Hello again, Mary Ellen back.

As quilters we are surely in tune with the newest fabric colors each year. Even if we don’t buy a lot of new yardage, we enjoy going into the shops and looking at the latest fabrics. Here’s the color of the year for 2013: Emerald. “Lively. Radiant. Lush… A color of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being, balance and harmony.”

Whether you’ll see emerald in our stores soon probably depends on the store’s buyers and their inclination to jump in before the public reaction can be gauged. Those of you who frequently travel to the “big city”, like Toronto or NYC, have perhaps already seen Pantone’s influence. You might enjoy the slideshow at the Pantone site, which will show you all kinds of consumer goods in this new shade. If you visit other parts of their site, you will see how much of our lives is saturated with the Pantone choices. You may want to go back to last year’s (Tangerine Tango) and see how many of your purchases in 2012 were influenced by this company’s decree. Did you buy that tangerine sweater-or tableware-or towel or stationery or even your Christmas decor?