Breaking the color rules

Postage stamp quilt
Planning blocks and Color theory 101
Constructing a quilt block (tutorial)
Finished blocks to date

” I divvy up the pieces into lights, mediums, and darks. And then I vary, lights next to darks, darks next to mediums, but not the same group next to each other. I also pay attention to putting big prints or high contrast prints next to solids, little prints or tone on tones next to plaids … the point is, to have unlikes next to each other. And always, some neutrals in each and every block. Too much color is overwhelming.”

All that is true, but some of my recently completed blocks break these rules. Most of these were some of the last planned blocks, and I was running out of choices, having already used my best fabrics. When planning a scrap quilt, you always keep the rules in mind, but you fudge where you must to use up the scraps you have.

: Three medium values next to each other. In an ideal world, the 12-pieces gray would be a white or ivory. I still tired to mitigate the result by putting a neutral next to colors.

: Two lights next to each other. I had run out of medium values.

: Two darks next to each other. At least one of the darks is a neutral.

: Two lights next to each other, then two darks next to each other. Again, putting neutrals next to colors to help mitigate.

: Two lights next to each other. Using up what I had left, even if not ideal.

: This one is four colors in a block, orange, yellow, green, and violet, with just a little black neutral. Ideally, the 12-piece light yellows would have been white or ivory. Too much color can be overwhelming, but you do the best you can with what you have.

When putting the whole quilt together when all the blocks are done, my plan is to spread out the rule-breakers so the quilt in its entirety will still look great.

Continued:

More finished blocks (Jan 18, 2023)
Even more finished blocks (Jan 25, 2023)
The last blocks completed (Jan 31, 2023)
Planning the quilt top (Feb 05, 2023)
Quilt block arrangement record (Feb 06, 2023)
Bordering the quilt blocks (Feb 08, 2023)
What happened to the Postage Stamp Quilt? (Apr 24, 2023)