Challenge number 10 of the Quilter’s Color Quest: Use colour and fabrics to tell a story. This must be a great way to choose the colours for a quilt – a quilt that will instantly evoke memories and meaning for the maker and maybe for the recipient too.
I had a think… And decided to tell the story of witnessing the 2012 Olympics. We were very fortunate to go to two events held in the Olympic Park; Basketball and Hockey and to have seats in the Stadium for a session of the Paralympics.
The colours that come to mind when I think back to our family outings to the Olympic Park are the bright pink of the banners and a teal green (which I think may have been more dominant in the Paralympics) along with the striking black and white elongated triangles on the outside of the Stadium.
Happy Family! We had to keep pinching ourselves – we really were at the Olympic Games!
Inside the stadium the seating was a mix of black and white while the brick coloured track contrasted well with the bright green grass of the field events area.
A wheelchair event about to get underway. The officials are wearing teal and white – I guess that’s where my memory of teal comes from. Note that the purple of the hoardings and umbrellas had been erased from my memory! Ha! Ha!
Here are the swatches I pulled along with a ticket from the Games.
I took the swatches to my collection of scraps and pulled a few fabrics.
I couldn’t find any prints depicting sports but I liked the idea of using the black & white text fabric as a reminder of the outside of the Stadium. The text is all about friendship, a topic in line with the ethos of the Olympic Games. The bright floral fabric has the signature pink of the Games and has a sense of excitement that fits with the whole atmosphere of the Olympic Park in 2012. The ditsy floral print has some of the track colour in it and reminds me of the beautiful swathes of wild and cultivated flowers flourishing in the broad beds alongside the walkways of the Olympic Park.
I expect you can tell that I’ve really enjoyed this story challenge from the Quilter’s Color Quest? So many happy memories wrapped up in this exercise. I can see using colour to tell a story is a really effective way to choose fabrics for a quilt.
Linking with Beth for Monday Making – Beth is ‘playing with a Dresden Plate ruler; and linking with Dione for Colour & Inspiration Tuesday – she is sharing the latest block of her ‘Lunarcy’ quilt along with her experience of visiting the ‘opal capital of the world’ and staying in an underground B&B!
Allison
That would be a great way to choose fabric. Hockey is the only sport I watch, you are so lucky to have witnessed the Olympic Hockey in person.
We were very fortunate to get tickets – especially as the hockey stadium was in the Olympic Park. Lots of happy memories were made on that day 🙂
What a neat way to commemorate a special family trip like that!! Will you be making a whole quilt with this theme, or was the exercise just to do small piece of it?
What a great color exercise! And I laughed out loud when I saw your inspiration photo…how could the purple be overlooked for that itty bitty teal on the officials? So funny how are brains function! 🙂
😀 It is funny isn’t it? My memories also resolve around trying to find patches of shade to shelter from the hot sun but many of our photos show us wearing layers and people holding open umbrellas against brief showers of rain ….
Yes! I wold definitely return to ‘telling a story’ as a method of choosing a colour palette – particularly if I were making the quilt for someone I know well or for our own use. The blocks will be added to others I’ve made in response to the challenges set in Rachel Hauser’s Quilter’s Color Quest. A scrappy Bear Paw quilt is on it’s way…
Such a fun way to choose colors for a quilt!!
It is isn’t it? And especially if the ‘story’ is shared by people we love.