Range of color in scrap quilts

OK......so Charlene has been telling me that I should have kept those first red and beige Four Patches in the game.  And I was skeptical.

I am not sure I really wanted these to mix but I did read this today that confirms what Charlene said as a scrap fact.

The backstory is that I needed a book to trade at a guild meeting so I found a great book called, get this,

Use Scraps, Sew Blocks, Make 

100 Quilts!

By Stuart Hillard.  Stuart is pretty cool in his weird sweater......maybe.  But the book got here today.  I needed it last night.  Right.

Anyway, he has this insightful paragraph in his Making Colors Work section:

"One of my favorite color combinations is blue (or red) with cream, but in the best scrap traditions make sure the blues (or reds) go from light to dark and every shade and permutation in between and that the creams range from white to tan."

White to tan.  He ranges his neutrals from white to tan.  

Interesting.  

I would not have put whites with tans. And in this quilt I wanted it to be more modern looking.  So in that vein, I am keeping even my colors to be more of the same color, same shade with little variation.  I want them to read as a solid.  

When I made the red and white Four Patches for Charlene, I realized that I needed to have white instead of beige if I wanted it to be modern looking.

So I thought that was interesting when I read that paragraph and recalled what Charlene talked about, it made me think I needed to share it all with you.

So here it is.  Neutrals range from white to tan and white and tan do go together.

 And according to this quilt in his book, he must know Bonnie Hunter...……..just sayin'