My head has been spinning, guys. I have a friend who's about to have a baby with his new fiance and I wanted to make them a quilt. I found out from another friend that the nursery's bathed in extremely neutral and colourless tones. The fiancee (edited, thanks to nerdpants Carly :P Hahahaha...) apparently hates the colour blue and only put a thin stripe of it in the nursery to appease everyone. Umm... Okaaaaay... I hope that baby doesn't end up being a dullard. I love bright colours for babies so this is a huge challenge.
Normally something pops into mind and it all just happens like magic. I have been pondering this baby quilt for DAYS. I don't work well with pastels and neutrals. Everytime I come to some kind of conclusion, I suddenly don't like it anymore and change my mind.
I've picked these solids and the yellow dot (yes there's blue but she's having a boy so she needs to just suck it up) and no pattern I come up with seems to fit. The Flock of Triangles by Denyse with the solids as the geese and the dot as the background looks like it might be it. It'll probably have the same effect as this quilt? But is there enough contrast??? SEE!?! In the time that it took me to type all that, I'm second guessing myself again!!!
I might have to take up drinking if this continues much longer.
18 comments:
This nursery doesn't have a crib in it, but maybe the neutrals will inspire you? http://decor8blog.com/2012/04/20/inspiration-for-parents-to-be-neutral-nursery/
He he.... Here it's quite late Friday night so I am already enjoying some wine. Drinking though is not an option for you though.
How about making a (really bland) star quilt where you make the stars light and the background a bit darker using the soft blues.
Probably you will never live this quilt anyway. But sometimes the thought means more than the final product.
I'd be a little bit tempted to play dumb and make the quilt YOU want to make. You could put some of her "neutral" (aka: dull) fabric for backing!
I would use the colours you have in the picture but add a middle range grey as the background. Neutral in a way but still a bit more contrast then the lighter grey in the pic
Babies like bright colors and it's good for their brain development. I say make what you want! Mom can have neutrals in her living room...
Make one side neutral, and one side what you want. Agree with Melanie- bright colors and high contrast are good for baby brain development. When I think neutral, this quilt comes to mind: http://msmcporkchopquilts.com/?p=1495
I agree with all the comments about bright colors for babies. And the quilts you make are very nice, so playing dumb and making what you want is not a bad idea....but, if you choose to "go neutral", maybe using a bright white will give you some contrast anyway. I'm sure you will come up with a grand idea!!!
I like the idea of making the quilt double sided (one side for you, one side for them). I like the neutral colors you've selected but would leave out the blue if mom is dead set against the color. There's no point in wasting your time making a quilt that will never be used.
Well, once babies can actually see colors, black, white & red are what they focus on. Maybe a strictly black & white quilt (bound in blue) would work. You could reverse some of the geese-like every other row. Just a thought.
There are some useful comments already mentioned but I'll add mine anyway. I think your dot/pastel fabrics would look okay together...low contrast and blend-y but fine. Still, it's a drag to work on something you don't like so if you were using pastels in a quilt for your own baby, how would you rock them? (The pastels that is, not the baby!) As the thoughtful gift-giver of a handmade treasure, it's really about your interpretation of pastel. I'd leave out the blue, though. If fiancé doesn't like it, you could offer to exchange it for a store bought quilt...
I like the pop of energy the polka dot gives to the solid neutrals. In the end I think this will make a very sweet quilt and it's always good to stretch......lol
I'm trying to get past the irony of your blog name and the blueless home of the recipient ;) Your original plan would make a beautiful quilt, maybe not the best for baby as mentioned, but in reality the quilt is really for the parents anyway. I think the dot adds just enough kick.
Audrie, maybe you could think of this as the baby's quilt instead of the nursery quilt. This could be the quilt the baby is bundled in and trekked around with, just like a companion. And babies are dynamic ~ fun and curious and hardly sophisticates! I think that your quilts are sparkly, interesting, and whimsical. That's what sounds perfect to me. The example quilt is okay, but hardly a child's quilt.
Poor baby! So boring for him. Don't the parents to be know that babies need to be stimulated or else they don't develop? Colours, shapes, textures, dangly mobiles, bright posters on the walls and above all, a colourful quilt!
Maybe you should buy them a baby bathtub and some pj's. It's about them not you. It's o.k. to love bright colors and blue. It's also o.k. to not love them.
Speaking of Denyse, I had to buy the new book because of that shot you posted with the mariner's compass. it's great so I'm not annoyed with you for making me buy it.
Also, please forgive my complete english teacher nerdiness when I tell you that the man is the fiancé and the woman is the fiancee (two e's) because of the hilarity that ensued when I tried to figure out why this nice gay couple was letting this dictator colour nazi baby mama decide the colour of their baby's nursery. Or why one gay man and the baby mama were going all haywire anti-blue... It took me longer than I'm proud of to realize my mistake. :)
Also, look at it this way: if the baby's room is neutral, whatever you make will go well with it. Colour's fabulous that way. I personally try to mix it up with colours because quite frankly, babies leak. Prints and bright colours hide the stains from such leakage.
So happy to hear that it's not just me who obsesses about these decisions! I go around and around seemingly endlessly for quilts for my new grandson. I guess it just has to be perfect! Love to see your Noho posts, that's where we go for fun...Herrell's rocks!
Well I think you should give them anything you like.... because a gift is a gift :) Its the feelings that matter...
Post a Comment