saturated lest it be thought of as something else. So I don't fear yellow. I use it all the time, but you might not notice it as such. I could say that every quilt needs a little yellow, but that's not exactly true. It would be closer to say that every quilt needs a little something bright-- which is also arguable, but closer to the point.

--Lia

Actually it was this ng that influenced me to use more yellow. Thanks to you all! It was never a favorite color, either to wear (I look like death by flashlight in anything yellow) or in my surroundings. Took a while to realize that I don't need to wear my quilts :-) And sometimes a bit of yellow is just the right accent. I've even taken the plunge and made entire quilts in yellows and browns, mostly with other people's scraps. That's the wonderful thing about getting fabric from other people, the challenge to use something I'd never buy myself. Roberta in D, Queen of the Scrap Heap

"Dannielle" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@z70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...

I love yellow by any name. Umber, sienna, ochre, butter, and daffodil quickly come to mind; can't think of a name for the barest hint of yellow that warms a pastel medley. I don't remember ever making a quilt without some sort of yellow. It seems that I believe the French's mustard ad. A quilt without yellow is like a day without sunshine. Polly

My favorite color combination is blue and yellow, though I'm trying to branch out a bit to prevent boredom. I love yellow; my bridesmaids wore yellow 35 years ago. I'd say it's because I'm yearning for sunshine, but I live in one of the sunniest areas of the country! LOL! That said, I don't use yellow often just as a brightener in a quilt, but that's because I don't often make scrappy quilts. That said, I just looked at the pictures of my quilts and quilt-related projects, and I've used yellow in approximately *50* of them! :O I didn't realize I'd used it so much. LOL!

I just looked at some of my quilts.....except for a blue and white and red and white quilt...I think I have yellow in every one!

Last year, I received word that one of my nephews wanted me to make some long table runners for him based on a picture and a yellow upholstered chair. They were willing to wait until the 'right' fabric appeared - he wasn't fussy about the outcome other than the final size but his SO wanted plain yellow with quilting. I started collecting yellows and all the other batikky shades of brown, gold, orange, plus- plus-plus -- everything covering the colour wheel gamut. I am still collecting fabrics and I have the idea in mind to use everything in strata (Louisa Smith style). I had explained to Chris that the hardest colour of any (in my opinion) to 'match' or work with is yellow unless it is used with a multitude of shadings or maybe I just wanted an excuse to collect more fabrics and then have the opportunity to play with strata techniques...... jennellh

Good topic, Danielle I like yellow, but I can't always find a place for it. I have least in my red drawer of anything patterned; but least of yellow in my plains section. I think those two colours are so multi-faceted: you can have a citrus yellow, or a buttery yellow or and orangey yellow +; and there is cherry red, brick red, purpley red. I think I find those stark differences difficult to 'handle'. They are not colours I wear in clothes very much at all (one or two reds, one yellow 'thing'), so I have little practice. I don't know quite, but I always have to think hard, if I am going to use yellow - even though I am always glad when I have done? My first quilt teacher said she *never* used yellow, and I was very surprised at that, but I do see now that I am cautious - I honestly don't think she influenced me in that. . In message , Dannielle writes

I love yellow. But I think the very bright strong one is hard to find. Last year I hosted 4 fabric-swaps. First was green, then pink, then yellow and turquoise . In every swap we wanted to exchange only bright very bright colours. Of course everytime there were 1 or 2 or more scraps in dull colours. But yellow was the worst, I even substituted some scraps with fabric from my own stash :-) But although I love yellow I don't use it that much. Heidi Dannielle schrieb:

please remove quilt from address

The ugliest quilt I ever made had yellow in it. :þ Bleah! No more yellow for me unless it's a very light pastel yellow.

Unless I make a sunflower quilt, I wont use yellow again.

I love yellow flowers in my garden.... but more than a small touch in a quilt can be eye-startling as I once heard it called.

I made a scrappy star quilt, with about every color in the rainbow, and ended up bordering using a lot of yellow, then bordering it with a bright Nancy Mahoney yellow fabric. It's my favorite quilt now. I discovered that looking at yellow makes me happy. Other colors may affect other people differently. It's just a cheerful color, to me. Weird thing is, I don't own any yellow clothing. It makes me look sickly.

Sherry

I use yellow when I need it. Most times I look at a pattern and "see" it in particular colors. That initial seeing may evolve somewhat over time. I use the colors I need usually. Sometimes I work something up to use the colors I have. What I have is variable, depending on how much of what I have left over from what I needed.

So speaking of sunflower quilts.

I think that by combining passions I may have passed from "artistic genius" (;P) to sheer madness.

I bought me a mess of sunflower seeds this year. Ranging from a standard 6 foot variety right on down to the cute little 16 inch elf. If I had more space I probably would have tossed in some of the blanket and goliath varieties.

The plan is to take a patch out front and plant them tightly according to height. Then get pictures and sketches throughout the season. Then do a painting followed by a quilt based on the best results.

I don't often do floral paintings, and less often still do I make floral quilts. This is going to take applique and fancy dancy arty techniques, I don't do that very often on quilts either.

DH approves of this plan because it will keep me busy enough to not lay plans to conquer the galaxy. He does not want to be First Gentleman and have to keep a sharp eye out for assassins. Though he does say I must use more attractive mulch this year.

Have I slipped over the edge here?

NightMist

I love yellow, butter yellow is one of my favorite colors. But looking at the quilts I've made, I don't use much yellow. I BUY a lot of yellow, I just don't use it. I don't know why.

Maybe it doesn't play well with other colors.

Cindy

Before I discovered sunflower pollen made me sneeze and the dog lick her paws raw, they were my favorite flower. I planted them every year (and had some miserable Augusts as a result). May I brag about/suggest my biggest success? I planted morning glories sith the sunflowers. They vined up the tall stalks.

--Lia

I look terrible in yellow, but it finds its way into many quilts I make.

The most yellow quilt I made was when my little girl asked for a house quilt with all yellow houses --

Most of the time, it's an accent color.

There's lots of yellow in my baltimore album -- all the roses are yellow...

The problem I've been having lately is that I'm so enamoured of "ghost layers", and I can't figure out how to get yellow in them really nicely. When you grade the colors from pale to dark you always end up with *brown* for the dark yellow. I'll have to do a pretty intentional design that avoids "dark" yellow :-) somehow.

susan kraterfield see my quilts: members.cox.net/kratersge

ooooooooh, pretty!

Might I suggest looking at pollenless sunflowers? Nobody here is allergic, and I don't mind harvesting seeds, so it isn't an issue at my house. There are a bunch of hybridized to heck and back pollenless varieties though. I'd have to go back and look, but I think the elf (16"-18", small enough for a flower box) and indian blanket (standard height, red and yellow bicolor) varieties I am getting are pollenless. There are many more pollenless varieties nowdays. You should look into them if you love sunflowers, but not their pollen.

NightMist

Naw, you haven't slipped over the edge! I think it is a *lovely* plan. And the birds will thank you! Sherry

I'd never heard of such a thing and am off to google immediately. Thanks! This might be just what I need.

--Lia

Re: Nightmist planting sunflower seeds.

How on earth do you keep the birds, squirrels and chipmunks from eating the seeds before they sprout???

I have never had any luck planting them. Every seed gets dug up and eaten.

However, I can grow an occasional sunflower volunteer right under the birdfeeder.

Denise in NH