Several years ago I participated in a challenge on a yahoo group -CQForNewbies. It was absolutely one of the best things I ever did to stretch my skills.... It was called "Out of Your Comfort Zone" or OOYCZ.... Up until that time this was my comfort zone and everything (an I mean everything) I did was pastel, lace, and flowers. We had to do two pieces... one in our comfort zone (which is this one) and one out of our comfort.
My second piece was jewel tones.
Ever since then whenever I start a new project, I often make it a point to try completely different color palettes.
The black and white was the Morris CQJP, the browns were the suffrage quilt and the crisp white and blue is the hanky project from last spring.
The hot jewel tones were the vest I did for Houston and it is VERY far out of my comfort zone and I almost changed colors well into the piecing and truly thought "I will never wear this!" But now I love it and decided I want to be buried wearing it..
When I did CQJP cottages I slipped back into my comfort zone. I do this every so often..
In fact the upcoming CQJP the colors are quite close to my comfort zone and all the rest of it will be"comfort zone all the way"
TAKE SMALL STEPS when widening your color range. But if you are going to try a different palette don't start with colors you hate or that make you uncomfortable. If you do you probably won't even finish it... This is exactly the case with this block... Turquoise one of my least favorite colors. I did not even have a single piece of turquoise in my stash. I had to beg turquoise scraps from Nikki... Every so often I do a bit more on this block but I know it is dragging because of the color.
I am slowly working up to orange...I always put in my RR booklets "No Orange". But I am slowly gathering a large bag of orange scraps and trims. I want to use this marvelous photo which my granddaughter Madi took in Morocco.
This block will be my ultimate color challenge but I'm not there yet. I will be forever grateful for participating in the OOYCZ challenge.
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I LOVE orange - always have. I am working on a block right now that is a combination of oranges, golds, blacks and browns. When I was a young adult, my closet was filled with these colors ( minus the black). I plan on posting my block on CQI - and Gerry this block, I did a lot of what you suggested. There are many firsts in it. It was scary at first, but my confidence grew with the project, and I can't wait to explore some more!
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you are saying. I love the soft and romantic spring colors and lean toward using them in all my creative endeavors. Kick-starting with a vintage Christmas post card I challenged myself to use my favorite color, lavender, with a color I'm not as fond of, lime green, and created a Christmas pillow. I know it sounds horrible but it ended up being a favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteI think we all work better using colours we love, i know I struggled with my CQJP blocks this year as they are for Helen who wanted pink and grey ugh!
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely blocks you have shared here, must say I love orange and like the black and white blocks
I want to add your blog to mine so I can follow you but I don't know how. Can you advise me? Yours and His, DAR
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