What's so hard about 'blue'??
 

I once asked my sister what she would like for some event one year.

She said pillowcases. Okay, I can do pillowcases.

I asked her "What color?"

She said: "Light blue."

Okay - I asked her to send me some paint chips so I could get the right 'kind' of blue.

She said: "What's so hard about 'blue'?


Anyone else have this type of dialog? I was just trying to get a shade that would be compatible with what she had. I did not appreciate her apparent lack of cooperation.

PS - She has finally come around to realizing that there is more than one shade of any given color.

Just another small fire to put out.ha.

I never ask what anybody wants ;-)

Unfortunately, in your desire to provide for your sister something special in the perfect color just for her, she's probably thinking you're a tad bit "anal", and please excuse the expression. Obviously she hasn't been inside a fabric shop in the last decade and seen the gazillion blues available. Sometimes you just can't win.....

Smart woman!

All she needs to do is go to the paint chip wall and see all the "blue" and realize there is more to blue than meets the eye.
But then all colors are like that .. I would have done the same ask for a paint chip that way you can at least get it in the right shade or degree of blue.

I'm with you debrak..... don't ask them.... I've never had one complaint...

What will you do, if she comes up with a blue you can't match?

My niece sent me a picture of the wall so I would know what color.

Wasn't trying for a match - just something compatible or similar 'flavor'

Yes I've run into that situation. I was redecorating and a girlfriend asked if I needed a new dust ruffle for the bed. Yes, green. The one she brought me was green all right, like a blue spruce is green. Argh! I finally realized that the general public doesn't recognize shades and values like a quilter does. So I agree. Don't ask.

They just don't know how many colors really exist in an artist's world....we are all artists' working with a huge mass of color choices! Now we know how Rembrandt and Monet felt. LOL

It's not just blue, try matching blacks, whites, ivory's.Even with an OTT flashlight it's almost impossible. Lucky to hit the ballpark.

Our high school choir decided on blue velvet dresses and blue jackets for the guys. So they arranged for us to buy our dress material at a local shop and sent off a swatch to the manufacturer for the jackets. Ha! Talk about clash! Even the paid professionals can't get it right.

I made a king size string quilt of blues. The only chance of making it work is to use every shade of blue on the planet at least once.

I've always found it amazing that if one uses all sorts of shades of a given color, it seems to work.

But if using only two or three shades of a given color, one has to be a lot more careful.

sounds like you answered your own question ;-)

Sounds like something my sister would do.

Trying to match reds outside of a collection line can make me pull my hair out!!!

OK, I'm a brat. I'd find the yukkiest blue ever and send her a swatch and see how quick she narrows down her selection of "blue." But then, I'm a brat and have two sisters who would probably do the same thing! Smile!!

My sister is used to my sarcasm, so I would have been tempted to give her a long list light blues.

not a bad solution ;-)

I was going to make my sister's wedding quilt, so I asked her what her colors were. She said blue. I said what color blue. She said oh...light blue, you know soft, like faded jeans. Ok, that works. So, a few weeks later we were talking and she described the color again. (I should mention I had already boughten fabric) This time she compared it to blue hydrangeas. Aaaahhhh. Those are two different colors! She didn't think they were. Sisters.

She's obviously never stood in front of 6 feet of every shade of blue. LOL

When I first saw this title, I thought "everything is hard about blue" but then after I read your post, I realized it wasn't what I was thinking about. I was thinking about how hard I find it to match blues (especially navy) in my quilts. D-u-h. I'm so silly!

I'm with the other kids here... I never ask. It's been my experience that most people are so happy to get something hand made that they don't care what color it is. Granted, I don't go nuts with color, but still...

I would do the pillow case with three pieces in it. The body, the border, and the 1" folded strip between them.
Then you could use 3 coordinating blue colors.

I understand completely !! MY dear grand daughters are the same .. One states red -umm okay what shade of red ? One states purple- okay again what shade ?? LOL The baby she don't care anything gma !LOL
OH well one of the most wonderful problems of life that we all must cope with !LOL

LOL, My DH thinks any and all shades of one color match all the others. For him, if it's blue, it matches all blues. His color life is simple. Smilesssssss.......

Some people have no sense of color. To them, blue is blue, green is green, etc. For those of us who see the myriad of shades of every color, it's a mystery why they don't see it as we do. When I went to college, I attended a Catholic University that required 21 hours of Religion if you were Catholic. Not being Catholic, I took those classes in art, for which I will be eternally grateful. It has served me extremely well in so many aspects of life.

That is so funny! My sister (who lives 350 miles away) just recently bought a house and painted. For her birthday I made her a table topper, however her dining room is purple and no matter how many pictures she sent me everyone of them appeared blue! I finally drove an hour away to the nearest Home Depot and picked up a paint chip sample of her paint. Everything matched perfectly, but I did have to buy material twice! The first was way off! All worth it in the end!

I asked my niece what her favorite color is so I could make a quilt for her graduation. She said "turquoise". I countered with "turquoise blue or turquoise green". Finally asked for paint swatches -- but didn't get those until after the fabric was bought and quilt started. She's seen pictures and says she likes it, but I've discovered this particular color does not photograph well. I'll find out next weekend if she really likes the color. If she doesn't I'm keeping the quilt!

OMG yes! I usually end up asking for a reference to an object that is the color they are searching for and even then it doesn't work. My gosh there are so many shades of blue you could spend forever trying to guess what they want. I like the suggestion of another member that you use those paint cards that you can get at the hardware store and ask them to select the color from that. Green to my husband is grass green and there is no other shade of green.

I often have this conversation when it comes to the teals. Some people see them as green - others as blue. I seem to always be on the opposite side of the colorwheel. lol If you make it scrappy, then all blue should work. Maybe that would open her eyes.

What a great idea. Rarely do I ask about colors.

I think the idea of requesting a paint chip (or 2-3) is great! A clever way to get an idea what shade of blue she wants.

I'd have made her half a dozen - each a different shade/tone of blue ...

I like this idea!

If i asked someone for a specific color and then get no response or sample from them, then i make what I want. It is their problem after that. Life is too short for me to wait around and cater to other people.

Some people like me will argue for hours over the difference between turquiose and teal. Some people don't see it. I go into a fabric store with hundreds of selections and never do find the shade I am looking for. The easiest thing is to just find something pretty.

Those with a discerning eye understand exactly what you mean, those that see all blue as blue, well there is really little help for someone who sees with their mind instead of their eyes.