The blue bells will soon be blooming!

I think Spring is my favorite season of the year.  As soon as the willow tree begins to change to chartreuse, that wonderful yellow green, I know the daffodils are not far behind.  For some reason, I do not have crocuses in my gardens, so daffodils are the first flower to bloom.  This morning my little petite daffodils are blooming profusely.  The larger daffodils are in bud and the tulip leaves have popped up;the pansies I planted last fall are coming back. 

I am waiting patiently for the blue bells (grape hyacinth) to show signs of flowers to come.  I am very much aware that these little bulbs can take over a garden.  So far I have kept mine clumped in the space I have for them.  This fall I need to divide the clumps and find more places for them to grow freely.

I have a history with blue bells.  My favorite springtime flower is the daffodil in all of its forms.  But my first memory of a springtime flower was of the flowers we called blue bells.  

I grew up in the country about a mile outside of East Petersburg, PA in the middle of Lancaster County.  My childhood home was, and is still surrounded by farmland.  Fields were plowed every spring and crops rotated every year.  Mr. Rohr owns the land to the east, and for many years used mules to pull his plow or wagons in the fall. 

The Hottenstein family farms the land to the north and the Landis's farm is to the west and south.  It was the Hottenstein field to the north that I remember in the Spring.  Blue bells covered the field just across the road beyond the asparagus patch.  This specific Spring I may have been 2 or 3...pretty little.  I shared a bedroom with my older sister, Joanna.  And both of us still took naps.  

This day, we had asked and I imagine pleaded and  begged our mother to take us to pick blue bells.  The picking of the blue bells became the reward for taking a nap.  And so after lunch, off we went to bed.  I remember nap time as a lot of talking and giggling between Joanna and me, resulting in my mother calling from the foot of the stairway reminding us to "settle down or else".  At age 2 or 3  I did not understand what was so important about naps.  But they were a regular part of those early years. And I do remember what "or else" meant.  I am sure we tried to be good nappers that day.  The reward was worth being quiet for a while. 

 Finally up after our naps, we eagerly scrambled down the stairs, and  gathered sweaters and bandannas to head out and walk the gravel road we called the "Stoney Road " down the hill to the field of blue bells.  We headed out the back door around to the front of the house, and to our utter shock, Mr. Hottenstein had plowed the field while we were napping.  The Blue Bells were  gone!  The field where they had been was now a freshly turned expanse of brown dirt.

  

about the time of this story maybe 1949

I don't remember how we reacted.  I just remember the blue bells were gone.  That memory, however, has stayed with me.  I pay attention to when flowers bloom, and how much time I have to enjoy them.  And if I want to pick flowers, I do.  Its is like taking time to smell the roses. It also means that as I plan my gardens around my house, I plant bulbs and seeds for flowers that are specifically grown for cutting.  It is more than gardens for me to enjoy outside.  In the spring there are daffodils and tulips, blue bells and lily-of- the-valley. When summer arrives there are stalks of lilies, cosmos, zinnias, roses, daisies and bee balm so that I can cut bouquets for the house.  And when Emma comes to visit, the question is usually "may I pick flowers, Nana?"  And you may have guessed, the answer is always "yes!".

My mother Anna Mary Neff keeping an ever watchful eye

I see grape hyacinths every spring, and every spring I remember the flowers plowed under while I took the

mandatory nap!  And every spring, I gather a bouquet of the little blue bells from my garden for my kitchen table, and forgive my sweet, sweet mother one more time.

I wish your spring filled with sunshine, flowers

  .....and peace.             Rachel

...all is right with the world

I am torn.  I really like good news and good stories.  However, sometimes that attitude lulls me into feeling like if I just maintain a bright and cheerful attitude, all will be right with the world.  Right now, that feels like a PollyAnna kind of attitude.  Being right with the world has a broader scope than just being happy and positive and upbeat.  

My case and point.  In December we were able to give 21 quilts to children at the Mission here in Staunton.  One part of me is taken aback that there are 21 children in our community who are homeless and sheltered, with at least one parent, at our local mission....at Christmas!  I start to wonder how and why, then I stop.  It is not about the who or why or why can't they.  It is about humans beings in need.  So I was grateful that when I set all of my judgements aside, I could simply gather up all of the small quilts we had in the shop....and sent them off to be shared with children who needed them.  

Then came another e-mail after Christmas.  Several women at the mission were waiting the arrival of new babies.  I must admit the "how can that happen, don't they know any better"  judgement clicked in.  I am not proud of that thought.  And I jerked my self righteous person back to being present, and realizing it is not about how or why.  It is about human need.  

Today, one of my dearest friends,  Nadene Brunk sent an e-mail from Haiti this week.  She founded Midwives for Haiti, a growing non-profit organization that teaches Haitian women...and men to be skilled birth attendants: prenatal, birthing and post natal care.  They serve rural communities via mobile clinics and they also work with Hospital Ste. Terese.  Inventory of the medicines on hand would show that they are out of and low on essential medicines needed for prenatal care and delivery. 

In both these instances I was brought to the thought that  I take so much for granted.  Even with the health care issues in our country....there is always medicine for treatment of my illness or pain.  And if one treatment does not work, there is another one to try.  My granddaughter was delivered by a midwife in a well lighted, well equipped hospital.  She came home with her mother to a warm home and her own crib.  I have no concept of a situation that would leave her parents homeless and waiting for her birth in a shelter.  I cannot imagine living in a country where drugs for their care are scarce.  

At the very least, I have an inventory and personal stash of fabric that can be turned into small quilts for new babies.  I am touched by the pretty quilts that have been shared for the babies due at the Mission.  They are beautiful.  They are the kind of quilts that I would give to a new baby in my family.  No one said, "It's only for the Mission, it doesn't  matter what they look like".  They brought quilts in soft baby colors and bright colors.  A gift from their loving quilting heart.  

Judgement set aside.  All things in this world are not equal or fair.  Some of our human brothers and sisters suffer, and I feel like there is nothing I can do to make a difference.  When I feel on the edge of helplessness, I make a quilt.  And for the Midwives for Haiti, I send a donation, remembering that when I am hurting and arrive at my doctor's office, I want and expect appropriate medicines.  My gifts, small as they seem to me are added into the gifts of others to make a difference.  They will brighten one new mother's day as she wraps her baby in a new quilt. A midwife in rural Haiti will have enough medicine to treat a mother with needed medicine or supplies like gloves and sutures and catheters. 

