"Color is all. When color is right, form is right. Color is everything, color is vibration like music; everything is vibration."--Marc Chagall
Ever since reading Collaborative Quilting by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, I have been thinking about and noticing colors. As quilters, I think we all have different awarenesses of color in our lives...the ones we like, the ones we dislike, or the ways that the energy frequencies of the color rays themselves connect within and allow us to more fully connect with our world. Finn posted this week about all of the colors she saw and felt and experienced in the world around her and it inspired me to look around and see what effect that color was having on me this week.
Today, was a greige goods kind of day. Most days, like most fabrics, begin as greige goods...unbleached, undyed... and lacking color. Fabrics, in this state, must be cleaned and prepared before any color can be applied or design printed. Greige goods can range in weave from loose to tight and their surfaces may have many imperfections.
Such, is life and such is the start of many of my own days. Like greige goods, a day begins in its natural, unbleached state. It is up to me to prepare it and myself for what lies ahead. I may feel loose or I may feel tight, and I definitely feel my imperfections!
On greige goods kind of days, I want and I need more color in my life. On these days, I head off to my scrap bins and begin to plan small quilts full of life. Some days, that life may be soft and sweet and filled with pastels. Other days I just plain need brights. I need color and excitement and a little jazzing up.
This little 3-D pinwheels quilt was created on one of my greige days. Using fabrics leftover from other projects, I mixed and matched my bits and pieces of brights, my little 'orts' as the Brits (and Nellie !) would say...until I had enough fabrics to complete it.
Just like my day, my bits and pieces came together, color by color, piece by piece. I brightened and the day brightened. It went from flat and grey to bright and three dimensional. Such is the joy and the promise of change in nature, and so, too, is the joy of color choices in quilting!
4 comments:
This couldn't be brighter or more cheerful ... it's definitely a sunny day quilt. I'm impressed that it's pieced on both sides.
You have such a beautiful way of saying things. This is a beautiful quilt. It brightened up my greige goods morning today!
What a nice posting Michele! I love the greige goods idea..a perfect example...*VBS* I'm always thrilled to find people who react to color as you do, and of course I'm convinced that Freddy Moran became a quilter just to thrill and inspire me...*VBS* She may be outrageous, but I love it!!! Not many could pull it off.
And thanks for the link to a great website. I had know about those prairie point triangle that could be used for a pinwheel but had completely forgotten about it. I'm so excited to be reminded..*VBS* Hugs for all the days, gray and otherwise, Finn
oh...yes color is wonderful- I made that pattern years ago in purple and yellow for my sister...such a fun quilt! I am really enjoying your thoughts as they echo my own.
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