Analogous Color Studies--Two Quilts using Analogous Colors

Oops! Sorry this post is a day late.  It posted last evening, too late in the day to catch the e-mail for blog subscribers. But here it is now!

This is big reveal and the last post in my Analogous Color Studies* series.  Above is "Study in Greens."  The range colors in the quilts are shown in the blocks at the bottom of the quilt. Three colors are represented:  Yellow-green, Green and Blue-green.  It's an improv pieced quilt unified with a single Butterfly patch by designer Lizzy House in each 12 inch block.  (This fabric is from a prior season and not readily available but some yardage can be found with a search).

I really struggled with the yellow greens!  The first blocks I made hardly had any yellow green. As I made more, it gradually took more a star role in the blocks! 

My other Analogous Colors quilt is a study in hot colors--Yellow, Orange-yellow, Orange, Orange-red, and Red. I made it as a winter lap quilt. It even has a wool batting. Warm to look at, warm in use!  It is rectangular the long way so someone sitting can tuck it around their legs to keep out the drafts!  I found these colors easy to work with.

Analogous Colors Lap Quilt--Hots! 42 x49 inches

Here are the backs of the two quilts. They needed to coordinate with the front of the quilt but weren't constrained by the strict use of analogous colors.

These color studies, done as the Summer Challenge for the Proper Bostonian Quilters guild, was a fascinating and fun challenge. I learned more about colors but maybe I learned more about how I use and respond to colors!

That's Tipper, one of my Springers. He likes to be involved with my photo shoots! He's out of the shot but right in the middle of the action!

* Analogous colors are next to each other on the Color Wheel. It's usually a group of 3-5 colors.

Analogous Color Studies Continue

Analogous colors...they are colors that are right next to each other on the color wheel. Above is an example of a very warm palate. (It is August after all)!  Orange, red orange, red.  The pinks are tints of red and give the block added interest.

Analogous colors in Nature.  Red, red-violet, purple.  Warm colors moving toward cool colors.

And finally, the entire color wheel -- pincushions embroidered with summer flowers.

I do love color!

There will be one more post in this series in September. That one will show my finished Summer Challenge Analogous Color Quilts.

Analogous Color Studies

This is the Summer of Analogous Colors!  The Proper Bostonian Quilter's guild's Summer Challenge is to make a quilt (or just a one block slab) using 3-5 analogous colors on the color wheels. (Analogous colors are right next to each other on the color wheel, holding hands as it were).  Using shades (the color plus black) and tints (the color plus white) are allowed but even so, sticking to just these 3-5 colors is a lot harder to do than it sounds. The brain really wants to add an accent color!

It was my job to present this year's Summer Challenge so I had to make up some blocks to see if this was even feasible!

Above are blocks with just 3 analogous colors--the most limiting, and therefore, the hardest to do.  The colors are Blue Green, Green and Yellow Green.  The yellow green grated on my nerves initially. But by the time I'd made about 5 blocks, I was able to let the yellow green have center stage instead of a tiny role in the background!

Here is another example using Yellow, Yellow Orange, Orange and Red Orange, 4 analogous colors.  This combination was a lot easier. Probably because these are the colors of citrus fruits which we see together all the time!

More analogous color studies will appear intermittently this summer!  Give this a try!  It's a lot of fun.

Quilt with Analogous Colors: Reds and Purples

This is such a happy quilt!  I designed the pattern for this quilt around fat quarters of "Chasing Butterflies" designed by Lizzie House for Andover Fabrics.  

I had intended to fussy cut all the blocks from the "Chasing Butterflies" fabric.  A 5 x 5 inch square was perfect for capturing pairs of butterflies, so that was my starting point in this design.  As it turned out, because I only had fat quarters, I wasn't able to just fussy cut pairs of butterflies. Most of the blocks only have 1 butterfly.  But one is good too!

Here's the back!

Work in Progress: Quilt using Analogous Brights

Loving sewing with Lizzie House's "Chasing Butterflies" for Andover!  Lizzie put some bold analogous colors together in this fabric line, especially in the red and violet red designs! I followed her lead and combined her fabrics with Kona® Cotton Solids in analogous pinks/purples/red violets and reds.  The pattern I'm using for this lap/crib size quilt is my own design. 

More soon!