So when I say "all us right with the world" I am challenged to do (even) one small thing to help it to be that way.  If you have a small quilt to share (no bigger than 50 x 60 inches, or smaller for a new born) bring it to the shop and we will pass it on.  If you want to help stock Hospital Ste. Therese with needed medicines for maternity and obstetrics, check: Midwives for Haiti.  I am learning in every experience of giving that the old adage: "every little bit helps" is absolutely true.                                                                  ~~ Rachel

Advent 2014

If you are on facebook and follow my postings, you know that the season of Advent is important to me.  I light one more candle every Sunday.  I also pay attention to the Spiritual preparation that is part of this season.  Worship, meditation, seasonal reading.

I learned about Advent many years ago as the Church of the Brethren moved toward finding meaning in some of the traditions outside of the Anabaptist faith.  Two of those were Lent and Advent. I think Lent is a little easier to wrap my mind around as a faith practice than is Advent.  

Advent gets all mixed up in buying, more buying and lack and plenty.   Do we have all the gifts purchased and wrapped?  Is the house decorated; are there enough lights on the tree?  Will the neighbors appreciate my tastefully decorated house?  Are meals planned and events scheduled?  How much can I do and not become completely worn out??  These are issues for me this year.  I no longer have the knee pain that slowed me almost to a full stop Lat year.  I depended on Kay to help me work around my knee pain.  This year, gifts are purchased, some even wrapped.  The tree is up and fully decorated.  Evergreens are scattered throughout the house. I have the Christmas Dinner Menu planned.  My little family will be gathering Christmas Eve Day.  And I am going to be ready.

I  have heard much this year and years past, about putting Christ back into Christmas, and remembering the reason for the season.  The latter is a little more honest the the former.  As I think about it, putting Christ back into Christmas would take us back to a very simple and glitz-free celebration.  All of our tinsel and glitter and over the top gift giving has been added in to what Christmas is....a Mass celebrated for the birth of the Christ Child.  Gift giving began when a bishop in Turkey gave money so that a father did not have to sell his three daughters into slavery in order to survive. If he sold them, they would be slaves, but they would not starve. Legend has it that the bishop threw gold coins into the house and they landed in stockings that were drying by the fire.  I've also read he put the gold coins in stockings drying on the bushes.  Take your pick.  It was a man of God, rescuing a very poor family from desperation.  So putting Christ back into Christmas means I would have to really know the poorest of the poor in order to know what their needs would be so that I could help them live a better life. 

I am not ready to dump the traditions that have grown up around this time of the year. I enjoy my live Christmas tree and the gifts I am able to give to my children.  I enjoy dinners with friends and programs put on by my favorite  little ones. I enjoy opening a gift chosen just for me and wrapped beautifully.  There are more greens scattered about my house because I feel better and can do more. 

But when I hear someone say "let's put Christ back in Christmas", I am pretty sure that putting Christ back in most of our holiday preparations would make him very uncomfortable.  Putting Christ back in Christmas would mean we would not be shopping frantically and Black Friday would a thing of the past.

This year, remember the reason for this season, and take it more seriously.  Here at Rachel's we have a stack of quilts for homeless children and abused children being removed from their homes.  It is a beautiful stack.  This morning our contact at the police department called.  They need 3, one of those for an infant.  We cry.  I am glad to have them to give out.  My heart breaks when we have to. 

The call this morning was a reminder again that the Christ Child was born to poor parents and arrived in Bethlehem too late to find a comfortable place to stay.  In his lifetime, Jesus' ministry focused on the poor and the sick and the mentally ill.  Some how we have have moved pretty far away from the early Christmas traditions.  So this year, I am paying more attention to simplicity and quiet and gentle celebrations. I will remind myself about the reason we celebrate in the first place.  I am not sure where that will take me.  But I will be open to the reason for this holy season. 

I shared this hand made creche on my FaceBook page the second week of Advent.  I bought this piece in a market in Nairobi, Kenya in 2007.  I could not haggle over the price of  a nativity.  So I gave the young girl what she asked.  She cried as she wrapped it for travel.  I cried as she handed it to me, wiping her tears.  For one instant  I put did put Christ back in Christmas.  One instant.  I want to do more.  

I wish for each of you a gentle Holy time of celebration this season.  Friends and family close. Gifts we love. And remembering the reason..........

                                                      Peace,   ~~~Rachel

I love to write.....

Sometime in 2003, I came across a book entitled The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.  It is a workbook: exercises to do and list of questions to work through.  It made me think about the creative process. And it helped me to write with a different sense purpose.  One of the assignments at the beginning of the book was to write three pages of whatever was running around in my mind.  Write in long hand, just whatever was there.  Then throw the pages away.  I would write, but I liked the process and what I was writing and decided not to throw my pages away.  

finishing # 57  ready for # 58

Instead, I buy an inexpensive composition book.  I like college ruled pages.  I cover each one with a favorite fabric from my stash, (1/3 Yard) or one I buy on a trip, or one someone has given me.  Sometimes the fabric is seasonal.  Sometimes it is just pretty fabric.   I use Heat and Bond..the original heavy stuff...to cover the composition book.  And then I set to writing.  As I fill one journal, I look for the next fabric.  I have numbered my journals; yesterday I wrote in the last pages of journal #57.   This morning I began #58.

Essentials for my morning writing.

My morning pages have become part of my daily ritual.  The alarm rings, the coffee grinder begins to buzz and the coffee brews...set on a timer.  I get up, brush my teeth and wash my face. No TV, no news, no radio.  I pour my coffee in a favorite tall china mug.  (They call them "beakers" in England.) I settle in to my favorite chair, usually with a quilt on my lap.  I read the daily entry from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo, and then I write.

