April Challenge - Muted Gray with Color; and Quilting Patterns

Challenge #8 April 10th /due May 8th


Create a small art quilt using these two elements:
· Use muted gray or brown with colors
· Expand your quilting patterns and use an original or new-to-you pattern for your background quilting

Muted Gray and Brown
· A muted color palette is subdued or restrained and quite soft and easy on the eye
· Put in a bit of full color to make an element stand out in a largely muted scheme
· Use light gray where you would use white and/or charcoal where you would use black to soften the color scheme
· Gray is cool, sophisticated and sometimes moody
· Light grays with pastel tints of pink, blue, lavender and green have a feminine quality. Darken these colors for a more masculine feel.
· Cool a warm palette by adding gray to rich reds or golden yellows
· Brown is warm, wholesome and natural. Taupe is a grayed brown, warmer than gray, and more sophisticated than brown
· Brown can replace black, adding a slightly warmer tone to some palettes.
· Combine a smaller proportion of gray/brown with larger proportion of full color or vice versa

Quilting Patterns
· Try a background pattern you haven’t used before (practice by doodling on paper first)
· Develop your own quilting pattern by looking at patterns in nature, textiles and architecture. Think of the patterns in tree bark, print fabrics, scrollwork, etc. Simplify the pattern so it can be a continuous line design rather than stop and start quilting
· Combine curves and straight line patterns
· Quilt in a different thread and different pattern on top of background quilting
· Develop your own quilting pattern using a favorite motif….flowers, butterflies, paw prints, moon & stars, bicycle, words, whatever…..remember if you can draw it, you can free motion quilt it.…just simplify the design, plan your transitions between motifs and practice on paper

Resources
http://thecraftbegins.com/wordpress/content/ (see the inspiration boards)
Design through the Centuries: 1000 Patterns by Drusilla Cole
Pattern Motifs: A Sourcebook by Graham Leslie McCallum
Any of the Dover Clip-Art Series books