Julep

I know it's silly, but anticipating the new limited-edition Kona Color of the Year is fun! And it was just announced yesterday that the new color is JULEP!

Be sure and check out the lookbook, or the Kona IG feed, to see the quilts created to celebrate the new color. I think they show a nice myriad of ways to use Julep! And yes, I'll definitely be getting a bit of Julep to add to my stash, and look forward to using some in the new year. How about you?

Crush

Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning, went to look what was new on Instagram, and there was the new KONA Color of the Year, Crush! After having the Pantone Color of the Year announced just days ago, it being a rich Viva Magenta, I was so surprised to see the Kona COTY choice also in the red color family.

After all my work with Rich Red this year, I'm definitely a fan, even with the similarity to Viva Magenta. I feel like there's a little orange in Crush, or hot pink? I definitely recommend glancing at the feature projects on the Robert Kaufman website to see how the makers have used Crush with other colors. So what are your thoughts? Yay or nay? 

Cosmos

If you've followed A Quilter's Table for long, you know there are a couple of particular color challenges that I like to participate in, if only by myself. The biggest is the Pantone Color of the Year, which will be announced soon; but also, I enjoy challenging myself to use the KONA Color of the Year, which this year is Cosmos!

Folks seem to have a love-hate relationship with purple, but I'm a fan! Even though I don't use it a lot in my quilting, I'm definitely willing to. How about you? Yay or nay? Or does challenging yourself with color not interest you? All's fair!

Horizon

So it was a fun surprise to see Robert Kaufman reveal the new Kona color of the year a little earlier this year!

You know I'll dabble with it. The fact that it is a cool serene blue doesn't hurt one bit. I could definitely use some sereneness in my sewing. How about you?

Enchanted

First, Classic Blue was announced as Pantone's new color of the year. Then on Friday, Robert Kaufman revealed the new Kona color of the year as Enchanted.... "a spellbinding green." Oh yeah. I'm in my color happy place.

photo courtesy Robert Kaufman

So yeah, I'm really looking forward to dabbling with both colors of the year. Who knows what it'll be, but expect it! You up for the challenge?

Splash!

After the announcement of Living Coral as the 2019 Pantone Color of the Year earlier this month, the watch was on for the Kona Color of the Year from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. And yesterday, we were rewarded for our wait with the announcement of Splash, "a bright and boisterous blue-green hue." 

photos courtesy Robert Kaufman/Kona Cotton; 

patterns shown can be found here

So whatcha think? I confess I kinda love it! And like I did with Kona COTYs Highlight, Pink Flamingo, and Tiger Lily, I fully expect to dabble with it and see where it takes me. 

And Tiger Lily!

First we (well, I, anyway) anxiously awaited the new Pantone Color of the Year, and then of course it was time to wonder about the Kona Color of the Year, which was announced yesterday!

A few of us chatted at our recent guild party, and were just sure it would be something cool, namely blue. Boy were we wrong. But no matter, I'm committed to give it a go. And you? Be sure and check out the lookbook to see some of the beautiful quilts already created! I think it'll be a fun one to play with!

ColorS of the Year

I very nearly forgot that I was up for Faith Circle's quilt plan this month. Seriously, about 5PM on January 31, just out of curiosity, I went to check the quilter schedule, and there was my name for February. Oops!

Some quick scanning of my Quilt Blocks Pinterest board led me to Jodi/Tales of Cloth's Squash Blossom block tutorial. And without much more thought than that, I also chose a palette focused on the Pantone Color of the Year, Greenery.

photo courtesy of Pantone

Here's my sample block, which I think is really striking in a finished quilt, and I can't wait to see it in a mix of greens!

I fully intend to explore Greenery more this year, but this is a start. I've heard rumors that a 2017 Pantone Quilt Challenge is in the works, hosted by Rebecca/@bryanhousequilts and Sarah/@nohatsquilts, so I'm watching for that.

And then there's the other Color of the Year - Kona's Pink Flamingo.

photo courtesy of Robert Kaufman

My guild Giving Committee co-host Louise/I'm Feelin' Crafty and I decided an improv quilt in Pink Flamingo would be a great way to start off a new year's giving quilt. Circa15 kindly gifted the guild with a generous supply of Pink Flamingo, and each participant will get a 9" x 11" piece at our next meeting, to mix with gray and white to create a 12 1/2" block of their own design. Doesn't that sound fun?

So I'm looking forward to using both of these colors - one (Greenery) which is right up my alley - and the other (Pink Flamingo) not quite. Do you have any plans to incorporate either in your creating this year?

Slabs Four & Five :: Crazy-Piecing & Squares

When Matt/odditease announced that the #seaSLABbom assignment for May was crazy-piecing, I was kind of disappointed, only because I had very few scraps from my previous months' blocks to work with. I'd been trying to incorporate them into each subsequent block, which was entertaining, but didn't do me much good come May. So I decided to just wait on that assignment.

Come June, it was time for some improv squares, which I enjoyed very much!

By then, I had a respectable pile of random pieces and decided to give that crazy-piecing a go. It turned out a little smaller than planned, but I think I can deal with that later.

So I'm all caught up and can't wait to face what's next.

Linking up with Scraptastic Tuesday.

Slab Three :: Gentle Curves

For some reason, even though I was looking forward to tackling this month's #seaSLABbom
assignment, I wasn't really happy with what I was coming up with once I got started. The topic was gentle curves, and though I had done my fair share, they just weren't speaking to me. [In case you're new to improv curves, our BOM leader, Matt, suggests this tutorial by Anne/Play Crafts on Lily’s Quilts.] 

Finally, I cut into it, rearranged everything, and liked it a little better. Though now that I've posted this, I'm inclined to go at that right side with my rotary cutter, but we'll see. As it is, my piece is just 21"x25", a tad smaller than suggested, but I think there will be plenty of room for tweaking when it's time to put the blocks together later in the year.

Meanwhile, the block was a welcome addition to my improv strings and triangles blocks, and three months in, these colors are still making me verrrry happy.

Linking up with Ad Hoc Improv Quilters.

Slab Two :: Improv Triangles

I was so pleased with how my improv string slab turned out last month for the #seaSLABbom, that I couldn't wait to get going on March's assignment, improv triangles.

Since this whole block of the month project is about trying new improv techniques, I explored every triangle I could think of. Matt, our project leader, started us off with two tutorials: Ants to Sugar's Little Tents and Improv Stripped Geese by Little Ms. Sew-Unsew. My experiment continued with HST, HRT, and tall and skinny. I especially like the scrappy ones in the upper left, using my string scraps from last month. Puzzling blocks like these together takes a while, but again, the resultant slab, measuring 17"x30", makes me very happy.

Fabrics are all Kona Cotton Solids: Pickle, Wasabi, Highlight, Fog, Oyster, Bone, Natural.