These  journals have opened me to deeper creativity.  They help me work through anger, grief, separation, sadness as well as reminding me of the joy, grace, peace, and gratitude for the goodness in my life. When I began this writing, I was simply hoping it would open my creative block.  What I discovered was that it opened me to more than just my creative ideas.  It has moved me to be more present, open and receptive to the world in which I live.  It has deepened my faith, and taught me about quiet meditation, and sometimes, simply silence.  I am present more,  listen more, see more, and find simple joy is every day.  And sometimes a journal almost speaks to me out loud.  The journal I was writing in when my marriage fell apart-- literally came apart at the seam, and the cover fell off.  I held it all together with a rubber band and some gross grain ribbon until I had written on every page and could move on to the next one.  

It was never in my plan to continue the journal writing this long.  I had never been one to keep up with diaries and journals.  Somewhere along the way, it has become a habit.  I write almost every morning.  If Emma sleeps over, there is no early morning quiet time.  When I go to worship Sunday mornings, I leave the house earlier than on weekdays...and I have not gotten into the habit of getting up earlier so that I can write.  Sunday my writing happens in the afternoon.  But my favorite time is to write first thing in the morning. 

All of my journals are covered in a different fabric.  It is a wonderful stack.  I used to think that they might make good reading for my family when I am gone.  Now I look at the stack and think they probably won't have the time.  But if they want to know how I was feeling on a certain day, they can go back to a date, as I sometimes do now, to read about where I have been, what I was thinking, and often how I was feeling.  And they will know what has been important to me as the years have gone by. 

I love my morning ritual.  I think it helps my day begin well, and continue even better.  My favorite Parker Pen, blue ink, medium point, to paper.  My cat Zoey by my side.  Good coffee, a quilt on my lap and the quiet that begins the very best of my days.           ~~~Rachel

Back to the page...

Dear Reader: 

Where have I been??.   I have heard recently from several of you, customers and friends that you have missed the "Reflections" I write on these pages. And some of you "remember when" they came in the mail in our newsletter.  When I looked back, I found I had not posted anything on my blog since 2013.  I have to admit I need to move out of thinking "poor me, I have nothing much to write that is worth reading" into knowing that I love to write and many of you like to read what I have to say.  I love the tapestry that is the story and the weaving of words to tell it; and many of you have enjoyed reading what I write.

So here I go again.  I hope to be more regular with my postings.  Blog space can be very creative and yet for me a little intimidating. The possibilities are endless. I hope to be able to use this space to share what we create here at the shop and what is happening in my/our lives.

I don't plan on changing the style of my "Reflections".  They are just that, a reflection of what is happening in my life, and how I feel and think about it.  It is a sharing of what is running through my world and through my head.  

I read and re-read my entries before I post them.  I apologize  ahead of time when I miss something that should have been corrected.  I have spell check, of course, but sometimes that doesn't help. My goal is for it all to make some kind of sense.

My posts are Snippets and Snibbles.  "Snippets" are bits of thoughts or a scrap of writing. "Snibbles" are the little pieces of stuff that end up on the floor---like the little corners we trim off when we've made half-square triangle blocks or thread, paper...or even crumbs.  (My spell check does NOT recognize "snibbles" and would like me to change it to "nibble, dibble or kibble".  I have added it to this computer's dictionary.) It is a word I grew up with, because whatever I was doing, I left snibbles, and more often a real mess.   My  father called me "Messy Bessy" if that tells you anything. And, no, I did not take it as a compliment.   So I share with you bits and pieces of my life.  My posts are about more than just quilting.  My life is a love of fabric and color and quilting, yes.  Life also is the love of family , friends, faith, cooking, gardening, painting, and whatever I set my mind to doing that fascinates me.  Now that I have two new knees, I look forward to walks in the woods or a tromp in the snow, or simply in my little neighborhood.  I feel very much alive and present in this world and I hope you will read that reflected here.               

peace, 
Rachel

Foraging 101

I have been waiting oh, so patiently for a warm Spring day so I could work outside.  I have been ready since the middle of  March.  Over the winter months I had both of my hands repaired, the left one in October and the right one in January...carpal tunnel release surgery that was very successful!  With my hands back to normal and cortisone shots in each knee two weeks ago,  I have been eager to be digging in the dirt in my gardens. The day came last Monday (April 8).  Seeing temperatures headed for the 80's and hearing Kay's admonition to be careful with my knees, I headed into the sunshine with my rolly cart and my digging tools.

I had not been digging long before I realized that the time was perfect for digging dandelion for a favorite Weaver/Neff family dish.  No flowers and few buds, just newly growing deeply jagged leaves, spreading themselves very flat on the grass.  So I headed around the house with a bucket and and old knife to cut them out below the grass line. In a half and hour, my bucket was half full, and by the time I trimmed and cleaned each plant I had a little over a pound of greens.

I come by this foraging quite honestly.  My Grandfather S. Clyde Weaver gathered buckets of dandelion greens each Spring. Then he would spend hours cleaning each plant.  Grandmother Emma would tightly pack the greens in quart jars and preserve them.  During the holidays, there would be steaming bowls of  dandelion greens with sweet and sour bacon dressing, topped with sliced hard boiled eggs and crumbled bacon. 

My father, Paul Neff, continued the tradition, probably not at the level of Granddad, but close.  He had a way cleaning them in the field that I had forgotten until halfway through my own job of cleaning those little plants.  He also had a way of finding really large plants.  The ones I was digging Monday seemed quite small in comparison to my memory of his.  I think he watched and noted where the gathering was good.

Cultivated dandelion greens can be purchased in the produce department of some grocery stores and sometimes at farmer's markets.  They look different, and are milder than the wild greens.  Both are slightly bitter. Either variety is said to be quite healthy....well that is until you add the bacon dressing, which in my opinion makes the dish.

 Having gathered the greens, either from the field, or your favorite produce department or farmer's market, here is the recipe that makes the dish.   I fined tuned what I knew about my mothers and my grandmother's bacon dressing.  My recipe is for 1 serving, because I like my greens fresh, without leftovers. And this is probably an acquired taste.  I grew up with this special dish for a very limited time in the spring and sometimes at  holidays.

