Scientific Quilter

Okay, I was trying to do a Monochromatic Color challenge because when I stumbled upon Judy’s blog, Patchwork Times in January, I was intrigued by the idea to make a monochromatic quilt. 

Of course, so is Scraphappy of SoScrappy doing a Rainbow Scrap challenge.

New year, new idea, let’s play along.  Okay, actually, I wasn’t going to play along until I found out the colors of each for the month of January.

Patchwork Times’ challenge = yellow

SoScrappy’s challenge = blue

I have loads of blue (well compared to some of the other colors I have), and hardly any yellow (or orange actually), but maybe I would like to try one of these challenges.

I was in a funk, the weather is cloudy and cold in January here, blue is the last color I want to remind myself of in this dreary month.

Okay, would it even be possible to find light and dark colors of yellow so I could participate?  THAT is the challenge. 

Yellow, for me, is just one of those colors. 

You see a piece of ‘bright’ yellow and you automatically think (incorrectly) that bright = dark.  Not true.

I was able to cut my fabrics into 2 1/2 inch strips and then take a black and white picture to see the values.

It turns out I actually didn’t own any really light yellows, and one of the yellows in the dark range has a little green twinge.  But I still have some contrast.

This is the project I decided to find Quiltville’s scrap project page, and looking down the long list of possible scrap patterns I found the Strip Twist block.

This block lends itself to high contrast, so I figured that it would be good for monochromatic purposes.

I then saw my butterfly picture on my calendar, and I was all set.

Scanning the butterfly into the computer, printing out the outline, tracing around the outside of all the yellow pieces, fusing them down with fusible onto yellow fabric, cutting all the pieces out, I stuck it in a baggie, was very proud of all the work I had done.

Then we went on christmas vacation.  In January.  During the first really large snow storm in our area. 

I thought, “OH, I’ll need to take this with me to fuse it down in the hotel with the iron to have something to do when I wake up very early”, I’ll just put it <here> before we go”.

And we were on vacation 3 weeks ago. 

And for the last three weeks, I have failed to find the <here> place I put the pieces.

So I had the perfect spot for the blocks, made them (one being backwards), decided that two blocks were enough for where I wanted to place this quilt.

And then …..

Couldn’t move on because of my lost butterfly.

I spent all day this past sunday cleaning up my room including going through my neglected scrap basket and organizing my scraps.

Finally last night, I found the butterfly.

So here it is, monochromatic color quilt, fused with the butterfly, but not completed.

Time to go back it and quilt it.

I need that to brighten up my day, ’cause there is a heap of snow a comin’.