color palettes

I’ve been doing so well on my New Year’s fabric diet resolution. In less than one hour at the Quilt Asylum, I totally blew it. The Quilt Asylum is one of my LQSs (local quilt shops). Of course, only in Texas would a place that is 30 miles from my house be considered a local quilt shop…but let me tell you, it is worth the drive. We’re really spoiled for quilt shops here in north Texas – there are two amazing ones just in the small town of McKinney (Happiness is Quilting is the other one). I recently posted a map of area quilt shops on the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild blog if you’re in the area and you have some fabric money burning a hole in your pocket.

I almost never buy fabric with a purpose. Typically I grab fat quarters that catch my eye, always keeping a lookout for yellows and purples because I have so few in my stash. But I’ve noticed that I usually end up with at least one nicely coordinated bundle at the end of my shopping spree.

I’m calling this color palette “Spring Around the Corner.” There is a bit of Sugar Pop, Modern Meadow, Moda’s new Regent Street Lawns, City Weekend, some Civil War repros, and several polka dots. This set of fabrics really captures my aesthetic. It’s a mix of old and new, a bit modern, sort of vintage, with lots of color in a relatively tight palette. I love putting together fabric combinations, but I know many quilters find it to be one of the most difficult parts of the process. I often hear women in quilt shops and at DMQG events talk about their fear of combining fabrics and saying that they rarely stray from using just one fabric collection. Many quilting books and quilting teachers talk about color theory, and I wonder sometimes if it’s really something you can teach. People see color differently so isn’t it all subjective anyway? Whatever the answer is, I am truly fascinated by color.

While writing this post, I’ve been thinking about a Lizzy House blog post I read earlier about choosing one word to define the way you’d like to live this year. I was trying to think of my word because I’m feeling very deep and introspective writing about color theory. The one word that keeps popping into my head? Cupcake. I have 9/10 ingredients in my kitchen for making banana cupcakes with chocolate frosting, but I’m missing the only ingredient that can’t be substituted – flour. So my word of 2011 will have to wait until I can get the banana cupcakes out of my head (and into my belly).