jewel tones | Night Quilter

Forget orange! Navy is the new black. I’ve heard it whispered among quilters here and there, but never being a navy person myself, I was reluctant to buy it. After stretching out of my comfort zone and choosing navy blue as my background/negative space for my recent project, I’m a navy convert.

I traditionally tend toward black and grey as my dark contrasting colors, both in quilting and in my own attire. Navy is just so…. eh, navy. Bleh. Boring. BUT, when you take navy and pair it with bright jewel tones like magenta, turquoise, gold, and that perfect shade of grass green, it really shines. It’s not as completely dark as black, so it adds a little bit of color, and I would almost say bright color, although I know that’s going against all color description “rules”. Navy blue as a “bright” color? No way! But just look!

It shines. Am I right?

I’m registered for Lee Heinrich‘s Off the Grid: Creating Alternate Layouts workshop at QuiltCon next week, and we are required to make a number of quilt blocks in advance so that when we get to the workshop, we can really focus on layout. I wanted to stretch my comfort zone a little, and rather than go with brown and orange (blech), I opted to try navy paired with my favorite colors–bright jewel tones. I am LOVING the outcome and have a feeling this will not be my last time using navy in a star role in a quilt.

navy is the new black quilt blocks — Block ID: center: Wombat Quilts’ Swirling Star; top from left: Inverted Star by Common Threads, Circle of Geese by Piece by Number; bottom: two blocks I found photos of on Pinterest but couldn’t track down the origin or block names.

So far I have four 12 1/2″ blocks and one 8 1/2″ blocks complete (I forgot to allow for seam allowance on one side of the paper piecing template for the small one, so it should have been 9 1/2″ but oh well), and I am going to try to make a few more blocks before heading to Austin next week. The supplies list calls for 5-20 blocks but I know there’s no way I’ll finish 20 blocks on top of the rest of my QuiltCon to-do list! I don’t really like the first block I made (bottom right), so while I will take it with me, I might have to do some serious surgery before including it in whatever finished layout I choose.

I would love to hear your favorite star-style block pattern, since I think I want to make all of the blocks unique, but with the same color theme. What block do you think would go well with the ones I have so far?

I’m linking up with WiP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced, where she is making her demo blocks for the class I’m taking!!

Last week, Stephanie from The Late Night Quilter announced the Supernova Friendship Block Swap, and I was immediately hooked. (Yes, you read that right–The Late Night Quilter meets The Night Quilter: we lead parallel lives more than half a country apart, unbeknownst to either of us before a few weeks ago when I saw her name in a comment on a blog we both follow and sent her a hello!)

So back to the Supernova Friendship Block Swap! It took me an entire day of deliberating to decide that I definitely was going to join in on the fun for this unique project. It will be my first ever swap and first ever official quilt along, as well as a great opportunity to better get to know a fellow quilter/blogger. But do I really need another project? With the design and testing of four paper piecing patterns, my newly started Star Crazy quilt, a slow-moving baby quilt, as well as other various sewing projects all in progress, on top of being a full time mom and wife trying to get my garden in before the blackflies hit!, I was really debating if I would be taking on too much by committing to this swap. I decided that this Supernova Friendship Block Swap is spread out enough that the sewing part is definitely doable without time-limit stress, and the added letter writing and friendship-building part is right in line with what I’d like to do more of: connect with other quilters. So yes, I’m doing it!

Click on the picture above to find out all about the swap from Stephanie’s blog. The jist is that you pair up with another blogger-quilter acquaintance or friend and each month, you create two identical blocks–one for you and one that you send to your partner. After five months, you have enough blocks for the entire quilt, plus one extra for the back or a smaller quilt. Here’s a summary, and the part that really hooked me:

Here’s the idea: To learn more about each other and deepen our friendship, each time we send our surprise package with a new block in it to our partner, we’ll also include a letter with few details about ourselves.

In my previous life, before having children and before email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. made it so easy to converse daily, I was quite a letter writer. I am eager for this chance to get back into the fading art of letter writing. I’m also excited to get to know another quilter along the way. More on that–I’m partnering with Laura from Adventures of a Quilting Diva. I don’t know Laura well, but she has been designing blocks for a Spool Along, with which I have been sort of trying to keep up (I’m quite far behind!). It will be fun to get to know her more, and to see this project come together–a melding of styles and personalities in one of my favorite modes of expression: quilting.

Off to finalize our color palette plan! Here’s what we are thinking so far: Jewel tones with a light grey background and some black & white prints mixed in. Sounds like just my style, doesn’t it?

It’s not too late for you to join in the fun! Just grab a partner and leave a message on The Late Night Quilter’s blog post here. The deadline to send your first block to your partner is June 15, but other than that there’s a rolling admission for anyone who would like to join. Even if you don’t have a partner in mind, Stephanie can help match you up with someone. Do let me know if you decide to join–I’m looking forward to reading all of the blog posts and tweets about the #supernovaswap and the growing friendships that emerge!