Presents for Lucy | Working with a Limited Color Palette

I wanted to share a few more pictures of all the presents I made for my cousin’s new baby Lucy, as well as share some thoughts on working with a limited color palette. Folks who have followed me for awhile will know that even though as a fabric dyer I can dye ANY color I want, I usually work with a particular palette for awhile instead. I’ve found this to be crucial to getting me out of a state of analysis/paralysis when it comes to making art! Usually, the palettes I use come from within: I’ve been taken by a particular color, or pair of colors, and I want to work with them, surrounding them with other colors that help out that relationship, and combining those colors into spectacular multicolor fabrics like my Jewel tone palette:

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Earth and sky:

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Autumn Splendor:Autumn-Splendor-Stacks-26

In Lucy’s case, however, the colors came from her parents, and the aesthetic they were going for (which I totally got and agreed with) prevented me from creating any multicolor fabrics to combine with their chosen colors of white, purple, gold and grey. (Because purple and gold are complementary colors, where they touch will create brown, which is lovely in it’s own way, but not right for a modern nursery):

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So after dyeing myself a big stack of fabric in many values of purple, grey and gold, I got a bit stumped for awhile:

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Working on the Canvas Quilt I realized that I would have to pick and choose carefully which fabrics could work next to which. It was really tough to get started, and if I’d stopped after that first quilt:

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I wouldn’t have really fully understood how and why these colors wanted to interact! But I kept going, and after the second quilt I was much more secure in working with these colors, adding in the pillow, basket and mobile it was really fun to see how different I could make each item, using the exact same palette!

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I didn’t get to stage a shot with the mobile as well, but when hubby and I delivered them all, Jess and Jim were so happy with the mobile they wanted it hung right away, and hubby came prepared, so I was able to get a shot of the happy (and tired) parents in Lucy’s bedroom:

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Jess decopaged the fronts of the dresser and those letters that light up to spell Lucy, and all the colors go so well together!!! (I gave her swatches after we’d chosen the colors so she had them with her when shopping for paint, paper, etc… Next time I visit I hope to get pix of the cute vinyl mural she put behind the crib, with the grey chevron crib sheet and grey upholstered glider that the pillow fits so perfectly on!

But for this visit, it was more about pictures of Miss Lucy (yep, I dyed a bunch of clothes for her too, the onesies are too big right now, so are the socks, but the receiving blankets have been a big hit, even though she has shown such an ability to escape from a swaddle that they call her “Lu-dini”!!

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She’s a tiny little thing, born a little over 5.5 pounds. She is obviously VERY loved by her grandparents in this picture:

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This is my Uncle Tom, my Mom’s younger brother. I really enjoyed watching him be an awesome father to his kids growing up, I’m so happy he gets the fun part of babies all over again now!!!!

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I also remember how hard it was to get stuff cooked with a new baby around, so hubby made several meals worth of food, and I baked like a fiend:

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New baby = HOORAY!

2 Responses

  1. Wow, spectacular gifts…will you be MY cousin? Ha! Food is always a great idea. You will win the award for most appreciated visitors, I’m sure! I love your shot of the doting grandparents. Sweet baby, too!

    1. LOL!!! I remember those early days and how appreciated a good home cooked meal was, so trying to make that for them! Yep, my Aunt and Uncle had to wait a long time for this grandbaby, doting isn’t a strong enough word!!! 🙂