On last night’s Project Runway All Stars, the challenge was to give Marge Simpson a new dress—for the very first time!—to wear on a date night out with Homer. The purple color of the winning dress was the perfect complement to blue hair and yellow skin. And the designer, Irina Shabayeva recognized Marge’s cute figure and comfort level in featuring a strapless dress that showed some leg and could be belted or left to fully swirl.
I adore purple for the way it partners with yellow, chartreuse, and yes, even orange. Purple represents royalty, piety, the pathway for bridging Republican Red and Democratic Blue. The Purple Heart is given for courage. And purple grapes can ferment so deliciously. The Beatles have their White Album. Here’s my Paean to Purple:
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- Marge Simpson’s new dress: Winning design for the Project Runway challenge of 12-5-13.
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- Colorful cauliflower at Reading Terminal Market, earlier this fall
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- Playing with my food—a white (?) eggplant
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- A blue ribbon for a 4-H club purple eggplant creation
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- I shot this in the early spring, but see lots of hardy pansies replacing the spent, fall mums in Philly.
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- Stop and smell the……wait, fall asters have no fragrance, but still pack a visual punch. This photo of yours truly was taken by Barbara Emmett
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- House proud! Next door neighbors in Ann Arbor, MI meet in the middle.
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- My buddy Dr. Morry Edwards, aka PHD Purple, keeps his patients in good cheer with his clothing, that never fails to include purple. (The snorkels are wedding attire for his brother’s nuptials.)
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- Featured on the cover of my Skinny Quilts & Table Runners II: Seasons of the Moon, by Lonni Rossi. Lonni frequently calls on purple and green for her palette and fabric collections for Andover.
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- In this piece titled Log Cabin Split Level, purple packs a punch with yellow. This stunner of a runner is by Pamela Dinndorf of Aarvark Quilts; how-to’s are in my Quilt Blocks Go Wild!
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- Tree of Life positively glows against a purple background. My runner is shown on the pulpit and in the book, Jewish Threads.
News flash! The fashion and decorating color experts just announced ORCHID as the color for 2014. Close enough.
Leave a comment, telling me how you prize The Color Purple in your quilting. I’ll award a bag of scintillating scraps from my stash of purple fabrics to the one whose comment most captures my imagination or tickles my fancy. Friday the 13th at 12 noon (EST) is your thriller-diller deadline. Don’t think pink. Think purple.
PS–I just put together the purple prize. Some pieces are indeed large scraps, but others are 2 yards. Total is more than 8 yards. Worth winning, wouldn’t you say?
I will be making a quilt for my granddaughter in 2014 for her high school graduation. Her favorite color is purple so I need purple fabric. 🙂
I always make the quilt gear to the personality not just an ordinary traditional quilt.
Purple is one of major “go-to” colors in the palette of fabrics often called, my stash. Purple is in my gardens and the flowers I recreate in fabric for quilts, purple is in the beautiful Montana skies ans sunsets, particularly in late spring and through the summer and is found in many of my landscape quilts. Purple is in the feathers of birds that visit my feeders as they migrate along the Clark Fork River flyway just blocks from my home an a place where journal sketches and photos bring images to be expressed in quilts and fiber sculptures. Purple is a perfect color to use with any oranges, clear or burnt, and always sings a great song when places with browns and tans. Purple feeds my artistic muse, rather like a bowl full of Concord grapes feeds the hungry summer snacker. How much fun 2014 will be when shopping for fabrics to add to my purple collection.
You get an honorary mention, Kristin, and a special prize! See my newest post and send me your address!
Purple is the healing color, I worked as a clinical social worker for Samaritan Hospice, where our logo was in purple.
Oh I just love these colors seems to me that Purple is me lately.. Good to see you last month at guild.
There IS no other color than purple. My first car, 1970 Duster, was purple. My whole house now is purple – kitchen, family room, living room, laundry room. Just had the powder room painted – stone for the walls and purple for the ceiling.
My quilts in my house (100+) all have some purple in them including one of my faves – Passionate About Purple Pinwheels. I have so much fabric in my stash and guess which color dominates !
Just got back from Hawaii where I visited Quilt Passions. Their batik wall was a sea of purple. Guess
where I’m retiring. Cannot think of any other color than purple that inspires me and ignites my quilting
passions. It’s the most gorgeous color ever conceived and created. Thank you for letting me emote.
Regards, Sue Levin
You get an honorary mention, Sue, and a special prize! See my newest post and send me your address!
Thank you so very much !!
P.S. The next time you are at a NCJW and Judy
Fried is there, check out her 70th birthday present
from me. Yep, a tote bag using 50 shades of
purple !!! She loves it.
I am not a purple person. I am a yellow-orange-green person. But I feel I owe it to my stash to be well rounded, and I just finished a tee shirt quilt using lots of purples-to-teals! So…my purple shelf has become depleted! I would welcome an infusion!
I have never made a quilt, but I have been weaving cloth for 53 years. I totally adore purple, so this would be the perfect opportunity for me to create my first fabulous quilt. I am rather quiltish in my approach to weaving though.
