Inspiring Cheerful Textile Art with Hue Year’s Resolution

The beginning of the year brings calls to join many fun and inspiring challenges. Since I dive heavily into my 100-day project at the beginning of each January, I rarely participate in any other challenges. However, I was intrigued when I heard about Hue Year’s Resolution. I love color play, and this sounded like an excellent opportunity to do some low-stakes color exploration.

The official goal is to use any medium to create five pieces of artwork a week for six weeks. Each week has a color theme, starting with red, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Each artist chooses what they would like to create within this framework.

My Project Parameters

I already have my 100-day project, so I wanted to be careful in managing my time and personal expectations for this project. In other words, keep it small, fun, and creatively freeing.

My Rules

• Create 4″ square pieces suitable for matting and framing if I choose.
• Use only fabrics from my scrap bin
• Each piece must include quilting stitches

The First Three Weeks

Red

Piece 1

This semi-improvisational composition is pieced with narrow strips measuring just 1/8″ wide and is quilted using red and pink 50-weight thread.

Piece 2

This composition is semi-improvisationally pieced into wedge shapes and is activated using quilting stitches at opposing angles.

Piece 3

Fusible Appliqué creates the organic waves in this composition, finished with rolling lines of quilting.

Piece 4

Simple piecing is enhanced with couching of braided trim in this composition accented with quilting in 40 and 50-weight red, pink, and burgundy thread.

Piece 5

Two tones of red fabric evoke an organic, curvilinear grid through improvisational piecing and quilting.

Orange

Piece 1

The value range of orange was my first focus for the week, incorporating hues ranging from almost yellow to nearly brown. The piece’s color blocking melds together through echoing matchstick quilting in three different orange 50-weight threads.

Piece 2

The landscape colors of the American southwest inspired the palette for the second micro-mini quilt of the week. The matchstick quilting is gridded in areas, allowing the three different hues of orange thread to interact.

Piece 3

I pulled the inspiration for this mini quilt from a single floral print fabric. The orange and white dot and line prints come from the inspiration fabric and combine with cotton and linen materials to evoke rolling hills through improvisational piecing.

Piece 4

My favorite shades of orange come together in this composition built on the concept of a triangular, improvisational log cabin block. The entire piece is quilted at an angle with lines 1/4″ apart. The lower part of the design is quilted at a contrasting angle in neon pink thread with lines 1/8″ apart.

Piece 5

Quilting thread density is the focus of this pieced composition. Taking the cue from the printed gradation in the fabric, I used thread color and stitching density to add depth to the overall design.

Yellow

Piece 1

Using pieced scraps from a previous project, I created a reinterpretation on a small scale using all solid fabrics with a bit of linen for visual and physical texture.

Piece 2

Sunny warmth inspired piece 2 of the yellow series, creating diagonal yellow rays across the composition.

Piece 3

For the third yellow piece, I discovered two striped yellow triangles in my scrap bin, and I loved the gradient effect of the print. By offsetting the triangles in the design, the lightest portion of the stripe pattern appears to move through the composition.

Piece 4

In this series, I have leaned into the use of value within a single color, but yellow has a very low local value that makes it challenging to use without shifting the color to orange, green, or brown. For this piece, I pushed the color palette toward neon tones, providing an exciting contrast to the first three compositions of the week.

Piece 5

Warm reflections of the Summer sun inspired this micro-mini composition with pieced and quilted lines directing your eye to the focal circle accented with hand stitching.

Continued Composing

I have been creating green compositions this week, and there are still two more weeks of colors to explore, so feel free to jump into the fun!

For this project, I have created one piece daily every weekday and take the weekends off. I have never approached a project with this rhythm, and having that type of leeway built in is rather lovely. I may have to consider this schedule for future projects!

To see these micro-mini quilts as I create them, you can follow along on my Instagram!