Tag: The Pantone Project

Pantone Project August Progress

I took a break from making bags, Metro Twist and Scrappy Celebration to make some progress. Thus, I made some good progress over the weekend on making Pantone blocks. 

Pantone Mutt & Jeff Left
Pantone Mutt & Jeff Left

I had already chosen quite a few fabrics, which made the task easier. Foundation piecing, not my strength, gave me pains on the first block.

The background of this fabric, a Martha Negley fruit and floral print from a few years ago, was the right hue for Pantone 4545 (not all the colors have names. Some only have numbers, which is a little annoying). I only had a half yard of this fabric and these fruit and florals don’t always have a lot of background. In this case, I only had a few bits to work with.

Martha Negley Fruit & Floral for Pantone 4545
Martha Negley Fruit & Floral for Pantone 4545

Of course, I cut a piece that was the wrong shape (remember: foundation piecing needs backwards and upside down pieces), so I had to Swiss cheese cut the last bit of background. Sigh. Fortunately, I don’t have enough of this to use for a back or a bag, so it really shouldn’t matter. Still it is painful to see one of these prints with a hunk out of the middle. Fortunately, this project (and Friend Julie) are worth it.

As an aside, you know how Tula Pink is doing Deja Vu prints? I wish Free Spirit would do them for Martha Negley as well. Maybe I should start fan club for Martha? I love those fruit and veg prints.

I went to town making blocks. I got into a rhythm that was only interrupted by not having selected anymore fabric. I thought I made a wider variety, but, looking at them like this, apparently not.

Storm Corner in Pantone 3985
Storm Corner in Pantone 3985

I was planning to make Flying Geese for Pantone 3985, a kind of olive green, but ran out of fabric. When I selected the fabric, I didn’t realize I only had about half of a fat quarter, so mid-block, I pivoted and made another Storm Center, which would work with the size triangles I had already cut.

I needed a template, so I cut the Pirate Black Storm Corner so I could use the triangles as a template, thus I ended up with four of these. In the grand scheme of the whole quilt it will be ok. It just looks a little odd now.

 

Pantone colors left to make
Pantone colors left to make

I suppose I shouldn’t have called this “August Progress” as it assumes I won’t make any additional progress, though I hope I do. I still have a number of colors to match and turn into blocks. Note they are all kind of dull, though looking at them like this reminds me they are not all beige.

I am also happy I made some good progress as I was feeling quite guilty at my tardiness. The hardest part of this project is selecting the fabrics. Aside from hauling the fabric bins down from the top of the fabric closet, the inks on the postcards seem to be different from the dyes used in fabric. I know that is true, however the actual hues and shades seem to be really different.

More Pantone Blocks from Julie

Pantone Blocks from Julie - early July 2023
Pantone Blocks from Julie – early July 2023

I received more Pantone blocks from Julie. Fortunately, I am not completely lame, because I have also been making some blocks for her.

I did not include the squares of fabric that came along with these blocks in the photo.

There are a nice variety and very cheerful, unlike the fabrics I have been selecting, which are dark and depressing.

No Paper Sewing FPP

Julie told me about foundation paper piecing where you don’t sew through the paper. I meant to have her show me at the last Sew Day, but somehow we didn’t get around to it.

As my stack of postcards grew, I knew I needed to do something, so I watched a video called My FPP (Foundation Paper Piecing) No Sew Paper Method and was able to get started.

WOW!

What a game changer! I might actually start to use FPP more.

I am not doing a tutorial right now, but might in the future. It would be a good technique to teach in my Sampler class.

Fold pattern over thin ruler
Fold pattern over thin ruler

One of the keys is folding the paper back. The video I watched show using the Add-a-Quarter** ruler to fold the paper back. I have that ruler, but it didn’t work the way I expected. I have a very thin Bernina ruler I got somewhere and that worked very well for me.

I also have a thin plastic grid ruler**, which I haven’t tried that might work well also.

There are a few different videos on this technique. Julie said she uses this technique in a little different way, but that what it shows is basically the same.

