Quilting Changed Sense of Colors

I don't think quilting changes our sense of color so much as we come to see that all colors have a place, even puce and aubergine. Something like recognizing that spiders perform a valuable service (as long as they are outside of course). Like Roberta, I do not like yellow in general, I wouldn't buy a piece of clothing in yellow, and probably wouldn't paint any walls in my house yellow. Although I might paint a bit of kitchen in yellow. Thinking Tuscan theme. That being said, I'm working on a quilt that is china blue and buttercup yellow and no other colors would do but those. They are so very right for that particular quilt design. Similarly, some prints really don't appeal to me, like Civil War repros and 30's and such, but I accidentally wound up with a lot of FQ of some and found a quilt pattern that wouldn't really look as good in anything but.

I think for me, quilting has not opened my mind to color so much as opened my mind to possibilities that I would have rejected from the start before I started fondling fabric.

Diana H - Gulph Mills, PA

This color conversation is particularly timely for me. I have some friends coming to the house to learn to quilt. They are all afraid of choosing fabric colors. We will be making quilts using the Turning Twenty pattern. I told them that while a good sense of color would be nice, whimsy and daring will hold them in equally good stead. I can't wait to see how their quilts turn out :-)

Rita L. > Yesterday I realized how much quilting has changed my sense of

Rita, That sounds like a lovely way to spend an afternoon! (Hooking a few more to the 'habit' he he he!) Please let us know how this works out. PAT in VA/USA

LOL Yes, this will be fun. We are starting out slowly. Only one friend will be here today to reduce my FQ stash. The rest of them will come as their schedules permit over the next few weeks. All their quilts will be donated to QOV through a woman on another list that I am a member of. I am hoping that this project does instill an interest in quilting in some or all of them. We'll have fun in any case. I'll get pictures and let you know how it goes.

Responding to your previous message, I have every intention of visiting Virginia many more times. We have a reservation for next September but might consider another trip sooner than that. If we do, I would love to get together and visit LQSs with you :-)

Rita L.

Good topic, Bev! I think that quilting has changed how I view colors, specifically how I view the potential effect of each shade, tone and value as well as the hue itself. When people ask if I have a favorite color, my response is "DO I have to choose just one?!" PAT

Strange that you should post this today. I am making a top with two colours per block. They are bright, but I am trying to make them go together well. For one, I have a lovely rich purple. For its block-mate I picked a subtle pale green with flecks of blue. Now I see them together on my white table and against the purple, the green looks to be grey. I know grey thread merges with other colours very well, but that seems beyond expectation. . In message , " snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com" writes

I have definitely gotten braver in the color choices and combinations that I use. And I am buying a lot more batiks and tone-on-tone things instead of smallish prints. I've never been a big fan of 30's repros, but I've made a few things that seem to call for them. I'm definitely not a Civil War repro person -- too "muddy" for me. I haven't changed much in the colors I prefer for clothes, but I do have trouble naming only one or two colors when I am filling out the directory form.

Julia > Yesterday I realized how much quilting has changed my sense of

I like to put a little bit of a surprise in my color choices. If the quilt calls for red, I sneak in just a little 'pretty close' to orange or a hot watermelon pink. Following that sort of freedom, if the situation needs black, there's a purple here that's nearly black but has the purple majesty touch. Oh my yes, quilting has changed my sense of colors. Polly

My niece is expecting a baby this month, so of course I had to make a quilt for her. When I heard the baby's room was going to be decorated in pink and lime green, I thought 'yuck' ... but now that it's 99.9% finished (just the hand-sewn side of the binding to do), I'm thinking it's pretty adorable. I sure hope she thinks so too. I'll be giving it to her next weekend when her Mum, sister and I go over to her house to help paint a mural on the baby's room wall.

Sharon (N.B.)

Funny you should say that! I actually changed it for some luscious turquoise - with - flecks of yellow !!! . In message , Roberta writes

Polly: Your color ideas sound pretty close to mine. Years ago, as a novice quilter, I was influenced to be more adventurous in this way by Judy Martin, who is a Wizard at putting a wide range of color in a quilt. I have several of Judy's books and will probably buy another one at the MAQF later this month. PAT in VA/USA