The Color Purple in Winter

Purple and I have been friends for a long time. That delightful poem by Jenny Joseph titled "When I Am Old" (...when I am an old woman I shall wear purple)? I decided years ago I did not want to wait that long. I love purple.


Of course, for the purposes of this blog post, there had to be some consideration of what IS purple - royal violet? blue-violet? red-violet? purple? fuchsia? I decided all options were candidates and was only limited by the short time span and the corresponding dismal light to take photos in.

I wanted to begin with the above photo, a closeup of my quilt "Purple Passion". I began this one in a class taught by the delightful Janice Gunner (all the way from the UK) at the New Zealand Quilt Symposium in Auckland in January 2005. This was so much fun it had to be finished and when my friend Cheryl Kotecki said she would quilt it for me I didn't need her to ask twice.


Last Friday, after so many long days of dealing with the white stuff (aka snow) I decided I was owed a day off and headed out to one of my favorite Quilt Shops, http://www.webfabrics.net/

Now I was there to buy brown fabrics but that didn't stop me from taking a moment or two to ponder the many purples on offer there.


More purple loveliness at Webfabrics.


In an effort to be more "well rounded" for this post I wrote "purple vegetables" on the shopping list and hoped for the best. I scored this aubergine (eggplant...get it?)


And this red onion. So okay, I am taking artistic license here. From the skin side the onion qualifies under the heading of "red-violet" and this bunch of tulips, while still in tight bud also qualified. Now I'm not so sure, but I'm leaving this in anyway because I had fun trying to capture a good shot.


In the kitchen cupboards we have a lovely colorful selection of Fiesta (by Homer Laughlin) dishes. To my chagrin we have only this one platter in the very desirable purple.


A beautiful bloom on my African Violet.


Accessorising for church.


Fun in the button jar.


These two lovely pieces, "American Beautyberry I" and "American Beautyberry II" were made by my friend the very talented Cindy Grisdela http://www.cindygrisdela.com/weblog/  and now live at my house. I had a little difficulty with the light co-operating for photography today - the purple fabric is the same in both pieces.


And from another artist friend, Begona Morton, comes this beautiful 5" x 7" daily painting titled "Lavender Fields Near Sault, Provence". See more of her work here http://www.begonamorton.com/  I have loved lavender plants since I was a child. My paternal grandmother in New Zealand adored the plant and each time she moved house she was sure to plant a lavender bush in her garden. In her memory I do the same thing so when I saw this painting I knew I wanted to have it.


Have I passed this love on do you think? Last year number 2 son decided he would like to try making a quilt to give to a friend who was expecting her first baby. With no prompting on the color he decided on making a quilt featuring purple sheep. The baby was to be born in the Chinese "Year of the Sheep" and, as a practical engineer type, son reckoned that making a quilt with white sheep would just get dirty too quickly and purple sheep would be so much more fun. I am very proud of him for making this beautiful gift.


Finally, I am going to close with a corner portion of "Purple Passion".

Purple - what a fabulous color to feature on this dull winter day!