Dandelion Greens with Bacon Dressing

1 serving or 2 as a side to a larger meal

3 ounces* dandelion greens cleaned and washed and drained

2 slices of good bacon, chopped

1/4 cup sweet onion, sliced thinly

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon flour

1/8 teasp. dried mustard

1 pinch of salt

2-3 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tablespoons water

1 hard boiled egg, peeled and sliced

• Measure brown sugar, flour, dry mustard and salt and mix in a small bowl

• Cook the bacon in the bottom of a small pan that has a lid to fit.(several years ago I was given the Food Network flat bottomed wok.  And I use it for just about everything, and I love it to prepare this recipe )
• When the bacon is crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel
• Saute the onion in the drippings until translucent
• Add brown sugar, flour and dry mustard
• Stir and cook 1 minute
• Add water and 2 tablespoons of the vinegar.
• Cook until the mixture begins to thicken.  Taste and adjust the vinegar if desired.
• Add the greens stir up the dressing to coat.
• Cover and steam until the greens wilt.
• Stir and cover.  Steam until all of the greens have wilted
• Pour into a small bowl and top with sliced egg and crumbled bacon

Serve with boiled new potatoes for a perfect spring lunch or evening meal

I developed this recipe over the winter and used greens available at the farmer's market and grocery produce department.  rainbow chard, baby spinach, kale, beet greens or mustard greens.  Most often I mix the greens, chopped and  weighed.  4 ounces of winter greens.  Some of them wilt to almost nothing. 

*3 ounces of dandelion is all the greens I could tightly pack into a 1 cup measure

Lots of us eat greens as part of our healthy diets.  Hot sweet and sour bacon dressing may push the health edge just a little.  But the next time you want to try something new with your evening meal, try dandelion.  It is available at this thine of the year, just outside your back door!                                            
                                                                                                                           ~~ Rachel

Never say never...

How many times have I said "never" or "never again" to myself and to friends.  I am never going to: STOP there. Do not let it out unless you plan to watch yourself do just what you said would never happen.  When I moved onto the first parsonage with out little family, I could see where bunk beds had been, and where a child had written the alphabet on the wall.  In an instant "my children will never write on walls"  came right out of my mouth. I did fairly well. They didn't....until one day I walked into the den to discover that 2-year-old Kay had drawn a HUGE happy face on the wall....with a black magic marker.  She had never drawn anything that even looked like anything.  Yet there it was.  Not a tiny little string of letters penciled on a wall. A perfectly BIG happy face smiling right at me. When I asked her about it, she was so proud of what she had drawn, I was not about to punish her.  I left it there, until it was time to move.  I tried to paint over it and the face would come smiling through.  Several coats later, I gave up.  I invested in some epoxy to hide that smiling face.  It still makes me smile.  

We lost Patches at the end of October, 2011. Several kindhearted friends and customers offered us replacements.  We declined...emphatically.  No more cats.  We like the doors open.  We do need to be scooping a litter box, or running to the vet, or trying to find a hiding cat or.....

I think you know where this story is going......

Meet Suzy Blue.   Kay was sewing in the studio and looked out the window to see baby blues eyes staring at her from under the box car. Kay's cat whisperer skills quickly surfaced, and soon there was a bowl of water and  some scraps of food offered on the "porch" of the caboose.

How is it that we some how attract unusual cats? This one is a Siamese kitten, maybe 5 months old.  I am not a great gauge of animal's ages.  A kitten for sure.  Emma called her "Blue" when she saw her.  It took us 1 day to get her to the door.  Another day to get her to nibble on food, just inside the door.  Day 3 she ventured in to explore the shop....everywhere, and then to run scared to her hiding place under the box car. Day 4,  I moved the food and water in beside my desk. Still a very frightened kitten we could not even touch. She'd come to my feet purring loudly.  When I reached for her, she was out the door! Day 5 a customer who was quicker that I am, scooped her up, and we checked to be sure she did not have an I.D. chip any where.  That's when we determined she was Suzy Blue.  Day 6 was Sunday, and I came in to the shop to invite her in to be fed.  Monday was the same routine.                        

Tuesday, I came with a box and litter, kitten food and a resolve to tame her.  It really did not take very long.  She is quickly learning her way around the shop.  I have had a discussion with her about what she needs to do to be able to stay.  No scratching or biting.  Her "motor" runs easily.   She comes to the counter where I am working, just to stretch out and watch. You have heard of the "cat in the hat".  I have a cat-in-the-lap when I sit down to sew or design or work at the computer. And I am once again, totally taken in by a feline. I tell myself that I am doing my part for the SPCA.  One kitten they do not have to process.

I have decided that it is just fine to have to eat ones words. It means I am growing and learning.  Some word salads are easier to eat than others. These words taste sweet when I remember a happy face smiling back at me from a much painted wall, or this time as a (formerly)stray Siamese kitten follows me around like a puppy and then curls up on my lap as I sew.

Live, learn, adapt and adjust.  Time moves on.  Our experiences move us to see differently and maybe even change our minds.  Once again, we have adapted....and have been adopted. A good feeling.                                                                                                                                                              ~~~~Rachel 

I love, love, love my scraps.....

     Let me tell you about scraps.  I cannot throw them away.  I made my clothing since Jr High and my daughters clothing from the time they were born...and I saved the scraps and used the scraps.  When I moved  to Virginia in 1972, I was introduced first to quilting and later to patchwork.  That was back in the Gorgia Bonesteel days.  All I had was a book from Oxmoor House. I decided to make a log cabin quilt, but wasn't sure I wanted to spend a lot of money on fabric.  What if I got halfway through the project and didn't like patchwork?  I smile at the thought.  I had a toddler and a baby on the way.  I did not have any extra money.  So I dug out my scraps.  With a yardstick and scissors I cut 2 inch strips and sorted them into color groups and lights and darks.

     I love it because it is full of visual memories my little girls' favorite clothes.  I did not buy any fabric until I got to the borders.  I had read that the center of a log cabin block is orange or red representing the fire in the hearth.  But when I ran out of red and then orange, I used green and blue and even brown.  As long as it was a solid fabric, it could be the  "hearth".  I did not have enough blocks to do the "Barn Raising" setting that I had seen, so I set it in "Plowed Furrows".

