Color Combos

I was in my local quilt shop the other day. You know, to pick up perle cotton and needles. and then I went home with this. But we have already talked about...so moving on.

Anyway, the person waiting on me wondered what I was doing with the orange and grey. I said I was making an orange and grey quilt for my sewing room. She looked at me with the weirdest expression.

Her: "Really? I don't think I've seen that color combination before. I just can't visualize it..."

Me: "Really???" (To myself: "You don't get much inspiration online, do you?")

Like this latest quilt block I received from my 3x6 quilt block exchange. Don't you love it?

Or this quilt for sale on etsy:

Or this awesome zigzag quilt:

and especially this:

I could go on and on about how much I love the grey/orange combination. Or a lot of other equally amazing color combos, yellow and grey; blue, green, orange and brown, etc. My local quilt shop thought I was totally nuts. But you all "get" how much I love this color combination...right??

What are your current fave color combos?

Stitch. Snip. Snip.

I'm only giving you little snippets about this quilt project, because it's not my project--I'm just helping out a bit. For more pictures on what this super cute quilt will look like, go here.  

Here's the basic procedure. Start with lots of strip sets carefully pinned together:

Stitch. (but only 1 1/2 inches each time).

 Snip.

Snip.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Etc. (you're getting the idea, right?)

Take a look at the view.

Back to work.

Stitch. Snip. Snip. Eventually you will have a pretty pile like this.

My week in color

I'm taking an online course:

 

and I have been thinking about color a lot. Not unusual. I'm always thinking about fabric, playing with different color schemes. And I'm a little behind on my homework (sorry, Brandi--you're a great instructor, I'm just a procrastinator as a student...) but some of the assignments made me want to visually explore this a little more:

Ever since I was little, in my mind I have always associated the days of the week with certain colors. Monday is always yellow, Thursday is always kind of a raspberry color. Not red. And I really like red. But Thursday isn't red, it is raspberry. And I really like green. But there is no day that is green.

Today I decided to see what my week looks like. In fabric.

Now that it is all laid out, it looks kind of weird to me. And I wonder how I came to associate brown with Friday and gray with Saturday.

Not a clue...

Do you associate a certain color with a certain event? Do tell...

Color inspiration

The articles and recipes were interesting, but what I really gleaned from these magazines were some fun color combinations for future quilts.

Turquoise, lime green and yellow (with a touch of tomato red):

Lime green, hot pink and yellow:

Turquoise, orange and hot pink.

What color combinations are inspiring you this summer?

One in Every Color--The Wedding Edition

Do you remember this adorable couple--Jessie and Luke?

And the quilt a lot of us worked on? From the many special people in Jessie's life who made a block to the friends and family who spent a weekend sewing the top together? It had a place of honor in Moscow, Idaho, this past Saturday as the backdrop for Jessie and Luke's wedding. In the meeting room at the LaQuinta Hotel.

The original plans were to get married on the golf course. Then there was a change of venue to the arboretum closeby. But then weather threatened to interfere as the forecast was for nonstop rain all weekend. Indoors or outdoors? Jessie made the decision to not worry about the weather and just plan to have the wedding indoors instead.

The quilt binding still needed to be completed.  I worked on Friday morning and afternoon (it is a big quilt) and finished the last side after the wedding rehearsal Friday night.

Decorating started in earnest early Saturday morning. The tables were in a U-shape and there was a color progression of colored water in different interesting containers, crayons that Jessie had made earlier, wedding-related quotes matted on matching paper. I wish I had taken a good picture of the tables. You'll have to use your imagine. It was really frugal, creative and beautiful.

Lots of twinkly lights. And these hung from the ceiling:

Pictures of Jessie and Luke's life on the wall:

(my favorite...)

We got a lunch break and went to Moscow Bagels. It was threatening to rain and I never turn down a chance to wear my awesome raincoat--Anna Maria Horner laminated cotton--I highly recommend it. But I digress.

Yummy. (I didn't take a picture of my bagel either so you will have to imagine that too!)

The weather cooperated in the afternoon enough for pictures. If you call freezing cold and gale-force wind cooperating. Okay, maybe gale-force is a little exaggerated. But it was really windy. It was a beautiful setting (and we all had lots of hairspray).

And then it was back to the hotel for the ceremony. I didn't take pictures during the ceremony as I was busy being a surrogate mother of the bride, which was such a special honor. Thank you , Jessie.

Instead of a unity candle, Jessie and Luke had a celtic handfasting ceremony (this is where the term "tying the knot" originated). Close family and friends each had a ribbon that we tied around their wrists, binding them together. It was an amazing part of the ceremony and really beautiful.

Jessie had made all the flowers for the ceremony, along with help of friends/family along the way. They were unique and beautiful  (I seem to be using the word "beautiful" a lot). Beautiful colors and lots of embroidery detail and vintage buttons, inspired by Princess Lasertron.

Aren't they AMAZING? Jessie's bridal bouquet is the silver and white one. The others were bridesmaids' bouquets. The three surrogate mothers each had a wrist corsage and the guys had matching boutonnieres.

