getting the grey right

Sometimes one quilt just leads to the next one. Sewing together my quilt trees, I kept wondering what would happen if.... Can I make another one in greys? Maple trees catching the sun, glowing against a dark almost ominous sky. Hmm. That could be interesting.

The grey sky almost pieces itself or that is how it feels. Sure I had to dig for some fabrics. Decide how many warm colors to include. How dark to make it. What other colors to add? Adding that wonderful dark mauve that is almost a grey. Hints of blue.

But now the landscape that will anchor the sky. I want a bit of light. Just that promise of gold lingering and reflecting off the maples. I pin up fabrics to get an estimate of the color that works.

OK--there is something haunting here. How to echo it in the piecing? I start--cut some fabric, start sewing. Sometimes the only way forward is forward.

 Well that didn't work--I don't want the ground to clash with the sky. No need to finish it. Let me try again.

Closer isn't it? But still a bit too bright. I can do better. The ground should be sultry. Complex but not competing with the sky and the maples. Let me see how this works.

Yes, that is great. Colors that will tell a story and still fit in with the gold of the maples. Enough grey to echo the sky but not clash.

Don't you love it when you can't wait to finish a quilt? Do you ever wish you could just sew more quickly? So hard to be patient when my mind is spinning with more colors, more quilts. Does this ever happen to you?