June 2023 - "Hare" Raising Color Palette
It is a rainy June morning here in Missouri. No better weather to write up the color palette and review for “What Moves the Dead” by T. Kingfisher.
“What Moves the Dead” is a reimagining of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” I haven’t read Poe’s tale, but I did the classic high school cheat and found an internet version of Cliff’s Notes to get the story’s overview. If the book sounds good, that is all you’ll really need to appreciate the retelling; although, it is one of Poe’s shorter stories, so…I’ll likely revisit his tale soon.
The cover spoke to me in the store by the title, the mushrooms, and the hare. Edgar Allen Poe is about as far as I can go with “horror” these days, so after reading the blurb, felt it would be an ok read for me. The kiddo likes Poe too, so we picked this one up.
This was one of my initial pulls to make a color palette inspired by the cover. The pinks in the mushrooms, the grey in the hare provided a subdued palette that drew me in. As I played with the color combinations, I pulled a beautiful mustard to accent the palette.
I rated this book a 3.75 stars out of 5 on StoryGraph. Kingfisher gives us more background as to how our narrator knows the Usher family, a believable reason for what is happening, and stays fairly true to the original tale (the largest difference is the additional characters). I would love to see this tale turned into a movie.
We join our narrator in arriving at the Usher mansion, which has fallen into disrepair. Kingfisher sets a gothic mood (the story still takes place in the late 1800’s, my guess is in the 1870’s as the doctor is American and served in America’s Civil War). Our narrator meets a key player, Eugenia Potter who works as an illustrator, but studies fungus as “amateur.” At that time, as a woman, Potter wouldn’t have been able to work as a professional scientist. She spends her time illustrating the fungus at the manner and selling her pictures. There’s also a fun little story hinting at someone who’s related to Potter.
We also meet the hares and the lake of the manner who will become important.
“The lake was full of reflected stars. The strange water gave them a faint green tinge, flickering slightly as I watched, probably from ripples. Not that the ghastly lake ever seemed to ripple when I watched. I looked up, away from the water, hoping to find an anchor in the familiar constellations. There were no stars.” - pg. 65
Our narrator arrives at the manner and isn’t expected by the brother, Roderick - in Kingfisher’s tale, Madeline sends the letter. We meet Denton, the doctor from America, who Roderick brought over to help with Madeline. We don’t know how Roderick and Denton know each other; even more odd, is that Denton is more a surgeon and admits he isn’t what Madeline needs. However, Roderick refuses to move his sister out of the house as she’s already so ill. Denton’s character I don’t feel was needed. With Potter, I feel that our narrator would’ve figured out the mystery of the illness.
From here, our tale follows the same line as Poe’s. It’s accented by hares that don’t seem all there. They don’t run, stare at people, and can’t jump. Some have even appeared to drown themselves. The town warns to not shoot them or eat them. We learn later, it is the same for the fish in the lake.
“The dead don’t walk.” - pg. 100
There were a few parts where I did get a little grossed out; however, those parts were not long and will depend on your imagination. The only teaser I will give you is that this cover is one that is closely linked to the story.
I do wish the story would’ve been longer. Kingfisher wrote a fast paced story that I believe this easily could’ve been double the size and I still could’ve completed the read in a day. By the end of the book, I felt myself feeling closed in by the threat that was causing Madeline’s illness, which is what you want from this type of story. I appreciate that Kingfisher wove in knowledge we have today to give a plausible reason, for the fall of the house and Usher family. I highly recommend this read.
Now, let’s get into the color palette! This color palette makes use of these Paintbrush Studio Fabrics Painter Palette Solids:
Petal - 018
Impatient - 148
Rosebud - 068
Smoke - 090
Goldenrod - 142
I then went out of my traditional solids pull and found a fun patterned palette too. I realized when I got home, I should’ve focused on pulling fat quarters with the selvage that has the name. I don’t have the yellow with pink polka dot (that may be a Free Spirit…maybe a Tula Pink?); here’s what I did get:
Dark Pink - Alison Glass for Andover Fabric (no collection name)
Light Pink - Alison Glass for Andover Fabric - Embroidery
White with Pink - Free Spirit - Seeds Collection - “The Spirit to Create”
Grey - Elements by Ghazal Razav (name may be cut off and no fabric maker name)
I’m calling this palette “Hare Raising” in honor of the genre and hares in the story. Here’s a side-by-side of the solid and patterned fabric pulls:
I’m revamping these posts to include a block using the fabric pulls. I’ve been searching for a quick block to make, but have been striking out. However, this weekend, I pulled out my Creative Grids Crazier Eight templates and I found my answer! These blocks are so cute - and spoiler, for my blocks for “The Essex Serpent” I’m going to have to get more material and make a full quilt. I am won over with this template set.
I hope you enjoy the new, improved color palette posts! Leave me what you think in the comments.
