Complementary Tints Courthouse Steps Quilt Top

As promised in my last post, here’s what I did with that Courthouse Steps Pattern that wasn’t right for the fox fabric. However, this design is perfect for a color study!

It’s been a long time since my series of 4 color studies. (Click to see the first color study. The next 3 follow with a gap of one post right after the first). But it’s been on my mind to do another color study and I have had this stack of two pinks and the light slightly yellow green in my do-to-queue since last summer.

Red and green are complimentary colors—exactly opposite each other on the color wheel. Pink and light green are tints of red and green so they are compliments. A tint is a hue (color) that has had white added to it. Complimentary colors tend to be visually a bit eye-popping, and this quilt is definitely that!

Fortunately, Tula Pink was thinking along the same color lines when she designed the “Measure Twice” fabric for Free Spirit Fabrics which is my outer border. It’s also the backing for this quilt. Her fabric really helps to make sense of my color choices.

So how does that light baby blue inner border fit into this color scheme? It doesn’t! I auditioned the green and the hot pink as the inner border, but neither made me happy. The light blue fabric was sitting in a stack nearby and I just picked it up, tried it out, and loved it! In this vibrant quilt, that light blue border is the only place the eye can rest! So that’s why I added to the quilt.

The fox and gnome fabrics from my last post are stewing on a back burner. I haven’t figured out how best to use them! They will reappear eventually!