Sprout

(I'm re-posting this from my work blog, edited to include footnotes.)

Wisconsin winters make me think of blankets. From the thick, cushiony, batting-like snow that blankets every square inch to my sleeping bag cocoon coat and to the fluffy soft blankets we all wrap ourselves in for snuggling, we're just now emerging from five months of blankets.* My favorite blanket is down-filled. I needed to make a cover for it that I could wash, and I decided it should make me think of something other than winter.** I thought about the one thing I miss most during winter: fresh vegetables.

Every summer, I subscribe to a local farm to get a fresh box of organic vegetables every week.*** I love vegetables. I love the way they smell, the nutrients they have, their textures and shapes and colors and.... oh! Everything. In fact, one of the reasons I bought a house was so that I could grow my own vegetables. I can't wait for spring to really start kicking in and for the first sprouts to push up through the soil. Right now, though, I have to be content with doing my planting in other ways.

Luckily, RJR created Kyle's Market Place, and over the last few years, they've offered a line of photo-realistic fabrics that look like piles of vegetables. In honor of spring and sprouting and all good things that grow right out of the ground (and to remind myself of that during the dead of winter), I sewed these quilt squares. I've got enough of them to make a blanket now and am just starting to piece them together. Next winter, I'll get to sleep beneath my quilted garden while the earth rests, waiting for spring to sprout all over again.



* But not completely. It's snowing AGAIN today. :(

** For my own sanity, I need something a reminder that summer exists.

*** The soap-box, preachy part I left out from the work blog was that it's a great way to support your local economy. Buying food that is grown in your area cuts down on your carbon footprint, and it helps your neighboring farmers keep their jobs. More money for your community means more prosperity for you. Why send your money around the world or even to some anonymous corporation that underpays its workers when you can give it straight to the source and get a better deal and better quality and fresher food? Basically, you're doing something good for the Earth and something good for your fellow man. These are the things my fella and I talk about during dinner and read about at night before we go to sleep, so this is the sort of blanket we'll be sleeping under. We're secretly farmers deep down, I guess. Who knows? Maybe the blanket will get us to actually start a sustainable farm instead of just incessantly talk and think about it. (And if you want to see someone who's really living the dream, check out http://www.dougfine.com/)