     I don't remember how many years it took me to finish the top.  When it was finished it measured one inch smaller at the top than the bottom.  Embarrassed, I put it away until some years later I learned that 1 inch was really not too bad.   So I got it out, put borders on it and then quilted it with the help of my teachers in Franklin County, VA

    There were still scraps left.  This past Christmas my girls got quilts made from the rest of those scraps.  3 1/2 inch scraps alternated with muslin.  My friend Katheryn Crickenberger started the pieces maybe 15  years ago. Before she died, she handed me a bag with about five sections of piecing  In August (2011) I pulled the pieces out and re-worked them into two queen sized quilts.


     The scrap saga goes on and on.  I still save the leftovers.  I always will. I have great ideas for using them.  I will get to them.  As I cut up the scraps left from a quilt or sewing project, the pieces bring back memories.  Lots and lots of the best memories life has to offer. 
                I wish the same for you.                ~~~Rachel



 

Look "Who" showed up in my garden

I would be surprised if quilters are not also writers, good cooks, gardeners, or artists  in glass and beads and paper, ink, brush and paint...the list could go on and on.  I dabble in lots of them.  Most recently, I have donned a hat to protect me from too much sun, pulled on gloves and headed for my little gardens.  The house I live in has lots of shrubs, a few flowers, and no vegetable garden...but lots of potential.  I started with flowers.  A shaded bed got my first focus.  I divided and replanted hostas...about four different varieties over growing themselves in the corner by the spigot.  I divided the peonies, and with the help of my nephew Everett, dug bushels of  crab grass out of a corner bed so I could plant herbs.  I still fight crab grass but the rosemary, parsley, oregano, chives and thyme are doing quite well.  That's where my lettuces, arugula and spinach grow as well.

About a year ago, I trudged through the trails and trees at my sister's bed and breakfast, Swiss Woods (Lititz, PA) and with Travis's (son-in-law) help dug up some Jack-in-the-Pulpit plants.  I have seen Lady Slippers in Virginia, but have not found the elusive preacher in the woods here.  I wanted some in my shade garden.  What a treat it was this year to see the three tell-tale leaves poking up next to the Johnny-Jump-Ups and violets..  There he was, tucked under his little canopy, just about perfect.

  

 These guys are hard to find.  I look for them when I begin to see May Apples grow in the woods.  As a little girl, I remember going into the woods in search for Jack.  They seemed hard to find because I was looking for the pulpit; later I learned to spot the three distinct leaves that pop up above the bloom.  This year I have two blooming, one bedraggled by cold weather. Spring was too warm too early and then too cold.  There are lots of leaves, so maybe next year there will be more pulpits. 

With this victory cautiously  in my pocket, I have moved on to turning the space next to the property fence into garden.  I tell Travis the more grass I turn into gardens means  less grass for him to mow.  I a strip against the fence tilled in April, and finally on Monday borrowed a truck and picked up two scoops of mushroom soil to amend my garden.  The first part of the garden along my driveway is planted with lavender and lilies.  A yellow rose bush breaks the garden space in half.  The rest of the space will (hopefully) yield tomatoes, green and wax beans, cucumbers climbing the fence and red beets and cantaloupe.  And there is still room to plant more, maybe a pepper and some egg plant.  Check back to see how I progress.

My goal is to be able to keep up without being overwhelmed.  Like so many projects, I take off and almost become overwhelmed with a good idea.  I am enamored with stripes and the easy table runners I can make with them, and suddenly I have a stack of too many....and none of them are finished.  Or I start a huge quilt that seemed like a great idea at the time, and then lots of other projects got in the way; now it lives in a nice plastic box on my shelf...waiting.  I know myself.  My creativity takes over, and I can get easily take on more than I have time or energy to accomplish.  

I am planting knowing what I should be able to keep up with. My  garden is long and skinny, not more than two rows deep. One of those rows I plant with a climbing plant like cucumbers that I will train up the fence, or sunflowers that grow tall.  I am trying to use my space efficiently and creatively. I want to grow enough to have fresh vegetables through the summer, and maybe a few tomatoes for canning.

My long and skinny garden should be just enough.    Enough is good.               ~~~Rachel

Pinterest - a new online obession

I don't know how many of you have heard of Pinterest.  I heard about it several months ago, but never really checked it out till last week.  I don't know what I expected, but I didn't expect to be so inspired by online media.

For those of you who haven't discovered it, this is the best way I can describe it...
Do you remember when you would look at Southern Living and see that perfect garden? You'd carefully tear it out and put it up on an idea board or post it to your refrigerator? Or decide you just had to do that cute craft in a Parents magazine with your kids or grand kids, so you tore it out and put it in a notebook? It's like that... but you have the entire internet to chose from and all the ideas go onto 'boards' that are all in one place.


I have created several 'boards' - Gardening, Food, Quilting, Ideas for Emma, but my favorite is the crafty ideas. Most of the crafting pictures redirect you to a blog that has the full instructions. It is inspiring, not to mention addicting. 

To make me feel better about all the time I spend searching cute crafty ideas on Pinterest, we are going to start having Pinterest inspired days here at the shop. I am going to commit to doing a craft on the last Tuesday and Wednesday each month.  It will usually be something to be used for the holiday in the following month or something seasonal.  For example, we'll do a St. Patrick's Day or Spring craft at the end of February (the 28th & 29th).  March 27th & 28th we'll do something for Easter and so on.

We invite you to come join us. We haven't worked out the details, but just know we will be crafting those days.  Call ahead so we can save you a space and see what you are interested in doing.

If you are not on Pinterest and need an invitation, send me an email and I will send you one. But be ready, it can really be addicting.

-Kay

Search and Rescue

     I am on a mission.  I am always on a mission of one sort or another.  This time the mission is guided by the "waste not want not" theology with which I was raised.  As I began unpacking new fabric yesterday, I reached for pins to hold the fold on the bolt...and the pin cushion was empty.  In the process of looking for pins, I got side tracked and never went back to the task.  So this morning, when I came into the shop...there were the new bolts of fabric, waiting for me and still no pins.

     Yes there is a peg board filled with notions, and yes, there are boxes of my favorite flower head pins there.  I resist breaking out new pins.  Surely there were some already opened somewhere.  As I sat down at my desk, I happened to notice a pin in the crack of the floor boards.  I found a magnetic Pin Grabber, quite empty and the pin hopped out of the crack on onto the holder.  I didn't stop.  A half an hour later , I had picked up magnetically pulled so many pins from the cracks in the floor board that I had filled the pin grabber.

