Playing with Color

I've been doing some restocking for my Etsy shop recently - it seems that you get found more frequently in Etsy's search function if you have 100 items or more in your shop.  I had hit the 100 mark before the holidays, but between online sales and craft shows I'd dipped into the 70s.  Not a bad problem to have!

The other day I made a few sets of potholders.  I like doing them after I've made some more complex pieces, and I'd just finished a set of bears (yet to have their final hand work done, however) because they go together quickly and clear my head.  Plus I had a big bag of scraps by the table from recent projects and a closet cleaning, so I decided to use them up.

The featured print in this series of potholders was from a man's shirt that I remade years ago into a smaller shirt to fit me.  And then my late 40s struck and things shifted around and the shirt never buttoned properly again.  I got tired of it taunting me in the closet and put it in the bag to be cut up, because I loved the print.

Interestingly enough, when it was a shirt, I thought of it as predominantly blue and white, with some warmer colors thrown in for contrast.  Which I think is what the shirt was, but as I was cutting it apart for these potholders, somehow the way I cut it seems to emphasize the reds and browns, with the blue of the sky and ocean seeming almost afterthoughts.  I combined it with a brown denim, solid red, solid pale blue and brown-and-black check (left over from a shirt I made my husband), and my summery blue-and-white shirt just disappeared.

It actually makes me feel better - I look at these, all earth-toned and retro, and I don't think of the shirt that I still miss.

I made two other series as well - hot pink, orange and lime green, with polka dots, and a denim and pink heart combination.  All potholders can be found here.