A Passion for Purple

From Shadesofpurple.com

Purple is the colour for February's Colour My World Challenge. Fun! I LOVE purple. I already know what I want to do for this month's challenge.

There's a poem about purple that I came across back in my university days that pretty much sums up my feelings for purple and why it continues to be a staple in my wardrobe.

Warning 
by Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Purple is one of the most popular colours. Made from the opposites of warm red and cool blue, purple has both warm and cool properties. It is the colour of nobility and spirituality. Purple is the colour of mourning for widows in Thailand. Did you know that it was the favourite colour of Egypt's Cleopatra?

Here are some online resources if you want to learn more about purple:

• Joen Wolfrom's Playing With Color: What Color is Purple?
• Wikipedia's Purple page
• Sensational Color's All About the Color Purple
• National Geographics's Life in Purple (stunning photos!)

Oh, and did you know there's a Purple Store? I found this bumper sticker there -- ha ha!

So what does purple make you think of?


For me, I think of the Purple People Eater, the band Deep Purple, the tulips I planted in the garden of our first house, fun, warmth, the living room in our first home. It was also my eldest son's first favourite colour.

If you'd like to participate, you can find more information in this post. You can jump in and out in any given month. I'll host a linky party on the last day of the month so we can share what we did. To get an idea of the variety of ways this challenge can be done, take a look at what January's challengers came up with.

Speaking of purple, I'm hosting TGIFF! this Friday so get those finishes ready! My finish even has purple in it. :)