Monochromatic means that all of the colors are derived from a single hue. As you can see from the image above from The Quilter’s Field Guide to Color by Rachel Hauser, there is quite a bit of variety within a hue as you vary the (1) value - lightness/darkness; (2) shade - adding black; (3) tone - adding gray; (4) tint - adding white; and (5) saturation - intensity of hue.

It can be hard to correctly identify the hue particularly when there’s a lot of shade, tone and tint involved. Some of those pinks look more like purples or reds to me. With that in mind, I say go with “monocheatmatic” if it makes you happy. Above is an orange “monocheatmatic” quilt that I’m working on . . . if I could see any orange in the color, its orange.

Ombre/Gradient - Ombre quilts are quite the rage and they can be beautiful. Looking at the pink hue image above, imagine starting with the pure pink hue and working down one side of the pyramid or the other. I’m not sure I nailed the hue perfectly but I tried log cabins with the same five Kona colors in 3 layouts and each looks beautiful.The Kona colors from dark to light are Midnight, Purple, Bright Periwinkle, Lavender and Princess.

Low contrast - I love @elena_b_vs yellow monochromatic version of Carolyn Friedlander’s Ray Quilt. I think there are 4 or 5 shades of yellow. Most have very subtle changes and there’s one that much darker. I think the subtle shifts in color really engage the eye and the quilting is fabulous. I tried to copy her using my purples but tried to use it in this low contrast way and it ended up “meh.” I like how the two dark purples play off one another and the two light purples. If I do this again - and it's tempting - I would look at purples that have much less contrast and maybe one outlier to add some zing.

High contrast - @cottonandbourbon has been having a ton of fun with high contrast, monochromatic log cabin blocks. I’m curious how a quilt made solely of log cabins in one hue would look. I’ve seen many beautiful monochromatic 2-color quilts. When you work on the challenge, you may want to check out her feed because she is listing her Kona colors for each block!

Vary the volume and the value - When my purple quilt didn’t work out the way I had hoped, I did some rage sewing with scraps. Rage quilting is a very effective therapy and healthier than bourbon. Yes, you can mix neutrals with a hue and have a monochromatic quilt. This is my personal rule and I’m pretty sure I’ve read it in blogs and books by famous quilters. I love making these scrappy crumb blocks. The black and whites really make the purples pop.