     We live in such a throw away society, that it is easier to buy new than find what we already have.  Now I know that a little pile of glass headed straight pins really is not big deal.  But it made me feel good, and it made me think about what I waste, and what I  throw out or buy twice as a matter of convenience. 

     I am going through my fabric here at the shop--again !  I am calling it Search and Rescue.  I open a drawer or find a box full of pieces, usually leftovers from three projects....or more.  It is all very good fabric.  I still like it.  I would not think of throwing it away.  Just sitting in the drawer, it becomes a forgotten thing.  So I spend a day, sorting, pressing evaluating and cutting the fabric into usable pieces.  Then I store it so that I can more easily see what I have, and how I might use it.  I already have several scrap projects in mind. 

     I know I am in business to sell fabric and notions.  I also want to sell you on the idea that what you have in hand is a great resource....you just have to know what you have.  I am glad to have you come through the door with a piece of fabric you need help with adding coordinates.  I see my job as helping you with ongoing projects as well as beginning new ones.  Both are important to the success of our business.

      I am also going to help you with your own Search and Rescue.  We will be setting up workshop times here for you to bring in your bundles of scraps and learn how to sort, press, evaluate, cut and store your collections of scraps.  Look for information coming out in our updates, 

      "When life gives you scraps, make a quilt".  That is a sign hanging in my studio at home.  Sometimes I have to sort the scraps in order to have them be something of worth.  This is my year to search and rescue.  What an adventure!!  See you on the journey!!!                         .......Rachel  

"The Season is upon us now, the time for gifts and giving....."

     Those are words from a song John Denver sang during a Muppet Christmas Show,  what seems like a long time ago.
                        "..and as the year draws to a close, I think about my living.."
And I think a lot about how I live, especially in the season of focus on what we want, and what to give that might top last year's gift.

    And yet,  I am hearing some wonderful things this Christmas Season.   Common, ordinary people doing some not so ordinary things.  And I am inspired by people who go a step further than throwing some dollars in the red buckets.  I like the little red buckets.  I save dollars so I have them to put in more than just one as I shop.  I think it is easy to give that way.

       I am inspired by the extra effort people are going to to make the holidays special for those who are less fortunate.  First on my list of inspiration is one of my customers who came into the shop soon after Thanksgiving.  She had the name of an elderly person she got from a Christmas Tree somewhere in her shopping.  The woman wanted place mats and napkins.  My friend had a pattern, and she bought some really wonderful Christmas fabric and all she needed to make 4 beautiful place mats and cloth napkins.  She did not ask for sale fabric.  She did not buy the cheapest thing she could find.  She did not go to a box store and find a ready made set.  She bought the best she knew.  I cut her fabric and rang up her bill.  What a gift she was giving--and she still had to cut and pres and sew, sew, sew!!!   I am deeply touched, and I know the woman who opens that gift will be thrilled.

     Having been a member of more than 6 different congregations in my life, I have often heard people say that if something was to be given to poor people, they will be happy for anything.  Or that it is just for the church, quality doesn't matter. I have been trying to figure out for years why someone would give something they would not give a member of their own family.  I love hand-me-downs and shopping for a bargain at Good Will or Gift and Thrift.  Yet, I am inspired to hear stories of people giving and thinking first about what the recipient would really appreciate. 

     I am also hearing of "Anonymous Santas" paying all but the last penny of toys laid away til almost the minute.  I read of a woman who stood in the layaway area, and when  a person who seemed to have needs beyond their means,  came to make a payment on their lay-away--she stepped up and paid the balance.   Where ever it started, it has inspired others to follow her example. 

      I really love that I am seeing people modeling the idea of giving the best they are able to give, and giving in very unexpected ways.   I just finished a gift for a friend.  It is so awesome, ( even if I say so myself!!!) I would like to keep it for myself.  My friend is not expecting it,  and she would not know the difference if I gave her something else.  But I won't.  I love to give gifts that I would enjoy receiving.

     So this year I am looking for ways to be my best and give my best..... inspired by those who go beyond the expected.   Ordinary people giving in extraordinary ways.

     If I do not have time to write again before Christmas, I wish you all the Peace, Hope and Grace that this season celebrates.  The birth of a Child who grew in stature and in favor with God and those around him. And his radical ideas changed the world.   Merry Christmas to all.   Let Peace begin in with me--how I think and how I treat those around me.      .............Rachel

Remembering Patches

Patches convinced us we needed a shop cat almost 16 years ago.  She was probably 1 or 2 years old when she arrived.  Two weeks ago we had to make the decision that her quality of life was really pretty awful.  As I sat in the veterinarian's treatment room with Patches in my lap, and tears spilling over, I was gently assured that we were making the right decision.

Patches invited herself into our space the fall of the year we opened...1997.  We spent the first month chasing her out, finding her hiding places and putting her gently out for the night.  We finally gave up, bought a litter box, food, had her de-clawed and spayed--the agreement we made with her if she was going to stay.  And she settled in to show us we had made a good decision.  I have often said that she instinctively knew what she had to do and who she had to be in order for her to stay in the shop.

I  think you either love cats, or avoid them.  I also know if you don't like cats, they will follow you, sit near  you and whine at you trying to convince you that you are wrong about them.  The fascinating thing about Patches is that she often was successful.  There were husbands that came under her spell...often declaring that if they could be guaranteed  a  cat like she was, they would have a cat at their house.  You and I know there are no guarantees when it comes to the feline population.  Each one of them has a personality.  We were lucky....and so was Patches.

Patches arrived at our door quite small--and stayed  small all of her life.  No one imagined she was as old as she was.  When she was tearing around the shop in her earlier years it was easy to understand.  In these later years, she seemed even smaller.  She never weighed more than 7 pounds.

She spent many of her early years playing in the rafters, sitting in the warmth of the spotlights, watching the activity below.  Then she would come down to meet and greet customers when she felt like it.  As she aged, she hobbled more---probably from jumping off the rafters one time too many.  She depended more on finding warm places to sleep at table height, or lower.

The Patches era is over.  We will not replace her.  That is not possible.  We will remember her fondly, and live with special memories shared by so many.  The animals in our lives are such great friends.

