OOYCZ---challenge post #2

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.

It can be easy being green

 You may  have a problem getting 3-4 shades of green to blend well together but you can't go wrong using 12-15 shades of green...  I'm repeating a 2010 post because it addresses this problem and directly relates to the [previous post.

(2010): Cheryl A. brought this green block to show me when we were in CT for the CQ Adventure... It is from a tone-on-tone RR and was made by Cathy L. It will be a great exercise in using contrast without depending on color. After she showed it to me and then we weren't able to connect again to discuss it . That night at dinner Cathy K, Diane M and I began discussing green plants, animals, etc. to use as a focal point... Sharon had had a fantastic Brazilian grasshopper which would be great and we thought of alligators, frogs, turtles, lizards and various bugs....I thought maybe even a John Deere tractor.

But if it were me doing a the block I immediately think of birds and a parrot or parakeets would be at the top of my list. When I start looking at images to do a bird I am especially looking for birds that are "doing" something or in an interesting position such as both of these photos..The bird eating is a photo from the archives at this site.. a fantastic site for anyone loving birds...do visit it... I'd probably do the bird in embroidery on a hoop or it could be printed and appliqued on... but another great option is a method Alison Aller is using a lot and would work here beautifully. She would print the parrot on fabric, add fusible interfacing, cut it out, and iron it on the block. So now we have added our first contrast... size! The parrot immediately changes the perspective of the piece... Then I would begin finishing the seams in as many ways I could think of using stitches of vines and leaves wandering here and there on the block... starting to work on another contrast...texture! Then I'd add branches using a heavy perle such as a 3....bringing the parrot to the foreground... Another contrast... dimension!

To further these steps I'd add the largest leaves using heavier threads, ribbons and textured threads such as velour with maybe even weaving some leaves attached only at the branch. As the final steps why not including a dragonfly with green organza wings and a jeweled body...and maybe a hide a lovely tree frog and even a salamander...  So to sum it up we have used all greens but have added variety and interest with contrasts in dimension, size, and texture...

Addendum:  Later I was able to see Cheryl's solution which was very clever indeed... a green man tree... I went looking for a photo of it this morning with no luck...  I'm hoping if Cathy L. or Cheryl read this post they will send me a picture of her block..

Part Four - Second No-Fail Approach to Color

Remember I started these posts for stitchers who were unsure about choosing colors... I said there were two "NO FAIL" approaches...  The first was limit your color choices.  

Well the second  "NO FAIL"  approach is just the opposite.... USE EVERY COLOR!!!!  This block is an excellent example and was stitched by Cathy LaBath... She adores color but has written me repeatedly that she is horrible at picking out colors...

Yet to appease her thirst for bright colors she uses them with abandon  making dozens of these scrappy quilts..  They work because of the multitude of colors at random... You cannot fail making one of these quilts and the same approach is true applied to crazy quilting...

She's not comfortable choosing and controlling color but she doesn't let that stop her.. Cathy has her colorful scrappy quilts on her blog.

There are some people who have a joyous sense of color gone wild and are able to choose and control it.  I posted awhile back about two such people Lauri Burgesser and Allison Aller.  I keep a special drawer of  intense colors just to use on Lauri's blocks. I admire everything done by them... Their love of color and their use of vibrant colors add energy to everything they create.

 Two other stitchers who consistently make wonderful use of vibrant colors are Lorraine Stobie and Nikki Lee Seavy...  Not only are they skilled stitchers, both have Esty shops where they sell supplies  ablaze with color. Nikki Lee Seavey sells hand dyed laces  and Lorraine sells hand dyed threads. 

One of the newer members of CQI whom I have been watching is Pamela Pincha-Wagener   who picked these colors for her blocks in the Goldwork 3 RR... She wrote that she has never made a pastel block...  I've asked her  if I can work on her last block in this RR just because the colors are so yummy and would be a real challenge for me...

Probably the most famous crazy quilter for using "Color Gone Wild' is Martha Greene of Oklahoma. She refers to herself as using the "roadside carnival" approach..  She has participated in many exhibitions and won numerous awards and has been an Artist-in-residence at Oklahoma State University for 15 years.  I met and watched her work in Colorado a year ago.. She started with a pile of brilliantly-colored scraps and picked them and stitched them completely at random... She often teaches workshops around the country.. Unfortunately I could not find a website nor web address for her...

So if you love color and have been hesitant to plunge ahead, you might want to experiment with this approach... A word of caution would be to start with solid colors or use prints with a very tiny pattern.  This ensures that your fancy stitching will show up.  Then once you have your colorful block sewn, get out your stash of threads and start pulling  lots and lots colors...

If  making a block of every color and working with thread of every color is too much for you on your first color adventure, try using threads of every color on  black blocks. Here is a RR block stitched several years back by Jo Newsham of NZ using lots of intense color on a black background.

Cathy Kizerian's CQJP project is going to be spectacular.  She is using the intense colors in a piece of vintage needlepoint and using them for fancy stitching on black crazy quilted blocks.. It is unassembled at this point and pinned to her wall. She   has just a few more to go...

If these people had a neighborhood, it should look like this!

Color Comfort - Tricks and Guidelines - Part 1

Picking your feathers.....is there a bird here that reflects your color comfort zone? Most people are fairly secure with their color comfort zone but I can tell from work I see that there are a lot who struggle with color.  If you have or  are starting a inspiration file pay special attention to recurrent colors that have attracted you..  PICK NO MORE THAN THREE.  That is the place to start...  Now here I am talking about a successful block for yourself.... The key in the beginning is limit, limit and limit... It is so easy to be overwhelmed by a pile of fabric stash and go a little crazy... It doesn't matter if the colors are intense or subdued... just pick three of your favorite.

In this case I have chosen three muted shades of pink, green and beige.(my personal comfort zone). Gathering your color choices as threads and fabric is the first step... The fabrics can vary in texture but keep any patterns VERY small or muted. I can't emphasize that enough at this stage. Patterns can be very distracting for beginning exercises.. Make a block!

Now start laying your threads on the block matching the colors as close as possible. If you want to use ribbons or braids add them with the same guideline.  Match as closely as possible. Using all the same color of thread and trims may seem boring but I guarantee that you will end with a block you will love. Carefully pick your threads and STICK TO YOUR choices... Do not start bringing in other colors later... There are lots of ways to add more interest with buttons, lace and motifs, etc... But stick to your original choice of colors and your block will have (my favorite word) harmony.... The next post will show some fantastic examples of just this technique of limited color.

But when you know your own comfort zone what happens when you  want to stretch a bit or get wild and crazy?  There are tricks for that also that I'll cover  in another post.

And then what happens when you join a round robin and get a block of colors that make you gasp?  This person has picked  those colors because they loved them and you are part of a team who all want this RR to be a success.  Again there are some tricks to do this and I will share.