Saturday, September 23, 2006

What Color Goes with Gray?


What color would you put with these two grays? I am using the light gray as the background and the darker gray as an accent and border and I need a bunch of little nine patches. I could use a bunch of pinks and lavendars or I could use reds but I think the reds kinda overpower the gray.

If I wanted to make the nine patches scrappy, what colors would I use? What colors would I avoid with the gray? Yellows? Oranges?

Should I not use the grays? Come to think of it, I don't see a lot of gray in quilts. Do you?

Did we ever have a storm last night! Chad was at work. Vince was at home. I was at the studio sewing up a storm (no pun intended!). About 6, Vince called to ask me he heard the tornado sirens. He can barely hear them from out in the country but I can always hear them in town. I stopped sewing, went to the door and yes, the tornado sirens were going off. Turned the TV on and we were about to get nailed. I wasn't even paying attention and I'm usually so aware of the weather since I'm such a chicken. The sirens hardly stopped sounding for well over an hour. There was no way I was leaving in the midst of it to go home to the the basement but I was truly scared. Chad called from work and he was even a bit nervous about what he should be doing. The winds and lightning would calm for a few minutes and then fire up again. About 7:30, the electricity went off. Great! My car is in the garage and I had to get Chad from work at 9. I know there's a way to open the garage door by pulling a cord to disconnect it from the motor or something but I surely didn't want to get involved with that since I manage to break the door at least quarterly just by pushing the button.

Within about 10 minutes, the electricity had gone off at home too so Vince decided to come to town. I was able to take his truck to get Chad. It was well after midnight when the electricity came back on. Thankfully, we have a gas water heater and we were all able to take showers by candle light and get to bed.

It's been a bit stormy off and on today too but I think the worst is past us now.

Chad has his driving school today so the speeding ticket is officially off his record. In Kentucky, once a year you can go to driving school and get one ticket per year removed from your record. Of course, I have never had to do that! :) For Chad, I think a monthly erasing of the tickets would work much better than annually. We will see if he can make it longer than 2 weeks without a ticket this time.

Judy L.

29 comments:

jodie said...

I like grey! It depends what the project is, my first thought was red, but if you feel that is overpowering then pinks would be a bit softer. I also like orange especially with the darker grey.

Jodie

Anonymous said...

Judy, my first thought when you ask "what goes with grey" is *everything*. Don't 'they' say to use grey as a design wall so your colors will look true? And I use grey thread for all my piecing because it blends. I guess it just depends on the pattern you're using.

Love your quilts!
Sheila in Ohio

Anonymous said...

Pinks and greys look marvelous together. Do you have a lot of different shades of pink to use up? I'd throw in some of the lavendars too - both from dark to light and every value in between.

Patti

Silverthimble said...

I am a weather chicken too! I live in a part of the country where a tornado would be foreign--thank goodness.

I would put all shades of red and pink with that grey. The full spectrum of red. I love the look of red with grey.

Libby said...

My first thought was red -- but I sort of agree that it could be overpowering. I like the suggestion of everything from pink to red -- get a full spectrum and scrappy all at the same time.

Anonymous said...

My first thought was different shades of oranges along with greens, but it looks like you have ruled oranges out. Dot

His Office, My Studio said...

I have used grey in a few of my quilts. You can use any color. My favorite is red, pink blue and black.

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

Well - right away I thought bright pinks - before I even read that you were thinking of pinks. Bright pinks with lime green and vibrant teals...

Hooray for weathering another storm - bet you were glad that Vince came home to town!

Cheers!

Evelyn

MARCIE said...

In Marsha McCloskey's book QUICK CLASSIC QUILTS (1996)she has a log cabin quilt called Sunshine in the Window. She used blues and grays in the dark position, yellow in the center, and the lights include a little scattering of pink. Great quilt. You probably have the book! You are right, you don't see a lot of gray in quilts, so this one stayed with me. --Marcie

Sweet P said...

My first thought was red until I read your comments about read. But after thinking about it, I agree with Marcia about using dark blues and yellow.

I heard about those nasty storms on the news this morning. I'm glad to hear you're alright.

