I took several pictures on a recent trip to illustrate “patterns and palates” I found along the way–or “designs and color schemes” if that has more meaning (though less alliteration).

The first thing I noticed is that, although I think of the Southwestern U.S. in terms of bright colors–turquoise, orange, bright blue–it really is pretty monochromatic, at least in midwinter.  And a lot of the man-made colors that started out vibrant have bleached considerably in the bright sunlight.  So here are a few patterns and color schemes I found interesting. Whether they ever make it into quilts remains to be seen!

These patterns found around the hotel definitely have some possibilities for both piecing and quilting.  And they have so much grey they must be modern 😉

These color schemes were more what I was expecting. But the colors were found more in man-made things than in nature except for the bright sky.  In that picture of the blue building, that IS the sky you see in the top right corner!

There were some beautiful patterns in nature.  The colors were lovely, but were subtle rather than bright except for that SKY!

I especially liked the strips of waterproof nylon cloth, all finished like flags, that were used to screen a construction site we passed.

Lots of great things to see, and this was just a single walk!

What have you seen lately?