One good thing about this technique is that I don’t have to print paper patterns all the time, use them once and then print another. Great reuse!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

More Julie Pantone Blocks

Pantone Project blocks from Julie April 2023
Pantone Project blocks from Julie April 2023

After the meeting on the weekend, I cleaned out the Chubby Charmer I take to the meeting and found a bunch of stuff leftover from Retreat in the bottom. Among the items was a bunch of Pantone Project blocks that Julie made. She must have handed them over at the Retreat.

This group looks very Fallish/Autumn-like to me.

I feel terrible that they have languished unremarked upon for weeks. My only explanation is that I left for a business trip only a few days after I returned from the Retreat and really didn’t do a great job of putting everything away.

I have some fabrics chosen for some blocks for Julie and I am determined to get some done.

More Pantone Selections

Pantone 142 + fabric selection
Pantone 142 + fabric selection

I have decided (today) that waiting for a chunk of time to select fabrics for the Pantone Project isn’t getting selections made, which means I cannot make blocks for Julie. I think that if I select even one fabric I am much closer to handing more blocks over.

I am pretty pleased with the yellow selection. I know it doesn’t look exact int he picture, but the card is more of the same color in real life.

Pantone 152ish + fabric selection
Pantone 152ish + fabric selection

Last week, on my lunch hours, I selected one or two fabrics. This orange is also a better match in person.

Julie and I both acknowledge that this is more challenging than we thought it would be.  Still, I think doing it in small chunks is worth a try. I hope I can make some progress using this strategy.

Julie and I meant to go over her technique for foundation paper piecing and we didn’t get around to it. That lack gives me a reason to get together with her soon.

Pantone Blossom and Coral Haze + fabric
Pantone Blossom and Coral Haze + fabric

These two are pretty similar. I remembered this peachy fabric, but had to get it out to see which one works better. I think I will use this fabric for the Coral Haze and find something else for the Blossom.

A Little Pantone

Pantone Project blocks
Pantone Project blocks

I sat down and sewed a few more blocks for Julie. I also picked out more fabrics to make more blocks. I just haven’t made them yet.

I am really happy I made some progress, but annoyed I haven’t made MORE progress.

As I have said, it takes time to choose the fabrics. If I can do that, then sewing the blocks isn’t difficult. One thing at a time!

New Pantone Project Blocks

Pantone Project Blocks - January 2023
Pantone Project Blocks – January 2023

I received some more blocks from Julie a week or so ago.

These are the result of the postcards I sent to her. It is interesting to think about the choices I made and the result that I see in the blocks Julie made.

I can’t imagine how the blocks the blocks will come together as a whole but I am excited to see how they come together.

I have not made any other blocks since my last batch. I need to get one that.

New Pantone Project Blocks

Pantone Project Blocks - November 2022
Pantone Project Blocks – November 2022

I received a nice package of blocks from Friend Julie the other day. It is so interesting to see these blocks. Julie mentioned that it looked like a real project now when she posted about the blocks I sent to her last week.

I can’t really see what they will end up looking like, but I can see that they will end up as something. I can see the possibilities now.

I have received more postcards and need to match them to fabric. I might be over the hump of fabric selection being a big barrier. We’ll see how it goes with the next group.

Pantone Project – 2d Group of Blocks

Pantone Project: 2d group of blocks
Pantone Project: 2d group of blocks

I made more Pantone Project blocks. I am not caught up, but am getting there. Julie had a great post about her blocks and playing with our combined blocks on the design wall.

Making these blocks is providing me with little snippets of sewing now that I am finished with Pies & Points. I still want to get in a groove like I did with the Flying Geese project a million years ago (2015), but I am not there yet.

This is really the first time I have looked carefully at Pantone colors. I am not sure what they are trying to do. They have a LOT of beiges and other neutrals. They don’t have many bright, clear colors – or as many as I would like. I guess I should go read their website.

First Pantone Project Blocks

First Pantone Project Blocks
First Pantone Project Blocks

I finally (FINALLY!) made some Pantone Project blocks and handed them off to Julie when we were at PIQF.

I know there are a small number shown here, but along with the fabrics I have selected, I feel like I have made a good start. I am in the process of making the other blocks. Once I do that I will be caught up and should be able to make a couple of blocks per week. Fingers crossed.