It is said that a dog has a master.  Cats have a staff.  Which ever you might have...you know what I mean.

I have a cat, Zoey at my house.  She snuggles a little closer, lately.  I miss Patches when I come to the shop, and she does not meet me at the door "complaining" that she has been alone all weekend.  I don't have to check on where she might be hiding.   I don't have to worry when she does not appear until mid afternoon. I know where she is.  I have a vivid memory of a scene from a Disney movie whose main character was  a cat named Thomasina. At the end of all of her lives, as a very old cat  she leaped effortlessly up the stairs to heaven.  And I understand wherever that is, it is a great place for cats.                                                                                 ...Rachel                         

Tour de Quilt, a week later

Recipe for a good time:
1. Grab a good friend, or two or three.
2. Fill the car with gas.
3. Pick up a passport at your favorite quilt shop on the tour.
4. Spend the next three of four days traveling the byways that connect the eight shops.
5. Be sure to stop to eat along the way; take in the beauty of the country side.
6. Shop, chat, tell stories, laugh.

Central Virginia's 12th shop hop is history.  I am happy and tired. I spent  last Tuesday afternoon with the owners of the seven other shops talking about this years tour, and drawing names for the wonderful prizes.  And there were so many of them---really good prizes.  I always enjoy tour weekend.  I see old friends come through our doors, and lots of new travelers as well.  The mix is so much fun, however exhausting it might be at the time. 

This year, the challenge for me was to get the quilt together.  Each shop had the same pattern, and the same fabric.  But we could use our fabric anywhere in the pattern that we wished.  I am used to taking fabric and doing what I want with it.  This year I had to follow the rules, and the pattern.  I still did it my way, but still by the rules.  And I am happy with the result.  Not the quilt I would have designed, but a very beautiful use of pattern and fabric.  The gift for me this year was that by the Monday before the tour began on Thursday, the quilt was finished.  Quilted, bound and ready to hang.  And I was not running around like a mad woman trying to finish my original pattern.  There are some things for which I am grateful. 

At the end of events, I find myself wondering what it would be like to travel this shop hop, be a mouse in someone's pocket, and hear what everyone is saying.  I have been in almost all of the shops, but the excitement and laughter I hear coming through my shop doors makes me think it would be fun to do the tour myself.  

...so here's to another great year of quilting.  I'll look forward to smiling faces coming through our door next October.  But don't forget us the rest of the year.  Refer to the list at the top of the page, and don't wait too long to:
1.  Grab a friend or two or three, fill the car with gas, and head out on a quilting journey.
                                                                                                                     peaceful stitching.....Rachel

They are never too young ....

Yesterday, as I was helping a student make a purse, Emma brought her little pink step stool,  set it as close to my feet as possible, and wiggled her little self under my arm and into the space in front of me so she could "help Nana".  Emma is growing up in the quilt shop, just like earlier generations grew up on the farm, in the workshop, in a family owned grocery or small business.  

My Grandmother Emma Weaver told of taking my mother as an infant to the Central Market in Lancaster, PA.  (circa 1922)  She would tuck the baby in her basket bed under the counter, where the baby would sleep until she needed to be fed.   My Grandmother would wait on customers selling meat and cheese for the family business, the baby sleeping or playing nearby.   When I visit the  farmer's market in downtown Lancaster I cannot imagine taking an infant there for the day while I worked.  But many women did.  Those children learned early how to talk to people, how to behave in crowds, how to help, how to work....and how to handle money and count back change.  That makes me smile because most teens who might read that last sentence would have no idea what "counting back change" is.  I was an early teen when I learned to wait on customers at the meat and cheese stand at market.  I added columns of numbers without a calculator, doubled and divided weights on the meat scale and counted change with ease.  I learned to treat people kindly, with appreciation for their business, no matter how tired I was...no matter what!!

Our customers tell us that a quilt shop is a wonderful place for a child to grow up in.  I am fortunate to have my daughter and granddaughter with me almost daily.  I am aware that most mothers do not take their little ones to work in a gentle business they share with their mother.  I am grateful.  I also am aware that at times, I take our closeness for granted.  Having Emma around as much as I do, I sometimes brush off her interest in what I am doing with the thought that she is too young.   Yesterday she pushed pins into a piece of fabric, one at a time.  I am amazed at her fine motor skills.  For those who might worry, she has never put pins in her mouth. She doesn't put anything in her mouth that isn't food or water, or her fingers when she is cutting teeth.  She holds a pencil like I do--except she is right handed-- and "writes" with me.  When I sit down to sew at the sewing machine, she comes with her stool to stand close to me, watching closely, putting the pins I pull out of the piece I am sewing back into a pin cushion. 

Our children and grandchildren, the neighbor's children or even kids down the street we may not know, watch us and learn from us.  Often what we do is much bigger than what we say.  Having a very young child around me every day has reminded me how much they pick up, just by watching, and listening as well.  What we say has to line up with what we do, who we are, and how we treat each other. 

They are never to young to learn...and as I think about it, we are never too old, either.  But that's for another time, another page.                                                                                               ....Rachel

Pillowcases... a gift of love

You know when you get an idea...
                and it comes out of your mouth...
                                    and then you're committed.
And then (usually sometime later) you realize your idea may have been 'too big'.
Well that is exactly what happened to me when I committed us, and our customers to making 110 kid themed pillowcases for Camp Dragonfly.

It all began when American Patchwork & Quilting put out a challenge for all the quilt shop and quilters across the country to make one million pillowcases in a last year.  We started with gusto as we solicited customers to make pillowcases for our local Hospice of the Shenandoah.  Without blinking, we had over 100 pillowcases for hospice patients... of all ages.

So while talking to Hospice's director, Lori, Camp Dragonfly came up in conversation.  I figured that if the first round of pillowcases came in so quickly, so would bug or kids pillowcases.  I didn't figure that there really wasn't as much bug fabric out there (on the market) as I thought or that customers would find making pillowcases for kids a challenge. But that's what happened and we were coming on the camp date faster than we were getting pillowcases.

So I sent out a desperation email, made kits, and gave a deadline that gave me enough time to make up the difference in pillowcases if needed.  And, as usual, our customers and some of Hospice's volunteers came through. We surpassed our goal and have enough to start a stash of pillowcases for next year.