I have always been a huge fan of purple. When we moved into our current home, twenty years ago, I convinced my husband that our bedroom should be purple and we choose a purple carpet. I love my purple bedroom to this day – it’s been re-carpeted once and painted a couple of times and the shade has changed slightly.
For ten years we had a purple mini-van. I was sad to see it go – it was easy to find it in the parking lot.
I feature purple in my quilts frequently and my purple stash is one of the largest. (Black and Whites are big too since I like to make whimsical stuff).
I have 2 favourite colours – purple and blue. I heard that purple is the colour of optimism so I surround myself with in since my DH is a pessimist about nearly everything. Purple keeps me sane….almost.
Purple is the new lime, :>)
really it is a staple in our home
due to my eldest daughter and SIL graduating
from the first Cornell ( Iowa).
what did the green grape say to the purple grape?
Breathe, you idiot, breathe!
Okay, purple has been my fave color for so long, that my dh bought me a purple camera, (not the brand I asked for), just BECAUSE it was purple. I had a purple phone, but they no longer make them. Purple promotes creativity and spirituality, so if one surrounds themselves with it, they might get extra help making quilts. I use purple a lot, it’s in my trio of lime/fuchsia/purple in almost all quilts. I like purple/and my neutral lime together sooo much.
There, I’m out!
Lee Anna Paylor
leeannaquilts@gmail.com
lapaylor.blogspot.com
You get an honorary mention, LeeAnna, and a special prize! See my newest post and send me your address!
You say Purple, they say Orchid! Let’s call a spade a spade: If you add some blue to any red, you improve the color immeasurably. My granddaughter has graduated from pink to purple as her favorite. I consider that a step to maturity; perhaps some day she will be as smart as her younger brother who follows me in adoring green. In any case, the cupcake fabric is the winner in that bunch and sets the theme for a wonderful quilt. I hope I win cause I’m about ready for another challenge – but no rush… you can mail it after the holidays. (big grin)
Diane
http://yarngoddess dot wordpress dot com
Love purple! The last quilt I made for my daughter was a combination of black and white with yellow and purple. I made it because she loves the combination of yellow and purple (previous project for same daughter was a purple and yellow crocheted pansy afghan!) but it really grew on me as I put it together – many shades of purple from lavender to dark, and yellow from pale butter to gold. It’s still one of the favorite quilts I’ve made.
Purple is plummish, fragrant flowerish, and a stain from delish wine…what’s not to like about purple?
It seems you have a Package of Unusual Regal Pacific sunsets Labeled Ebullient.
I’m 61 now. A child of the late 60’s, early 70’s — therefore, a hippie! I wear long skirts with embroidered tops, my hair is past my waist and I usually wear it braided. The color purple defines me. My clothes are usually purple. And my biggest color stash of fabric is purple.
I met my husband 37 years ago, and we celebrated our 36th anniversary in September. At the time, I had my beloved VW Bug, like all good hippies!! LOL But, it eventually got sold. Finally, several years ago, I found the VW Bug of my dreams – old and purple – yes, a purple BUG. Loved that car!
I have completed a quilt top of blocks of purple stars. All are different, as this came from a swap. My own star block is the weird one – I found a pattern for an off-centered star. Beautiful! It is next to be quilted.
Right now, I cannot drive anymore. I have Parkinson’s Disease, and it is progressing. Like I said, I can’t drive so my husband has to do the driving if I want to go anywhere. Of course, a trip to the quilt shop (about an hour away) would be nice, but my husband would be lost. So, I continue to stay at home. I can no longer do hand-quilting, something I thought I did pretty well. So, I will quilt by machine.
I have not been to the quilt shop in at least a year. I would love to have some new purple fabrics.
Thank you so much!
I’m replying to my own post – LOL
I forgot to tell you that we live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. From our home, we can see the PURPLE mountains – I am up early in the morning, and get to see the sunrise. Try to imagine the magnificent beauty that is – a slight lightening in the deep blue of the sky. The mountains are purple, as slowly the sun rises – first some dark orange and then more light comes.
I could write a poem about it – but you can write your own. Pure beauty. PURple.
You’re the big winner, Robin! See my newest post, and send me your address!
I love purple. I have lots of purple fabric, purple quilts and even purple shoes. I once painted the bathroom Grape and sponged it with pastels. I voted for the purple Jeep when we shopped for a new vehicle but lost out. Darn. I watch for purple flowers, purple butterflies (score 2), and have a purple collar and leash for my dog. Where we live there are often purple clouds and in the right light the snow can look purple. At night when the clouds are low the city lights make a pink-purple reflection which is wonderful. I’d really like more purple in my life. Can’t get enough.
Purple is soothing and healing for me. I find it’s restful and helps me to recharge and come up with new ideas for more quilts.
Thanks for making this offer so much fun.
I want to express my appreciation for the captivating content on eleanorlevie.com’s quilting blog. The post is not only insightful but also a delightful journey into the world of quilting. Your expertise and passion for the craft shine through, making it an engaging read for quilting enthusiasts.