Naturally Neutral - NOT!

I promised myself that I wouldn’t bore you with further tales of settling into the new house, or the lovely day I had today visiting with the washer repair man, the transportation inspector from the Army, and the plumber, all of whom were here today, trooping through the house in wet shoes (it’s raining here in Germany, go figure!) to see me for various reasons. So, on to more soothing, quilty topics:

See? Sooooothing to the eyes. This is the base palette that I’ve chosen to work with for my next project. I felt a bit of trepidation about this project—well, to be perfectly honest I think I still do, but I’m diving in anyway, as per the usual way of things. I’m not a “neutral” person, you see. I like color, lots and lots of color, in varying shades and hues all together, all the time. BUT, I like the colors to blend well, like the crisp, slightly sweet taste of a cool Cosmo on a warm spring afternoon. Mmmmm.

What? Oh, sorry, got a little sidetracked there. Ahem. Similarly, I’m absolutely NOT neutral on other things either. Most things, I either like it a lot or I don’t like it at all, with none of that namby-pamby-in-between-ambivalence-thing going on. This goes for just about everything: foods, politics, books, people, cars, movies, etc., etc. If I don’t have a “like it or hate it” reaction to something, it’s probably because it’s just not on my radar and I haven’t thought about it at all.

So this neutral, almost blank-feeling palette is a bit scary. How “neutral” can it get before it just becomes nothing? I am looking for this quilt to be very quiet, with not much contrast at all because it’s really just a base for other embellishment-type things that will be added later which will provide more than enough color (think “every color of the rainbow” here). BUT, I’m still a bit worried that it will be too quiet, and the actual piecing pattern won’t really show up enough which it really needs to do.

I’ll have to cut out a test block (shudder!) and stick it up on the design wall, and see how it goes. Oh, yes, the design wall! The Block Butler did arrive, and I LOVE it. It’s perfect, and I was able to cut the pieces I bought to exactly fit and completely cover the wall that I left bare at the end of the studio for exactly this purpose. Now all I need is more lighting so I can actually see the wall on those oh so rare days when there’s no sun (did I say that?) and I’ll be in business.

Yes, you read it right, I said “test block.” Those of you who know me should remember that I’m not really a “test it out” sort of gal. Boring! I prefer to dive right in and get down to the fun part, but maybe I’m getting smarter in my old age? That’d be an interesting development…

Oh, and some of those wonderful greenish fabrics did not come from my stash, either. I’m not on any sort of fabric diet, so I took the fabrics I had picked out from my stash and went to the Army Arts & Crafts center here in Heidelberg to look for more fabrics that would blend, and they had what I wanted! The place in Stuttgart almost never had what I wanted or needed, so this is pure heaven up here in Heidelberg! *happy sigh* I am content.

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