The Palette of the Month Club

Well, not really a club.  Just me.  But it seemed like a catchy title.

I love colors.  Any and all colors.  Even browns and grays and muddy yellows.  Unlike my friends in grade school, I liked the flesh colored crayon as much as I liked the purple and pink and green.  I'm pretty receptive to all colors.  But I find that when choosing the palette for a quilt, I pick many of the same colors again and again.  And, also to my surprise, I find that I hardly every choose to work with blue.  Blue-greens and blue-reds, yes, but not pure old blue.  Why is that?

So my new years resolution is to expand my palette.  And to do so, I am choosing a unique (for me) group of colors every month and making several small pieces.  Using only those fabrics.

January's choice, of course, includes several true blues (and a little bit of spice):

And I have so far, despite houseguests and other distractions, managed to make three small pieces.  My first I showed a week or two ago, made for a challenge.  I've named it "Bouquet #1."

Bouquet #1, 16" x 23"

The second is another in the subdivisions series.

Subdivisions #14, 36" x 17"

For the third, I wanted to riff off of the bouquet idea.  Not entirely successful, I have to say.  I may have to chop this one up and play with it a bit.

Bouquet #2, 24" x 15"

Although looking at the photos, I like the way the dark lines on the light background almost line up.  It always amazes me how sometimes I can seem things much more clearly in a photograph than when it right in front of my nose.  But you can.  So, whatever I do to this piece, I'd like to preserve that feeling of connection.

I have to say, for someone who never uses blue, I'm liking this palette.

I still have thus group of fabrics laying on my cutting table.  Maybe I'll sneak up to the studio sometime today and start another.

So if you want to join my club, please do.  Let's play with color!