During “Safer at Home” my granddaughter’s school did a great job of finishing her second grade year online. At that time Daddy and Mommy let her get her first email account, and mine was the only email address she knew, so we communicated daily. She would send me a “Daily Hi” every morning (this was her idea 😊).
One day she had to gather items of different colors for art class, and send a photo back to the teacher. She sent it to me too:
I responded “Wow, what a great color wheel. Were you supposed to make a color wheel?” She said she was only supposed to pick out objects in all the colors. After she gathered all the pieces Mommy helped her to put it into a color wheel (Betsy is a graphic designer and she’s inspiring a love of art in her kids).
This got me to thinking about all of the amazing colors around us and how they can inspire us in our quilting. I tried to get out for a walk every day during that time and snapped a few pics of the colors of early Spring. I certainly needed a bit of brightness to get through that difficult time!
I recently went through some of my Summer photographs and found a few that inspired me with their colors:
And now Autumn is in full swing. This is by far my favorite season, and I once read a meme that stated “Autumn is my favorite color”. I agree!
I think what intrigues me the most about these photos is how the colors are so wonderful together – especially in nature. God certainly knows what hues play well with each other! In fact, I recently took this photo
and it reminded me of a quilt I made using these colors a few years ago:
I call it Interchange, and it was made for a “Color Wheel Opposites” challenge. I wanted to see what would happen if I took two opposing colors on the color wheel and laid out squares of the “raspberry” that went from dark at the top to light at the bottom, with squares of “yellow green” that went from dark at the bottom to light at the top. I also challenged myself to only use fabric from my stash. It’s finished with a facing because I thought a border would detract from the intent of the piece, and it’s quilted with “wheels” of intricate stitches. These opposing colors certainly are beautiful together – in nature and fabric 😃!
So how does one translate the colors in a photograph to fabrics in a quilt? Well, join me in next week’s post and I’ll share a few ideas!
If you’ve made a quilt inspired by colors in a picture – please email me photos – I’d love to see how you were inspired!
Patti N says
I love your Color Wheel Opposites quilt. Nature is the best inspiration for color.
Shellie Freisinger says
I smiled at your granddaughter’s color wheel. My granddaughter had a similar assignment, but I was lucky to be there to assist her!
Jane Walton says
Hi Chris.,
Thank you for all the beautiful photos and subjects. Fall
certainly is fabulous for color!
We miss you at MArQ.
Laurie says
Beautiful colors delightful pictures. I enjoyed really them. I’m going to email you a picture of maple leafy I found while on a walk last week plus the peacock dress I saw at the Wis. Museum of Quilts & Arts in Cedarburg.
Blessings,
Laurie
Julie says
Hi Chris,
Loved all the photos. The photos and nature do inspire and uplift us just looking at them. I too love the colors of your coleus and I have been making concrete leaves from my hosta plants. I painted one in the colors of the coleus. I’ll send it to you,
Julie