First up a little bit of background before I show you what I am playing with this week…. Last week I gave a presentation on Playing with Color in quilting to the Portland Modern Quilt Guild. I talked a little about color theory and a lot about the colour schemes that quilters can borrow from the art based theory, as well as ones we have come up with on our own (like Low Volume). During the presentation I also talked about ‘neutrals’, those fun, versatile colours that play nice with nearly every colour they meet. It was during this part of the presentation that this weeks challenge presented itself…
So I was talking about the standard neutrals – white, cream, grey, brown and of course navy blue, which is my favorite neutral…though it is not really an official neutral. I rambled on about how navy is my response to my personal aversion to black as a neutral. I find black harsh and though it gives great contrast, I do not tend to use it unless I absolutely have to and always opt for navy or dark grey instead. I will, on occasion, condescend to use black and white prints but never straight black.
As I was making these statements I realised that I should not be making such a harsh judgement on black without at least giving it a go.
So I choose a pattern and went to work…
I went with the traditional Hunters Star block and used the paper piecing pattern by Quilters Cache. It seemed like the perfect pattern to make use of the high contrast of my colour choices.
The block pieces join together to make these wonderful stars… and we all know how I feel about stars! When you add a number of blocks together you get to see the bigger pattern which is stunning.
I have to admit I am thrilled with how this “experiment” turned out. I think because I am using scraps and different blacks, the colour is not quite as harsh as a solid black, and the blue just seems to pop off the quilt.
So going forward I am not saying I will be abandoning navy blue any time soon but I may give black more than a fleeting glance next time I am pulling fabric. So is this aversion to black just me or do others share my feelings? Have you used it in any of your quilts?
As it is Wednesday I am linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday…
So this month I will be working with this palette for all my paper piecing Monday posts…. and of course sending the blocks to Sarah so she can make some wonderful charity quilts.
The pattern is another Craftsy free block… Lone Starburst by Six White Horse Patterns and at 56 pieces it is not too complex.
Feel free to join the palette fun and make a 3, 6 or 12 inch block and give some warmth and comfort to a child. This is a perfect way to help, as not everyone has the time to make a completed quilt for charity but making a block or two is an easy way to help. More details and information on the project can be found here.
WOMBAT QUILTS 