It's April and I'm sure y'all have noticed how late this post is. Procrastination happened and life sealed my fate. Usually, I'm a great pressure player and can do magic before a deadline, but not this go round. Family came first and it is what it is. At any rate, our Color Your World fun for this month is Lavender. The Secret Lives of Color book only has 10 categories and I wanted this to last the whole year so I've divided purple into two months. This is our adventure with the gorgeous happiness that can be had with lavender. I can almost smell the previous picture. Can you? Further down the post is the monthly project AND your BINGO card for the month. So, let's get started and - don't forget to grab that cuppa.
Lavender is the color of femininity and tranquility. It is uplifting and optimistic. There are many facets to lavender and, fortunately, seemingly all of them are favorable. In addition to being compassionate and kind, lavender is also inspiring. The one drawback is that it lacks a sense of urgency. It's been said to also symbolize religion (think Easter) and springtime and the effect it has on us is calming and supportive. Barbie uses lavender in their logo, but most companies go with the darker purple as lavender can come off as unhurried and marketers want to grab you and get a response.
During my research, I discovered that lavender is its own distinct family of colors. While it naturally shares certain historical, spiritual, and psychological associations with purple, it possesses a unique heritage of its own as I showed above. The color family of lavender encompasses a wide variety of shades and hues, from the pale, pinkish tones to undertones of grey.
Just as the flower that bears its name (pictured above), the color lavender is associated with the youthful untamed growth found in nature during springtime. It is confirmed by the color's historical use within the Christian faith as a symbol of Easter and because of that association, brings about the optimistic beginning of new stages in life.
Like its purple cousin, lavender is associated to a degree with patriarchal leadership, though this is balanced out by the color's mixed connections to both femininity and decadence. Because of this, lavender is in the unique position of invoking masculine, feminine, dynamic, and restful states of mind depending on the current psychological perspective and temper of the viewer. Lavender's masculine qualities are tied to its association with kingship, as the rarity of the color lavender in nature means naturally derived dyes were reserved for the elite throughout history.
Can you just smell this picture??
This brings us to this month's table runner. It is my own pattern, so no link for you this time. I'll share as much as I can here, but feel free to ask question or request my graph paper drawings.
I chose to go with a tulip theme for this month - the actual lavender plant was more than my brain could do right now. Drawing out the plans to make 5 complete blocks with sashing in between is how it ended and the finish is 66" x 14" so you may wish to make less blocks. I have a very large table. Each block requires 4 matching units to create the main block. I decided all five blocks would be different, so 10 fabrics were enlisted, along with a constant neutral and light gray.
I also chose a light, fairly solid, lavender for the backing and kept the gray as my binding color. It was time to cut.
Cutting directions for ONE block:
Neutral: (A) 8 - 2 1/2" squares (these are the sew and flip units for the larger bricks), (B) 12 - 1 1/2" squares (8 are used for the sew and flip units on the smaller bricks and 4 are used as is), (C) 4 - 1 1/2" x 4" brick, (D) 4 - 2 1/2" x 5 1/2" brick (these are for the inside block sashing)
Gray: 4 - 1 1/2" squares (for the center of the tulip), 5 - 2 1/2" squares (cornerstones on inside block sashing - yes, it shows dark in the above graph as that was my original plan, but I switched gears - you are welcome to return to the graph
Darker Lavender: 4 - 2 1/2" squares, 8 - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" bricks
Lighter Lavender: 4 - 1 1/2" squares, 8 - 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" bricks
Final setting:
Neutral - 6 - 1/12" x 12 1/2" strips for sashing between blocks and side borders (this is with FIVE blocks), 2 - 1 1/2" x 66" strips (these are the outer borders - if you makes less blocks, these will be shorter)
Gray - 3 - 2 1/4" WOF strips for binding (if you make less blocks, this will be less as well)
Backing and batting 16 x 70 each (again, less blocks, smaller here)
And it's cut and ready to go.
About this time, my life went into a nosedive and I wasn't able to get back to this until April retreat.
I didn't take many pictures along the way --- just put my head down and attempted to get this made. I did it in one day, including quilting and applying binding, but it was a killer day.
I sewed all the sew and flip blocks, making sure that half went one way and half went the other as you can see in the picture.
From there, the layout was simple and I laid out each flower separately and sewed them. Then it became a simple 9-patch with the four flower, four sashings, and center cornerstone.
Add the sashing/side borders to connect the blocks and finish with the longer border strips to complete the top. Sandwich and quilt as desired. I did stitch in the ditch for this one. Add the binding and that's where I left off.
Once home again, I hand-stitched the binding down and buried all my threads, leaving me with this pretty piece. Zoom in for setting if you need to, but it's pretty straight forward. My TA-DONE.
On the table with a blurry picture --- can you tell I'm in a hurry to get this posted?
Now, if you've made it this far, here is the BINGO card for April and I've made it pretty easy since you lost 10 days. I tried lavender print, but it was just too light. Go, go, go and make sure to share with the group. We keep each other inspired by pictures and fun stories.
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