I felt like I needed a few more scrappy oak leaf blocks for my quilt, but ... it wasn't immediately obvious in what colors I should make them. The first 14 blocks were made in the designated colors of last year's rainbow scraps challenge (with two extra blocks made during the month of black/brown/neutral) which provided me with a pretty good distribution around the color wheel. I decided I could add a red-violet block, but any other color choice would likely overlap with the colors in an existing block.
As I looked through the existing blocks, I thought about how adding the dark, neutral black and brown leaf blocks at the end of last year had made the colors in the other blocks pop which lead me to think about adding some pale, low-volume Oak Leaf blocks to the pile.
I made these two, then auditioned them with on the design wall with the rest.
The exercise reminded me of my personal scrap quilt mantra: Light, Bright, Dull, Dark. I realized that I hadn't been thinking of this as a scrap quilt, but, of course, it certainly is (and the leaf blocks have literally been constructed from scraps ... doh!)
When I feel stuck when asking "what color," the answer is often found by considering characteristics other than hue and thinking about a balance of "light, bright, dull, dark."
I thought the two low volume oak leaf blocks worked with the rest, so I kept going and made one more in pale blues. I also made that red-violet block that seemed to be missing ... then I spent a lot of time arranging, re-arranging, taking photos, converting them to black and white, and re-arranging them again.
Below is the final arrangement of the 16 blocks on my design wall. I am joining the list for Design Wall Monday on Patchwork Times.
16 comments:
The new blocks look awesome. Your mantra really works in this quilt. I can't wait to see this one finished.
Beautiful, the balance is perfect. I never heard that before: light, brightm, dull, dark........I will have to remember that.
Oh I like your additions. I may steal your mantra--this is a lovely piece. It will make you smile I am sure...hugs, Julierose
Your arrangement looks great! I love these blocks and they are on my wish list. =) Looks like another beautiful finish is coming up!
Fun to see how other quilters arrive at their designs. Love your leaves.
Hugs
Oh Yes! Your extra blocks look great with all your brighter leaves - lovely!
Your leaves are gorgeous...I'll be interested to see the final set. Will you let the leaf points meet? Or add a little sashing between?
It's almost impossible to answer a question from a "no reply blogger" (unless you happen to know them and their email address), but to answer Maryl's question, the setting will be VERY plain (yes, with sashing between the blocks), to let the leaves shine ... or, at least, that's my intention.
I am glad you wrote about your though process. I like what it created.
MARVELOUS - and thanks for sharing your process!!
That's an effective final arrangement and I love your dicho.
Interesting thought process !
Well, - now that's a lot of food for thought. Very interesting. I've heard the light, bright, dull, dark before - probably from you. But now I see it in action and it totally works! I always love all your quilts. (I'm so jealous!) You've really done an outstanding job on this one.
Great pattern. Your colors are terrific.
Light/bright/dull/dark....I think I intuited that. Thanks for putting it into words. Now that you've made all the leaves I look forward to seeing how you will set them.
These are looking great! I keep thinking I should do some, but...
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