Shelina said...

I think you can match just about anything with gray. I've seen it with both pink and red. I think gray is making a comeback, since the last couple of quilt shows I have seen gray and beige.
It would be stunning with a variety of soft pastels. Mmmpurple.
If you wanted red, you could add black to keep the red from overpowering the gray.
It would also look great with a bunch of brights, but again you might want to add some black and white fabric or just black fabric.

Another option is any other color, like Patti and Libby said. Only I wouldn't necessarily limit it to pink/red. I think any color, maybe a bunch of greens or purples or blues. How about beige like I did in my TATW. Or white.

There are a whole bunch of books at the library about color lately. Many have to do with home decorating and such, but they would certainly work well.

Power outages are no fun. Glad your sewing machine survived it. Yeah, you too.

Vicky said...

I like your idea of pinks and lavenders. That would be awesome! And different!

I thought about you when I heard about bad weather over your way. You need to practice opening the garage manually. The only problem when I have to do that because of power outage, I've got to go back in and put it back in the locked position and then go out the front door. Wouldn't want to leave the quilty condo unlocked!

Stay safe!

Hedgehog said...

My first though was red, too! And black, maybe. I think anything goes with gray, too! Pinks sound nice. I like the sound of Marcie's log cabin idea.

Anonymous said...

I don't think I own any grey, but medium to light yellow would be nice I think.
Jenni

May Britt said...

Grey is a beautiful colour but difficult to use. However grey goes to almost every colour. I think grey and different shades of blue over to purple would make a nice combination.
I am curios to see what colours you chose.

May Britt said...

Jippiee..... this time the blog allowed me to leave a comment in my name LOL
I am not longer anonymous LOL

Unknown said...

Judy - acid green shouts out to me :o)

Unknown said...

Either that or a really rich buttery cream always looks great with grey

Eileen said...

I think using the red spectrum, from pink to burgundy would be nice, just skip the true, bright reds.
I can't even imagine having to worry about tornadoes. I've said for years that the Northeast is the safest area of the country to live in, and I'm standing by that.

Linda C said...

maybe the burgundies to pinks range of the reds----but I don't know what you have in mind for your design either. Greens maybe in the emerald to chartruese range to complete the color wheel??

I didn't read what the others said first--just gut reaction.

Joyce said...

WHat about black? I have seen some beautiful quilts in shades of gray and black. But as others have said, every color goes with gray.

just jenn said...

I saw those and immediately thought of the sky at times. I think that different shades of blue and lavendar and light pink and even some light green would go great with that.

Texan said...

How about the new vintage blue we are seeing in so much home decor now ... with some taupe?

Susan said...

Every color goes with gray.... Come to think of you don't see much gray in quilts..... I will have to give that some thought.

Our Jason had/has a heavy foot also. As he approaches 40 it is getting lighter.....

Glad you made it through the storm. Sad to hear about the roof problem.........

The Calico Cat said...

I love to see dark pastels with gray... Or Brights! (I plan to use 2 grays and applique circlular bright novelties on them)
Hot pink - lime green....

Anonymous said...

You've had plenty of suggestions on what colors to use, but I had to comment on grays! At the last quilt show I went to, I was on a mission to find grays for a scrappy quilt, and was very pleased to find a bundle of FQs. I commented to the vendor that she had done my work for me, and she said that grays are hard to find! I wonder if they are starting to become popular?

Anonymous said...

I vote for a pumpkin spicey color! :) My good friend tried to do a black/white quilt and the fabrics were the same medium tones that it looked so busy that in the end it just looked grey - however she hung it up in her computer room that the walls are painted a pumpkin spice and it looks great!

So the girl in "Orange, TX" says use an orange pumpkin spice color ;) ~Bonnie

Nancy said...

My first thought was red but I see you've ruled that out. Pink is especially nice with gray. Especially the dusty shades. And Lavenders would be good too. Plus some of the greens. I'd probably take the 2 grays to my stash and hold them up against what you have and just see what you like best.

Unknown said...

i have some grey furniture, modern stile lounger, sofa, couch,i used turqouise color pillows, i love it, green is nise as well, black, white.