Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik Back to School blog hop!!
I was assigned the Zen fabric collection--a super assortment of blues from light to dark with a few zingers of green thrown in!! Such deep saturation of colors. They were a joy to work with!! Ask your local quilt shop to carry it!!
When planning what to design with this collection--the thoughts of those calming sand gardens came to mind--flowing circular lines drawn in the sand. I have the AccuQuilt -- Local Color -- die but have never used it yet. ZEN seemed the perfect fit to me!!
The pieces were cut quickly and accurately!! Sewing curves has been on my list of things to learn.
Say hello to our farm dog--Roxy--who refused to move so I could get a clear full photo!!
Back to school time on the farm means the start of harvest is near!! A time of hard work and anxious worry trying to bring in all the crop before the winter season arrives. Not a very ZEN time in my farmer's life!
How about a little back to school lesson on soybeans!?!
Here is the combine with bean head attached that my husband will use to harvest the soybeans we grow on our farm. The combine will take the soybeans off the plant. Then transfer them into a wagon.
This big auger will be pulled from its' summer holding area and set over a grain bin. It will be used to move the grain from a wagon into a bin.
The grain is stored in bins like the one pictured here. It is kept safe and dry until the right market prices are met. Then the grain will be taken back out of the bins, loaded onto a truck, and hauled to the elevator in a nearby town to be sold.
The soybean is such a versatile crop.
The oil is processed out to make many things for our everyday life. The oil can be refined for edible products--cooking oil, margarine, and salad dressings to name a few. Some non-edible uses for the oil include, bio diesel fuel, industrial cleaning solvents, paints, and even non toxic crayons!! How cool is that!
The protein is processed out and turned into soybean meal an animal food product. It is also processed into multiple human edibles such as soy milk, soy flour, tofu, and many retail food products.
Wow, that was a lot of information--let's all pray that some of the ZEN from these gorgeous fabrics works it way into the harvest season this fall!!
I am offering a set of 2 1/2" x 34" strips from all 20 pieces in the ZEN collection. Plus an additional assortment of 2 1/2" squares. Just leave me a comment with anything you learned from this Back to School lesson on soybeans today.
Island Batik is also having some great giveaways on their blog--head over there and enter!!
Find all the other ambassador blog posts on the Island Batik Blog post here.