Pantone Project: Good Start

I talked about the parameters of the Pantone Project in July, then again in early August and mid-August as my attempts to select fabric started. I didn’t feel confident after these attempts and the postcards started to stack up. As the postcards stacked up, the project started to weigh on my mind. As Friend Julie made progress, the project started to weigh on my mind.

Pantone: first big fabric pull
Pantone: first big fabric pull

I finished a big project on Saturday night and needed something different to work on. I was spurred on by wanting some basic piecing. The blocks for the Pantone Project will be basic piecing, but I had to choose fabric first. I was not excited, because I am getting a little annoyed with Pantone. Piecing starts with fabric, however. I decided that I had the time to pull fabrics for this project. First, I laid out all the cards I had received, so I knew what I had to work with.

Yes, Pantone 350, in the upper right hand corner is that green with which I started. It was still in the mix. I had the greens I had chosen separated out, but kept it in the mix since I thought I might find something better. I have to say that I made major progress on the Pantone Project on Sunday.

Pantone: Rainy Day Fabric Match
Pantone: Rainy Day Fabric Match

I started with the easy colors such as the reds and pinks. Fiesta and Cactus Flower were pretty easy, but I quickly realized that I had to pull out much more fabric to get more choices.

I even dragged out a bin that includes solid neutrals and found a beige that matches Rainy Day pretty well.

Pantone: tough color nuts
Pantone: tough color nuts

Surprisingly, or maybe not, a lot of my older fabrics are much more aligned to these colors than the newer fabrics. This could be my buying habits as well. I stick to pretty clear colors when I buy fabrics now. After awhile, I had only a few left. I had to not only pull out old fabrics, but I used several hand-dyed fabrics. I haven’t dyed and printed fabric in years so lots of old fabrics are getting an airing.

Pantone: 1st big color pull
Pantone: 1st big color pull

Eventually, I found fabrics that were good matches to the postcards I have received. Some cards span 2 or more fabrics as I am still deciding. Some fabrics were a great match. I was really pleased with the fabric I found for the Swedish blue (2d row, 2d from right). It is a perfect match. The Nile Blue (bottom left corner) is a problem. The three fabrics I chose look better in person than they do in the photos, but are still not perfect. There is also a peachy pink, Peach Pearl, (2d row, 3rd from left) where I found a good match, but only have a little of the fabric. I’ll have to be very careful when I cut it.

I have to say that I have a lot of questions for Pantone, most importantly: why so many beiges? I need to read up a bit on Pantone and get a better sense of their business.

Now, I can get to piecing. I do feel a bit of a sigh of relief that I have made a start and nothing awful has happened when the fabrics weren’t perfect matches.

If you want to play along, you will need:

Decisions to Make:

  • Size of units (blocks)
  • Type of units to make
  • Timeframe for making the project
  • Timeframe for sending postcards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Obviously, you should shop at local fabric, knitting shops or quilt shops. However, if you can’t, please know that I use affiliate links. I may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I do not recommend items I don’t like. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

Pantone Green Again

Julie and I went out the other day to Golden State Sewing. We usually meet for lunch and visit the Granary, but I suggested we change it up. They have really good fabric at Golden State. More on the visit later.

One of the things I wanted to do was look for fabrics for The Pantone Project for the cards with which I was struggling. We also chatted about ‘good enough’, which is de rigeur for this project. We agreed that neither of us want to buy a lot of fabric.

Pantone 350 choices (green)
Pantone 350 choices (green)

I finally crawled up into the fabric closet and got down the cool solids bin and pulled out the greens I remembered. Neither were exactly right, but Julie and I decided that two of the three fabrics would work.

We think the Tula Pink Tiny Dots is the right color, but lighter. We think the top right solid is dark enough, but doesn’t have that black (or brown?) tinge to it. We agreed that either would work.

One strategy I haven’t tried is comparing the postcards to the color cards I have. As I said, though, I don’t want to buy a lot of fabric; I’d like to use what I have.

