No Country Bumpkin! Bumpy Pumpkin!

I was outside my Trader Joe's store the other day, and there were pumpkin bins outside - no surprise at this time of the year. I walked past a huge box of pumpkins, and realized they were all astounding - wrinkly skins and bumps, or thorn-like brown scales, all incredibly complex.  This particular pumpkin was shining its yellow face toward me as I walked by. It stopped me in my tracks.

Not being the rural agricultural type (e.g. not a country bumpkin, no offense intended), I couldn't figure out what variety this is. (And Internet searching on "bumpy pumpkins" is not revealing any answers.)  Does anyone know? It might be a gourd. All I knew is that TJ was asking just $5.99 for the whole glorious thing! I took it home and put it smack in the middle of my kitchen table. (Next to our towering pile of unread newspapers.)

I just love the way the yellow and green fades to orange. This view above, I suspect, is upside down. Here's what he looks like flipped the other way:

(Both sides unaccountably have a small stalk). The yellow splotch is probably its tush, rather than its face.

Why do these colors make me so happy?

And why is it that I used to hate orange, before I loved it?

Orange used to bummed me out. But the more I quilted, the more  I began to like, and then LOVE the color orange! Just recently, I've been adding large doses to my quilts, like this one (which you saw in an earlier post): 

I have several wonderful pieces of batik/hand dyed orange. Here's one spectacular piece that I'm having a hard time cutting up. I think it stands by itself as a work of art. I should just frame it.

The winner of the recent AQS Des Moines quilt show is a totally incredible orange and blue quilt by Marilyn Badger called Eureka:



OMG! Want more? Do a Google image search for "amazing orange quilt" and you will be rewarded. Here's one by quiltmaker Tomoko Tomo http://createcreatively.tumblr.com/post/22093976223/orange-range-by-tomoko-tohno-this-stunning-quilt. This particular quilt appeared in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, with the foundation piecing pattern, here: http://www.quiltersnewsletter.com/webextras/quiltersnewsletter/feature366/index.html.

Some people don't want to be limited to orange pumpkins, with or without bumps. They want to make their own pumpkins out of fabric and stuffing: Here are two different tutorials:

• http://thompsonfamily.typepad.com/thompson_familylife/2009/11/fabric-pumpkin-tutorial.html. I love the use of  the doilies! 
• http://www.scatteredthoughtsofacraftymom.com/2012/09/howtomakeafabricpumpkin.html. They've got an intense magenta pumpkin. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

And then there are the people who decoupage fabric onto actual pumpkins. Tutorial here:
 http://www.gussysews.com/2012/09/fabric-covered-pumpkins-diy/ The only problem with this is that you will have to throw away the pumpkin (and the fabric) eventually.

Hmmm, maybe I should stitch up some permanent sunset-colored pumpkins using my glorious streaky batik!

Would love to hear about your pumpkiny art!