Working with the color red feeds my quilting soul. No other color excites me quite like red. Do you have a color that sparks your creativity? Is there one color that will keep you sewing for hours just because you love the color so much? Mine of course is RED.
Embracing the color red was really hard. Why? Well, it all goes back to my childhood. Some of you might have been programmed with these same ideas. Red was bad, especially for a proper young lady. You know...Only "naughty" girls wore red. Red clothing was set aside for Christmas time only. And then were these very negative statements
Seeing red
The angry red menace(our monthly thang)
The red light district
The Scarlet(red) Letter
As a child I don't remember having any red clothing(except for Christmas) until I purchased some myself as a teenager. My mom frowned upon my color choice. She let me know it was too much. Seriously? A baggy red sweater was inappropriate to wear to school or out on a date? And I knew better than to buy a pair of red high heel pumps. I had them in every color but red. Yes back in the day I was quite the girly girl. The ultimate no-no was RED FINGER NAIL POLISH! Had I painted my nails red I'm pretty sure I would have been grounded for life.
You should have seen my moms face the first time I exposed my red toenails. I was in my 30's and she said a few words I'll not repeat here. I love red toenails but can't stand polish on my fingernails. In my circle of friends I became the girl with red toes. My friends change the color they paint their toes and often ask if I ever planned to use any other color on mine. Nope, I've never paint them anything but red. For the life of me I can't figure out why. I like what I like, I guess. A therapist would delve deep into the why but honestly I don't care to hear what they think about me and the obsession with red. It makes my little ole heart go pitter-pat. Good or bad, it's a fact and good enough for me.
Enough about me, lets get back to my cute little red quilt. This one will be called "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". (I planted a song seed in your brain, you'll be singing it the rest of the day!) With this quilt I won't be saving the flippy corner cutoffs. They will be used in this quilt.
I wish I could find a way to use these tiny little cutoffs for something more than stuffing for a dog bed. A fiber artist I am not, so stuffing the dog bed is the best option for no waste. Notice my scrap trash can is also red.
I guess the whole point of this post was to show you my current quilt project and to inspire you to work with the color you love. Find that one color that makes your heart sing and build YOUR ultimate stash and sewing room(house and decor) around that one color. So if you are one of those quilters that love Halloween colors you can make any quilt in those colors. Even this quilt could be a Halloween Love Quilt. Others may not like your colors but who cares. They don't have to live with it everyday you do.
All colors have a positive and negative meaning, so the real problem might just be how an individual looks at them. The color red gets a bad rap in my youth but as an adult I see it in a more positive light.
Rosy red cheeks
The Ruby Red Slippers
Put on your red shoes and dance the blues(a line from the song Let's Dance, by David Bowie)
There are so many positives about the color red, it's a very energetic color. The best positive is it also is know to be the color of LOVE. Now how could that be bad.
Until next time...
I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!
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I love your red hearts. They make me smile. :) My favorite color is turquoise. I have to fight myself to not use it all the time. I love turquoise with red, with line green, with gray, with pink, with.....
ReplyDeleteFunny how our favorite colors become our neutrals.
DeleteAnother quote to add to your positive words about red: "Red is a neutral." by Freddy Moran. She uses lots of reds in her quilts along with other bold colors. A Google search for Freddy Moran images will show pictures of how she uses bold colors in her quilts.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention her. I was just talking with a friend about Freddy's bold colors. Even her home is full of WOW color. Not my style but love it!
DeleteLove your hearts! Is it going to become a pattern?
ReplyDeleteThank you and YES! It will be a FREE pattern on my YouTube Channel in the next few days.
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