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Saturday, June 24, 2017

Leaves of Gold...

 The color challenge at rainbow scrap challenge  this month is Yellow! Appropriate for summer.

While at a hotel recently, while a certain poodle puppy had a power nap, I watched some shows on Netflix

and hand basted some golden yellows to paper leaves. These are fairly large at 6".
(I also basted, then sewed some more hexie star blocks I had prepared)

Of course I had to play with the leaves a bit... I am raking in a lot of leaves now!

 It really is fun to sort thru the scraps to find tones, textures and prints that would be fun on a leaf shape.
The hotel had a carved gold leafed mirror that I looked at... and wondered how I would paint it. I decided to paint the carved parts I would need dark almost black paint, and light gold almost white paint to give the impression of carving.
 It came to me that we need that in each block too, to give the block interest and depth, so that it doesn't look flat.

This is exactly why I love sewing from the scrap bin. All the tones and shades together remind me to try one next to another. I like this arrangement and I didn't fuss with it, just laid them out on white fabric.

I've been told by other quilters, that one shouldn't use much yellow.
Huh?  Crazy. Yellow, and orange, make a quilt sing. They bring warmth and glow.
Proportion comes into play here... one might not enjoy dark gray, but a strip of dark gray might shadow and bring to life another shape. Same with yellow highlights.

I'm still making some yellow hexie stars as well as other colors. There is a suggested color of the month but I am still enjoying all colors on the stars.  While sewing the star points to the hexies, I loved mixing the green with the turquoise, and the dark gray points were amazingly lively in this flower print.
Two more yellow stars were made. I cut out a few white stars with a yellow background too, like the red one in the foreground.
They are so stinkin' cute lying there aren't they?
What a decadent afternoon it was, peacefully piecing while my dervish of a puppy slept, and comedies played on Netflix in a very cool room. Our house is never that chilled in the summer.
What a gift the afternoon was to me.

Those of you who visit only on Saturday might be interested to know I do an "I Like" post every Thursday where I list the positive things that made me smile during the week. I have been joined in doing these posts by about 12 other bloggers. Please come look at those posts and join us! I'll add in your link! 
the link to all the posts is: Click here!

Linking to a few parties on my links page, including:
http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/
http://www.quiltfabrication.com/
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays
sewcanshe Saturdays
oh Scrap Sundays 
 slow stitching Sundays
sew can do mondays
Inspire me mondays 



19 comments:

  1. What a heavenly afternoon you had! I think we all need and deserve one of those every once in a while. I agree - yellow can hold a quilt quite well on it's own as can any color. Your leaves make me smile - so fun and sunny. Those stars.... love that you are adding the colors as the background too. Great post.

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  2. I agree with you about yellow! It made such a huge difference to my string star project when I added in the yellow blocks. Brightened everything up! I love seeing your hand sewing projects, and the fun you have trying different things. Enjoy!

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  3. Yes your afternoon sounds wonderful. I really enjoy hotels, where the housework, cooking, garden, & such aren't calling for my attention. Lovely blocks.

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  4. This may be a repeat. Your comment about proportion was right on, as you say, any color can work in the right place. Glad Milo gave you such a lovely afternoon.

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  5. Way to rake in the good times on the out-of-house stay. Love that dreamy blue with the gold.

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  6. I like the variety in your yellow leaves and I like your long legged hexie stars.

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  7. It's true that YELLOW adds a spark to our quilts. It may be that some quilters just aren't bold enough to use much of it. For that reason, they try to convince the rest of us that it should be used sparingly. (Just a possibility, or there might be some artistic reason for it that I just don't know.)

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  8. ALL quilts need yellow, orange, and lime green. Keeps them from being boring!

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  9. Love those leaves! I think my favourite layout is the sort of wheat one based on the mirror. Something to remember!

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  10. I don't often use a lot of yellow, but I do love a touch of yellow in my quilts. Especially those scrappy ones. Love those leaves arranged like the branch in particular.

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  11. Your yellow projects are like a ray of sunshine! Bright and happy!

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  12. I was always told a little bit of yellow goes a long way! But I agree it can make a quilt go pow too (I'm all for adding some lime green for the same reason!!)

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  13. I find myself using yellow a bit more. Glad you were able to enjoy some downtime. Thanks for linking up with Oh Scrap!

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  14. Your post was so relaxing that I relaxed while reading it! I enjoy your "I Like" post, yet I hesitate to add my own because...well...I'm such a homebody that most of my likes are in/around my home! :)

    Thank you for the ideas about using yellow and the different colors we can use to highlight it! I think that's why I enjoy your blog so much - it's such a delightful mix of the artist and the quilter! :)

    Thank you for sharing!

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  15. The yellow leaves are gorgeous. They make me yearn for fall.

    -Soma

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  16. Love the leaf spray LeeAnna! You should do that in other colors for fall - it could make a stunning quilt. Thanks for sharing this on Midweek Makers today!

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  17. I love the idea of your "I Like" Thursday posts! And I am digging your yellows more and more. I think because you have all those different shades of yellow. The yellow orange leaves especially; they capture autumn sunshine. Are your hexie stars paper pieced? What are you using for the papers? I tried to EPP a block with similar long, skinny points and the cardstock I was using kept bending and distorting at the skinny points.

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  18. Other than standard EPP of hexes, I have never thought to hand baste appliqué. Love how smooth and pointy your leaves came out with this extra effort. You have me thinking...

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