All of this leads to a huge THANK YOU to you our generous customers for the gift of your time, talents and fabric to bring some love and sunshine to local kids who are grieving.

We continue to collect pillowcases all year for hospice patients (young and old) as well as continuing our Camp Dragonfly collection for next fall.  We love this 'rolled' pillowcase technique and make a lot of pillowcases for friends and family at the holidays.  Enjoy.  Kay

Rolled Pillowcase - American Patchwork & Quilting

Super easy, sewing only, tablerunner

About the time you think you've seen it all, a customer walks in with an idea I haven't seen yet. I assure you I know that I haven't seen it all, but new discoveries always make me smile none-the-less. This little story also shows how great ideas spread all over the country.

So Wendy comes in this morning, after visiting a shop in Arkansas.  The shop touted the runner as the '20 minute tablerunner' and Wendy showed me the general idea of it, but I had to Google it.  I found a 10 min, 15 min and 20 minute tablerunner.... all the same concept.  The best pattern I found is from a quilt shop in Iowa.  It is so funny when we all get excited about a concept.

This is an all sewing, no batting, coverlet style runner. I made two with some of the Jason Yenter fabric that I have been wanting to do something with, but needing something that would show off the print. I hope you find it as fun as I have.  
15 Minute Tablerunner - Pineneedles

Well on their way to being all grown up.

Who are these two cuties?!! They are Brittany Kay Kimble and Everett Brubaker, as flower girl and ring bearer in Travis and my wedding 15 years ago.  Now I am not sure what is more surprising, that it's been 15 years since my wedding or that these two precious little ones are headed to COLLEGE!

Brittany is going to Washington State University and Everett is off to Eastern Mennonite University.  They have grown into wonderful young people.  Individuals in their own right, yet very compassionate.  They have great love for their families, friends, and environment. They make me smile to think of the young people they have become.  I am proud to call Brittany my God-daughter, and Everett  my cousin.  God Bless!! 

Of course they couldn't go off to college without a gift from 'Auntie Kay'. I made matching pillowcases & laundry bags for each of them. Hopefully, the pillowcase will bring them a smile if they are lonely, and the bag will be strong for hauling that laundry home (haha... not a possibility for Brittany unless it's at Christmas!)

Signing off before the tears start....
Love & Peace to you, Kay

...reflections relevant to life, love, all things fabric and yarn...and today FOOD

This space reflects the relevancy to life and love, and that covers about everything.  I am a total package, of what I am not always sure.  But Monday afternoon after a morning of pretty serious conversations, and being present with my lonely, sad self, I decided I needed some nurturing.

Nurturing myself comes in several forms in my life. Most recently, time with friends, time sewing, a little knitting here and there and always writing.  But late Monday afternoon, I opened my refrigerator to see again an extra 2 quarts of milk I had purchased forgetting I still had 2 quarts in the frig...waste not want not.  I will make pudding.  Feed my dreary sweet self with a bit of comfort food.

Pudding from scratch is the only way to go.  I am sorry busy people. The chemicals in the box do not count!!  When I looked at the milk it is 1%;  I cannot make good pudding with low fat milk.  I seldom go to the grocery store for one ingredient.  But I needed half and half and whipping cream to bolster the low fat milk.  I looked at my day-off-straight-haired-strubbly face in the mirror.  I twisted my hair up under my favorite Cubbies cap, and headed for Food Lion for just 2 ingredients: half and half and whipping cream--not the heavy stuff, just whipping cream.  And I made the entire two-mile round trip without seeing anyone I knew.

Back home, I need a bit of background noise.  I turn on the TV.  And there is Ellen Degeneres.  Perfect.  I need some laughter and silliness in my day. And Ellen does silly and funny very well.  She will be my cooking companion. Laughter fills the room as she spins yet another funny story.

Cooking is a bit of a ritual for me.  I assembled all of my ingredients.  And my equipment as well.  Miss Stech (Manchester College, Indiana--1966) taught me well.  Bowls for eggs.  Bowls for sugar and milk and cornstarch.  My favorite silicone wire whisk, a bowl scraper and at least 2 wooden spoons because I'll probably misplace one before the evening is over. And a mug full of cute little tasting spoons.  Milk, half and half, eggs, sugar, cornstarch, salt and really good vanilla. Oh, yes, a cloth to wipe up dribbles and spills.

I scalded, mixed, beat and whipped, tempered the eggs perfectly, blended and poured.  The pudding came together so well, I got a little carried away.  If vanilla pudding is good, what would make it better--stir in some coconut...my taste.   It  wasn't enough for 10 servings.  So, I stirred up another pot of pudding, and added chocolate.  I dug out my Christmas dessert dishes.  A layer of coconut pudding, one of chocolate, almost to the top.  A Mounds Bar parfait.  Something was missing.. In my freezer I found a cup of slivered almonds.  Toasted with several teaspoons of sugar in a pan will make a praline topping for my dessert.

By now Ellen has led to Dr. Oz....please don't talk about cholesterol today.  But I barely listen.
Then the news, then I turn it over to one more NCIS rerun.  David McCallum and I go way back to The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (circa 1965).  He's good company,  But again, it is background as I stir the almonds until they are coated just right. 

This week our Small Group meets on Tuesday.  My assignment for our meal together is dessert.  And there it is.  I scoop the cooled almond off the wax paper and into an airtight container.  I will add them as I serve the pudding.  Almond Joy!!!

Self care this one Monday evening meant time in my little kitchen.  I feel so much better.  Therapy comes in so many forms.   The dishes can wait.    ......... Rachel

New Digs - Kay

Yes, it has been several months since we have posted from our 'new' space. We have been busy, but that's no excuse! We have shifted around a little bit more, and are feeling terrific in our new space.

Our new favorite 'yarn' is the Katia Triana novelty yarns and really I should be online looking for more colors that are available.

We have new fabric book panels available and they make the sweetest gift for a new baby. Jason Yenter's Christmas line are very popular right now... are you getting ready for Christmas? I know it sounds crazy, but it won't be long.

So we'll do better about posting, and the new blog will be more blog-like... reflections and ramblings relevant to life, love, and all things fabric and yarn.