Ah, well. The shore is in sight. Roger resumed classes yesterday and Caroline returns to school on September 6, and then I will have hours every day of peace and solitude to actually get things done.
Meanwhile. I did indulge myself with the Rebecca Rorhkaste workshop last friday, and I was SO glad I did. I find that when I am feeling sort of out-of-sorts, there is nothing like a day to just play with fabric to calm me down.
Having signed up for Friday's workshop on Thursday afternoon, I didn't have much time to think about what I wanted to do. Here is the assortment of fabric I took with me:
The workshop involved taking stacks of 5 or 6 inch blocks, free-cutting arcs (crazy drunkards path block things) and then swapping the pieces to make an assortment of building blocks. Rebecca's examples were, of course, breathtakingly stunning.
While we cut and sewed and cut and sewed, Rebecca talked about approaches to color. It reminded me that the "rules" about color -- or rather, the information to keep in mind -- don't change and aren't anything you haven't heard before. It's just the work with color and lots of practice and trying different combinations to achieve the look you want that makes a difference, I think. Rebecca talked about how she tends to work from a "subtractive" method, starting out with way more blocks and colors and pulling out the ones that don't work until she's pleased with the result.
By the end of the day, here's where I was, roughly:
I actually made more blocks than these, but pulled out the ones where the shade of pink was actually too pale. I added in brown at the workshop, not having brought any (thanks to Carolyn Wolf who let me take a hunk from her stash) and like the richness it adds to this combination.
But I don't know where this will go. Maybe I'll take out much of the orange so it only shows up a bit. Who knows...I don't have time right now to mess with this. But it did cause me to pull out this book to consider the color choices in a more thoughtful way.
Have you seen this book? I love how it gives examples of different color palettes, then shows examples of how they look with changes in value, hue, and proportion. So I think I want to use these ideas and change the proportions of the colors above....but how, I'm not sure yet.
Meanwhile, I am researching 4th Amendment search and seizure issues related to the police's taking of blood alcohol tests. Left brain, right brain.
No wonder I'm still longing for sand between my toes and a frosty Blue Hawaii in hand.
There must be something in the air, because I was thinking about the exact same "pattern" for a quickie patchwork bathroom rug. Mine will be turquoise and chocolate though, instead of pink and orange. Yours looks super though, so I'm inspired to get to mine. Oh, and I too am looking forward to more time to myself when school starts back up (still 3 weeks to go).
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fun project. Might do my baby quilt like this. How about going to settings and changing the comments to pop-up?
ReplyDeleteI love your color choices. I knew you would make something great in the class. Hope to see your blocks in person at the mini-group tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI like your stack of fabric choices. I was wishing that was my photo and my stack of fabric. There are a lot of books out there lately about choosing fabric for quilts. I haven't seen this much, but the other one I saw didn't seem to help me. I guess I just didn't like the way they laid things out or explained it. I might just have to look at some more to see if they are more helpful.
ReplyDeleteI think any policeman who takes someone's blood alcohol test should be arrested for theft.
ReplyDeletehar har
I bought Roger's book. Yep. Now I will relate better to my NFP students--that's the justification I used, anyway. Oh, and it was on half.com, so I had to keep my word. :D
I pull out my volume of "Colour Harmony" on a regular basis. The samples and diagrams show how a quilt can be transformed by changing the proportions of different colours used or by adding/subtracting accent colours. Oh and some of the quilts featured in the book are just delicious!
ReplyDeleteI think you shouldn't be removing colors just yet. You haven't given them a chance to mingle with the new brown. And don't even think of removing the orange-yet.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to make the whole color "tossed salad" and then serve it to the picky-eater (you). That's when you start taking out and putting back. Give all the tones of pink and orange a chance.
4th amendment, hmmm interesting research to be doing at least! The colors you've used in the quilt so far really sing. I am mulling over the idea of subtractive design, it is a bit different than how I work, but not toooo different to give it a try. How lucky to take a class with Rebecca, I've always admired her quilts. The cover of that color harmony book is lovely, is it a worthwhile one to get??
ReplyDelete