Color is a Journey
Once upon a time, I started a blog called StitchedinColor. Just "stitched" because I like to sew and embroider and even crochet. "Color" because it's what makes my heart sing. And I found, in 2010, that I really liked all this quilting, all this sharing of my day-to-day creating. I started do. Good Stitches that year, and even began wrapping my head around blogging as a business come year end.
But my color personality, that was just in bud.
If you've been around here for awhile, you know I have this thing for Anna Maria Horner and for her Good Folks collection, my favorite. It's what I used to make my first quilt. But it's not really that - it's about the colors. The saturated, autumnal color bouquet that is Good Folks was like a color-by-number experience. She made the fabrics; I cut and pasted them together. Voila - an awesome quilt.
What was planted in that first quilt has been growing. It's hard to see growth in oneself, but sometimes life conspires to reveal, as it did this weekend.
I've been thinking about crochet again lately. It might be the cool weather, the fireside or perhaps this babe in my womb. Struggling to choose between 2 projects, I pulled out my yarn basket to take stock of my color options.
I have a modest collection of Cascade 220. It's a worsted weight wool yarn, very practical, nice, but not overly pricey. It was purchased all of 4 years ago from a local shop and The Loopy Ewe. And 4 years ago I began working the yarn into crocheted sunburst granny squares, thinking maybe a blanket, maybe a pillow? Eventually, they became a garland... and some other things, which I never did share here.
What happened to my ambition? I got scared. I lost faith in my color choices. I couldn't see anymore if there was anything cohesive about what I was doing. I couldn't bare to put so much time into something that I might night love, so I found my way to other projects. Quilty projects, made with fabrics already infused with a color direction. And it was nice.
But this weekend when I pulled out these stored-away squares, I could see them anew with a fresh and, I suppose, a matured perspective. Four years of working constantly with beautiful fabrics is like having these designers as mentors of sorts. Four years of experimenting with color, taking risks here and there and absorbing your feedback... it seems color is a muscle. If you flex it, if you try, you can't help but propel yourself onwards.
So, I've been crocheting. I've been making sunburst squares, about four a day. At this pace I really could have a blanket before baby is born, though I'm not settled that's what they need to be. What's driving me is the soft, tactile feeling of the yarn in my hands, the delightful finish of each little square and the unfolding realization that I understand what I want from these colors quite well.
I know what I'm trying to say. Where before I'd agonize over which colors to combine, now I see possibilities everywhere. I can sense what's working. Understand what's not. Even anticipate what colors I'd like to add to sweeten the mix (mostly neutrals)! And, best of all, I am sure that I'll be proud of the finished project. Isn't that often the key motivation we need to keep moving forward?
Color is a journey; color is a muscle. Color is entirely personal, so don't worry about rules. Please don't ever believe you can't color, color. Just keep giving yourself opportunities and, I promise, your color personality will grow!
But my color personality, that was just in bud.
If you've been around here for awhile, you know I have this thing for Anna Maria Horner and for her Good Folks collection, my favorite. It's what I used to make my first quilt. But it's not really that - it's about the colors. The saturated, autumnal color bouquet that is Good Folks was like a color-by-number experience. She made the fabrics; I cut and pasted them together. Voila - an awesome quilt.
What was planted in that first quilt has been growing. It's hard to see growth in oneself, but sometimes life conspires to reveal, as it did this weekend.
I've been thinking about crochet again lately. It might be the cool weather, the fireside or perhaps this babe in my womb. Struggling to choose between 2 projects, I pulled out my yarn basket to take stock of my color options.
I have a modest collection of Cascade 220. It's a worsted weight wool yarn, very practical, nice, but not overly pricey. It was purchased all of 4 years ago from a local shop and The Loopy Ewe. And 4 years ago I began working the yarn into crocheted sunburst granny squares, thinking maybe a blanket, maybe a pillow? Eventually, they became a garland... and some other things, which I never did share here.
What happened to my ambition? I got scared. I lost faith in my color choices. I couldn't see anymore if there was anything cohesive about what I was doing. I couldn't bare to put so much time into something that I might night love, so I found my way to other projects. Quilty projects, made with fabrics already infused with a color direction. And it was nice.
But this weekend when I pulled out these stored-away squares, I could see them anew with a fresh and, I suppose, a matured perspective. Four years of working constantly with beautiful fabrics is like having these designers as mentors of sorts. Four years of experimenting with color, taking risks here and there and absorbing your feedback... it seems color is a muscle. If you flex it, if you try, you can't help but propel yourself onwards.
So, I've been crocheting. I've been making sunburst squares, about four a day. At this pace I really could have a blanket before baby is born, though I'm not settled that's what they need to be. What's driving me is the soft, tactile feeling of the yarn in my hands, the delightful finish of each little square and the unfolding realization that I understand what I want from these colors quite well.
I know what I'm trying to say. Where before I'd agonize over which colors to combine, now I see possibilities everywhere. I can sense what's working. Understand what's not. Even anticipate what colors I'd like to add to sweeten the mix (mostly neutrals)! And, best of all, I am sure that I'll be proud of the finished project. Isn't that often the key motivation we need to keep moving forward?
Color is a journey; color is a muscle. Color is entirely personal, so don't worry about rules. Please don't ever believe you can't color, color. Just keep giving yourself opportunities and, I promise, your color personality will grow!