It was a wonderful weekend. Jessie's mother, Sue, would have loved it.

As you start your new life together, Jessie and Luke, remember all the love that surrounds you, not just from those at the ceremony but from all the other people in your life.

Cover Girl

Oh, Martha. With a cover like this, you knew I couldn't resist, right? All those glorious paint chips turned into wall art?

These beautiful colored pencils?

These little jars of paint?

You don't know me at all, and yet you know me so well. I was powerless to resist. You had me at the cover.

And I have been haunting the bookstore nearly daily just waiting for this to arrive, and I didn't even know for sure what would be in it.

A blogger I follow regularly made it to the cover with that great purse. Congrats, Beki!

As did another favorite blogger who had an article on virtual quilting bees. Way to go, Jacquie!

Picture by Jacquie Gering

Yep, I'm a sucker for a pretty cover.

Community: The "one in every color" edition

This is Jessie and Luke. Aren't they adorable? They are getting married on May 22.

You may remember her from French Kiss fame.

Nothing means more to Jessie than her friends and family. Having a quilt made by people who are part of her life, her community, even some she has never met but who touch her life in a meaningful way, was a priority. She came up with a plan. Everyone would get some black and white fabric and then color would be added to the block. For those who were quilters, or were at least familiar with sewing, they could add whatever color they wanted, choose whatever block pattern they wanted, as long as it was 12 1/2 inches unfinished. For those who were not quilters/sewers, or if she wasn't sure, she would make a little kit with the pieces already cut. It just needed to be sewn together. In addition, each person was to take a picture with their quilt block and write something, a piece of advice, a memory, a verse, whatever, on an enclosed card that later will be made into a scrapbook.

Lots of people were included. Because Jessie is loved by a lot of people. The blocks started coming back. Lots of blocks. She had a big design wall at home and the blocks started going up. In a gorgeous array of color.

Finally it was time to put the quilt together. So on Saturday, we had a quilting bee at my house. We thought Jessie would just lay out all the quilt squares in a color arrangement that made her happy. But then we discovered that some of the blocks needed a little adjustment. Not unusual. That happens any time you are working with different people, different machines, different skill levels.

So we spent all day Saturday sewing, un-sewing, re-sewing, arranging, rearranging. We had a great time. Her father, George, an avid fisherman, even sewed a block.  Jessie's mother, Sue, is still in the hospital, but she would have loved sharing this weekend with her daughter. We all missed her.

(click to enlarge)

By Saturday night, the blocks were all arranged on the floor in my family room, all 72 of them! This quilt is visually spectacular. But the best part, in my opinion, is the little stories behind some of the blocks. I know there is a lot more here that Jessie could tell you, but here are some of them.

The orange corner was conspicuously sparse. Go figure. My original contribution was the block on the left. Since we needed a few more blocks to make the quilt eight blocks across and nine blocks down, we actually sewed a few extra blocks on Saturday. Since that time, more have arrived in the mail, but Jessie has a good plan for those as well. Since she is planning on being a teacher, the fabric with the cursive alphabet seemed like a sure winner.

Jennifer, who is the paper piecing queen in our group, grabbed some orange fabric and had this cute little house sewed together in no time. So the orange corner is now well represented. Whew!

Our daughter-in-law, Christa, searched block patterns and found one called Wedding Bouquet. How appropriate.

 

Jessie's Aunt Maggie, and cousins, Tanya and Kim (who were part of the "sewing staff" all weekend), each made an Ohio Star block, but in different colors.

Another of Jessie's aunts, Cynthia, along with two more cousins, Jennie and Katie, did the same thing:

A few weeks ago, Jessie flew up to Idaho and helped her former roommates from the year she went to the University of Idaho sew some Card Trick blocks. Luke ended up doing the sewing on one of the blocks instead of Jessie's roommate, and so he intentionally turned part of the block around.

Through a series of events, two people who have never even met Jessica ended up sewing blocks for her quilt. One is our niece, Becky, whose mother is also battling cancer. Another is Grandma G. Mark always calls her my email penpal, although we finally got to meet in person last August. But she has found her life woven into the lives of several people here in Fresno, including Jessica. Notice how their blocks are the same, only in different colors? Notice how the pattern forms kind of a circle? Intentional. Jessie told me that they are part of a circular connection that connects each of them through the internet. I think I might have teared up a little when she told me that, since that connection also runs through Mark and me, the two people who actually know Becky and Grandma G.

The block on the left was made by Valerie, Jessie's sister whose idea of sewing involves some fabric and a glue gun. Yet she pieced this fabulous block with all the pink paw prints. And Val's boyfriend, Matt, did the block on the right side. Awesome!

Curious to know what the entire quilt top looked like when it was finally sewn together?

(click to enlarge--definitely worth it!)

Isn't it amazing? It goes to the machine quilter today.

I read this quote today: "Friendship is the golden ribbon that ties all hearts together."  Jessie, it has been an honor to work on this quilt with you. Our hearts will be forever bound together.