Purple Power

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I recently got another special order, this one a baby quilt for a childhood friend's first granddaughter. She asked for a pink flower quilt like I made for my neighbors down the street when they had their second baby girl. I actually have another Spoonflower panel similar to the first I haven't used yet, but I'm almost out of pink stash for the backing and binding!

When I dug out the second of three pink flower panels, which I designed with flowers from my garden, I wondered why I haven't done a purple flower panel. I don't think I'll ever run out of purple stash!!! I would have plenty of backing fabrics and scraps for a purple flower quilt!

So I made a new collage with my purple flowers. My friend's granddaughter still gets a pink flower quilt. But one day I'll be able to make another garden flower quilt to use up some of my purple stash, and I'm excited at the prospect.

I made a small version, too, because I thought the purple would look awesome in a dress. Then I saw an advertisement with flowers swirling from the bottom of the skirt diagonally up into the bodice. Back when I was in high school, I used to design dresses while I was working the graveyard shift for my parents' answering service. One of my favorite designs would feature my own embroidered butterflies swirling from the bottom of the skirt diagonally up into the bodice and completely covering the sleeve. Somewhere in my basement is one of those envelopes of 100 butterfly embroidery designs from the '70s because I always intended to make that dress one day. Somewhere in my basement is a book of 1,000 embroidery designs, with a whole chapter of butterfly designs.

I got this crazy idea to make yet another purple flower fabric panel with flowers from my garden along the bottom of the skirt and going up to the waist. It took longer to create this new collage with the flowers properly placed on the fabric than it took to do the entire first collage. I still don't know if I lined everything up right. But I ordered two yards so I can see how far off I am. And to make a dress, or a skirt if there's not enough fabric to make the dress. Now I just have to wait for the fabric to arrive. And I guess, the time to sew...

I asked AI to create such a dress (because my photoshopped mockup is so amateur; I could have drawn a better rendering!!!) so I could have an awesome image to help illustrate this blog post, and I accidentally forgot to specify I didn't want a video. The accidental result is so entertaining, I have to share it here!

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Purple Reign

(affiliate links to my designs)

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Purple Needle Eater

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Wordless Wednesday

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Grape Escape

A funny thing happened on the way to the basement... Actually, I guess it happened IN the basement. But I've been in a nostalgic mood for a while now and couldn't help but lean on that old overused cliché.

I decided last week to go ahead and dye some crochet thread, even though I still have around 80 unfinished balls of assorted sizes and colors. My 2023 temperature crochet project has already used up two pastel purples and a pastel green. I expect it will use up the two substitute pastel purples I pulled from the stash, perhaps by autumn, and at this point, I don't want to quit. So I get to dye again!

I absolutely love dyeing. That's why I have so many different colors of crochet thread. A few years ago, I think pre-pandemic, I vowed to stop dyeing until I could use up some of what I have. I think using up all my pastel purples entitles me to dye more purple! And I don't really care if anyone disagrees!!! (Lizard isn't complaining at all. He loves to watch the colors develop as I dye.)

When I first went down to the basement to dig into my dyes, I couldn't find any of my favorite colors. So I used grape and did a gradient by re-using the dye juice twice. The wet color looked really awesome, and I couldn't wait to crochet with the thread.

When I let the thread dry out before washing and rinsing, it took on more of a raspberry cast. Very pretty, but very not what I need. I still hadn't been able to find my favorite shades, which would have helped to achieve the hyacinth/lilac colors I hoped to obtain. So I put all three hanks back in the jar and added a touch of lapis blue. Boy, did that ever do the trick!

After all that, while waiting for the new color to stew, I decided to look for my favorite colors all over again. I remembered putting them in a new bin because I'd outgrown the first bin, but also because I was dyeing frequently, and the new, smaller bin was kept upstairs in a kitchen pantry for easy access. I had no idea where I moved it when I filled that pantry space with Lizard's ice machine and PT accoutrements back in late 2019.

I searched the entire house, then searched again. Finally found that second bin of favorite colors stashed safely away beneath Lizard's work desk because that's where he moved it one of the times the window well flooded the basement. I had actually looked up a couple of my favorite shades online, thinking I'd need to reorder. Wasn't looking forward to spending more money on dye, even though I love dyeing.

Colors don't always turn out the way I expect, and colors always are lighter once finished. Sometimes there is a hint of disappointment, but I always love achieving colors, even if they are different than what I wanted. My first batch didn't give me everything I wanted, but that just means I get to dye again! I LOVE blue, but I need purple. So I will overdye the blues (stick them back in a dye jar), maybe even with more grape...

I am so thrilled to have my favorite dyes back within reach! And I am so exited to be able to create new crochet thread colors! I really can't wait to dye more! But, I promise to keep trying to use up what I've got before I dye outside the purple range.

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Purple Reign

We came within one degree of skipping the next pink on Tuesday! Our first 90 of the year, and it nearly skipped a color in my temperature project!

I also ran out of the next pastel purple that same day. The only substitute in my hand-dyed stash is quite a bit different than the thread with which I started. Got to use that yesterday, too. As much as I'm using the lavender/hyacinth hues in the project these days, I think I'm going to dye again. How can I resist!?!

It gives me something glorious to which I can look forward, and I'll have another purple or two I can incorporate into the 2023 temperature project when I run out again, which I'm certain will happen. Maybe not in the next month, but I don't think my existing pastel purples are going to last through December.

I'll probably be using a lot of pinks now in the next couple of months. This definitely is giving me visualization for the charm square and/or batik temperature quilt I want to make with real fabric (as opposed to the virtual temperature quilting I've been doing all year to make sure I want to make a real fabric quilt). I really like the greens, blues and purples in my crochet project. Not really liking the pinks so far. Perhaps the pinks will grow on me as they get used more and more.

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Purple Power

I thinned my irises last year because blooms were getting far and far fewer. I know they need space, and I know a mother that produces a daughter never flowers again. I didn't have any idea what I was doing, but I was hoping I was getting enough space in between the

I had only five or six of my 12 or so colors this year, but I had a lot of flowers. Perhaps next year will have more variety. Although I may thin yet again later this year.

After one particularly heavy rainstorm, some of my top heavy irises were laying flat on the ground. Kids in the neighborhood had fun surprising their moms with my cuttings.

And I had enough left over to fill a vase in my kitchen! I had NO idea irises were fragrant!

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