Pantone Project Fabric Selection #1 Attempt

Friend Julie has already started selecting fabrics and making blocks. I have just started with the most recent postcard she sent (Pantone #350, a VERY dark, almost black, green). I am behind and I have no excuse except I am quilting the Tarts, I finished Pies & Points and the Diagonal 9 Patch and I am working on clearing my to do list.

I needed a break while I was quilting the Tarts, so I started looking at fabrics.

PP Comparison: Tula Tiny Stripes
PP Comparison: Tula Tiny Stripes

When I receive the postcard, I sometimes get an idea of the fabric I want to use. For this VERY dark, almost black, green I thought immediately of the Tula Tiny Dots and Stripes. On a break I got the striped fabric out, confident I would have one selected and compared the postcard with the fabric.

Bleah! Not dark enough.

No problem, what about the dots?

PP Comparison: Tula Tiny Dots
PP Comparison: Tula Tiny Dots

Better. Maybe a good enough option, but still not dark enough.

This was depressing and I started thinking about the greens I have. If I have a green this dark, it will be buried in a project box or at the bottom of some “old fabric” box, because the last time I may have used such a fabric was when I took the Mary Mashuta class on pushed neutrals. I also have a Tula solid that might work.

I put Pantone #350 aside for awhile. I had to file papers before I could climb up into the depths of my fabric closet to get at the old neutrals, so I took out the Pantone #14-1911, Candy Pink postcard. I knew there was a pink solid around that would be perfect.

PP: Candy Pink
PP: Candy Pink

Wrong again. This is a great example of making visual decisions visually. Again, the pink might be good enough, but if you look at Julie’s selections, they are perfect matches. Sigh. More climbing up into the closet. I really don’t want to buy fabric for this project if I can avoid it.

I need to go file papers.

The Pantone Project

Friend Julie and I started a project together. This isn’t the first project we have worked on together. We have worked on Bullseye quilt projects together, the Windmill quilts and Julie’s Tumbler quilts. I enjoy working on projects with her.

Pantone Postcards
Pantone Postcards

This project started with me asking for the Pantone Postcard Box for a gift. Friend Julie got it for me, then we started talking about doing something quilty with it.

We threw ideas back and forth, but recently we got together for lunch and laid out our guidelines. It was a lot easier to make the list when we were together, though I suppose we could have done it on the phone as well.

Pattern Play by Doreen Speckmann
Pattern Play by Doreen Speckmann

We decided we would use the units Doreen Speckmann recommends in her Pattern Play book. I LOVED Doreen Speckmann’s classes. I have had the book for a long time, but Friend Julie bought it recently. It is a technique book, though there are a few patterns. Doreen shows readers how to make and use different units to make quilts look more personalized. These were the types of books that were written in the past whereas now people just write books that tell you how to make a certain quilt with certain fabric. I don’t see that I have written a book review on this book, but it might be time.

That being said, this is a block based book and, thus The Pantone Project will be a block based quilt.

“Supplies” Needed:

Decisions to Make:

    • Size of units (blocks)
    • Type of units to make
    • Timeframe for making the project
    • Timeframe for sending postcards

Every week or so we send each other a postcard. The interval is pretty random, but we aren’t letting months go by. I was on a trip recently and didn’t send any that week, but sent one as soon as I got back.

The postcards have a certain Pantone color. From the color we will choose a solid, tone-on-tone or ‘reads as solid’ fabric to use for the block.

Blossom by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake
Blossom by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake

We decided to use the same background and bought some together the other day. We bought a cool grey called Blossom by Riley Blake. Christopher Thompson is the designer. I don’t know why it is called Blossom since there is not one blossom-y color on it. Some of the other fabrics in the line are more blossom-like. Anyway, this is a really good grey, which is now washed and waiting to be incorporated into blocks. You can see more of the design of the fabric on Julie’s blog.

Our units will be 4 inches finished (4.5 inches unfinished).

We will make two blocks, plus cut two squares and send one block and one square to the other person. At the moment, I am behind and won’t be able to get started until later this week or next week. Julie has a nice picture of the postcards I have sent on her blog. She also made one block already. I need to get busy, and will soon.

I hope you find a friend and play along.

 

Resources:

 

 

 

 

**Obviously, you should shop at a local quilt shop. However, I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.