Saturday, March 16, 2013

Rat Race Quilts

Two of my fellow quilters from my 'winter group' made the following lovely quilts using the same French Braid pattern: 'Rat Race' from Jane Hardy Miller's book. They were kind enough to let me photograph their quilts and the following interpretation regarding colour is entirely my own.  I understand the 'Rat Race' pattern asked for three shades (light, medium, dark) of two colours to make the zigzag braids.
Audrey's Quilt from 'Rat Race' pattern

Audrey's Quilt
Audrey chose to use the patterned border fabric as the dark of both colour sets. When this quilt was hanging at a recent quilt show, what really stood out was the lightest blue zigzag. It definitely was the lightest hue throughout the whole quilt and it made the quilt sing. Many visitors commented on it's beauty. Note, this light colour was not contained in the patterned fabric but was a tint (has the addition of white) of the blue within the patterned fabric. A great example of going beyond matching the focus fabric colours.

Fayetta's quilt using the same pattern


Fayetta's Quilt

The green and red quilt is restful to look at. It contains not only shades and tints of red and green, but the colours are toned (colours with the addition of black and white). There is no pure colour. I would say this has a calming effect. I would love to sleep under this quilt.
The intertwining chains composed of the darkest shade of red and  of green stand out as a feature. It resulted in a wonderful knotted effect. Note that the light pink zigzag stands out as a secondary focus. Doesn't it appear to be far behind the darks and the midtones of the quilt, creating great depth.
Thank you both for sharing your works of art!


No comments: