I have reds (and am reading textbooks...)

thedomesticdiva.files.com

When I looked through my stash this morning, what colours predominated?

Purple/mauve/violet -lots and lots.

Blues and greens - a reasonable amount.

Yellow and orange - a satisfying amount.

Black - ditto.

Red - none.

Nada.

Rien.

Nichts.

Red is so far out of my comfort zone. I asked Mr Z&Z's advice, on the way to the quilt shop (I gave him a lift to the shop, where I think he was planning to get the Guardian and a sticky bun to take back home, and enjoy the peace and quiet while I was out).

'Mr Z&Z', I asked (very formal at home, we are. Almost Austenesque). 'Mr Z&Z, I have no red in my somewhat out of control stash, but I have lots and lots of yummy, delicious, delightful purples. Shall I amend red and white challenge to be purple and white? What do you think? I LOVE purple'

'Hmm', he replied. "If the criteria are red and white, then that's what you should do. And besides which, I think it would do you good to get out of your comfort zone'.

Mr Z&Z has obviously been going to some interesting tutorials at college since he started in September! Comfort Zone? I didn't even think he knew that phrase!! But I was very impressed, and quite touched, that he had shown an interest in my quilting, and that he was making some positive and helpful suggestions.

So off I went, with permission to spend money on fabric. How strange. Almost unsettling, in fact.

I ended up at the larger (but more expensive) LQS about 30 minutes away. It took a LONG time to get to grips with red - I kept pulling out bolts of purple instead, or red with a purplish tinge. I just was not comfortable with the red bolts. I found myself walking past the many red bolts and spending time lookng at completely different fabrics instead.

In the end, I ended up with about 10 different reds, and I can see now how they may just work.
I think I was getting too hung up on getting the 'right' red.

quiltersbuzz.com

These aren't they (I still have no camera), but give you an idea of what I've picked up.

Actually, what was even harder was the directive to get cream/off-white/ light tan for the swap strips. No-one in the whole shop seemed to know what colour light tan is. Including the shop owner.

Is it light brown?
Tan to me is a sort of yellowish orange colour.

Ive had a look on google images, and I think it's the colour I'd probably call taupe.

So I ended up with three fabrics that are all very similar, and all pretty much off white - or they were when they went into the washing machine - knowing my luck, a random sock was in there as well, and has coloured them all pink :-( . I hope they're not too light. I picked up a coupled of other ones for myself as well, but I'm holding off getting any more lights until I see what I get from the other swapees in the group.

So I've come home, laden with fabric, washed it and now it's draped all over the radiators - by 4pm the sun has disappeared and it's getting colder.

(I've always been against having a tumble dryer for financial and environmental reasons - but I don't think I can face another winter of clothes horses up in rooms, and the inevitable condensation on windows and surfaces. Hmm. I need to ponder on this. I think there may be space in the garage to fit one in).

And I'm now up to 2,400 words on my essay. This is NOT a good sign. It means that I've rambled on and on with little coherence. I've chosen to write about José Carlos Mariategui, because I seemed to have a lot of lecture notes on him - but all I've done so far is write up my lecture notes, without thinking about what I'm typing.

Time to prune them back, I think.

And get on with finishing it instead of surfing the Web - I ned to get down to about 1500 words by the time Strictly Come Dancing starts!!.......