Pantone's Got a Winner

     I always look forward to the Pantone Company announcing their Color of the Year. Usually I poke fun at Pantone since their marketing verbiage is often over-the-top. Witness 2016's choice of two colors when it was obvious that they simply couldn't make up their minds and, like a fussy aunt who can't decide on a blanket color for an upcoming baby shower, decided to feature both classic pastel shades. 

     Color bloggers called Pantone out then and I wrote a snarky blog post about it. You can read that one here  
Pantone Blew It . 
     But 2019 is a different story and I can get my heart, mind, and eyes behind this one. Pantone has named a pretty medium-shade pink with orange undertones --tagged Living Coral (16-1546)--as 2019's Color of the Year. And I am very happy about this one.        Living Coral is definitely a 'girlie color' but it goes with lots of things. And it reminds us of a natural phenomenon we may lose in our world: the pulsing colors of tropical corals, those incredible clumps of tiny polyps (that we didn't know were animals for years) but whom we now understand are the harbingers of pollution problems in our oceans. 

Corals, in spite of their rock-like exoskeletons, are delicate creatures. When

damaged by violent contact with boat propellers or over-harvested or poisoned by pollutants in the water, corals easily die out and are years coming back and sometimes never do. In spite of some people not believing in climate change or in our pressing need to clean up our environmental act, corals tell the truth. If you'd like to make a banner advocating cleaning up our oceans, Pantone's 2019 Color of the Year can fill the bill.
     As a quilter, I always wonder when and if Pantone ever pays any attention to the millions of people who buy fabrics and sew quilts. In celebration of Living Coral, this evening I think I might start choosing some go-with's for a new quilt. I have no farther to look than my own stash. This Fall StudioE Fabrics issued a new shot cotton fabric in a color called Atomic Tangerine (#69 in the Peppered Cottons family). It's a little sunnier than Living Coral but obviously they're cousins! 

For your enjoyment, here are some of the photos Pantone supplied that served as inspiration for Living Coral.

On my Christmas list: a trip to the tropics (Bahama would be nice this time of year-) to further explore the shades of Living Coral.









You can also join the party by buying a jazzy coral-theme chandelier. Save your pennies--it costs about $4600. 

Or you might get lucky and find an old barn that's faded from a rusty shade of red and become quite fashionable. 






Here's to 2019's Color of the year!