Beyond Neutral – A book review

Today I’m excited to share with you all the beautiful book Beyond Neutral by the talented John Q. Adams aka Quilt Dad.  This is not John’s first book nor his last I expect…he is a man of many talents and one of the forces behind the Ezine Fat Quarterly.  (And they have a couple of books too!  Check those out!  I really want their latest one on color!)

I like, like many women, find John’s take on the quilting world fascinating.  Let’s be honest.  Men are in the minority when it comes to the demographic of quilters.  So his choices of patterns and fabrics are always interesting to me.  There is some overlap, but I love to see a masculine perspective on quilting.  And this book gives you that.  John is not afraid of “natural neutrals” as he describes the colors of nature that balance out life.

The main premise of John’s book is about using nature as an inspiration color palette for the backgrounds of his quilts.  John rather aptly describes the “fear” that so many quilters have in using a background other than cream or white when piecing a quilt.  And he boldly embraces the use of other colors that he sees commonly in nature, knowing that these colors will work in quilts because they work in nature.  Our eyes are accustomed to seeing these “natural neutrals” all the time already.  So why not use them in quilt backgrounds?

I love that when I look at John’s designs, I see quilts designed by a man.  Because his quilts will be appealing to men.  And we all know how hard it can be to find quilts that men will love…err…tolerate. 😉 His color palettes may well appeal more to men too.  I would suggest showing John’s book the boys and men in your life that you are dying to make a quilt for.  I bet they will find a pattern that they like!!

The quilt pictured above, Pacific Crest, the cover quilt, is easily my personal favorite from the book.  I keep telling John that I’m going to make this.  And I swear that in this lifetime I will.  I just adore it.  The dark blue background and the selection of colors is right on.  But for me, it is the movement that this quilt has that makes it so special. I feel like these are shooting stars or arrows raining down on troops.  It brings out my fanciful side and I like that.

And the Cape Lookout quilt is a inspired by a sunrise or sunset.  But I see a rainbow that will actually appeal to people who don’t care for “Rainbow quilts”.  You know what I mean. The navy background is grounding this quilt in a way that white can not.  It pulls you in rather than popping off the quilt.  Both techniques are valuable to have in your pocket of color selection.  And I’m inspired to continue using any color I want as the background for a quilt.  I personally adore a robin’s egg blue for a background color and can make that work with any color scheme…just challenge me! lol<