Flowers From Pennsylvania Hill Country

Time: Friday morning

Event: Three-day weekend Sporting event

Place: Bloomsburg Pennsylvania

Early on Friday morning, we pulled out of our homestead with our RV and we headed north. We were going to a weekend sporting event in the Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania area. We were planning to meet up with some of our sporting friends there. We were staying just outside of the tiny town of Mainville, in the Pennsylvania hill country there.

Going into the Bloomsburg area is about a 4 hour trip for us. To get there, we travel on an interstate, old Route 11, and small country roads that wind up and into the Pennsylvania hill country.

Stopping for a meal along the way is not uncommon for us. On this trip, we pulled our RV up to river-left on the Susquehanna River to walk our dogs and have our lunch. The river was so inviting that we decided to let our two Goldens have a cooling swim. We tossed sticks into the river and watched them paddle around being the Retrievers they were bred to be.

Early on Saturday morning, one of our friends came knocking on our RV door. I overheard my husband talking with this fellow for a minute.

When my husband returned inside, he held out a hand-picked bouquet of flowers for me. He told me that the hand-picked bouquet of flowers was picked for him to give to me.

The fresh flowers are beautiful — an arrangement of white hydrangeas, purple buddleia, and larkspurs.

Beyond the beauty of these flowers, though, was the gift of an unexpected friendly kindness … a token of thoughtfulness that whispered, “I was thinking of you.”

Isn’t it wonderful that the simple things can touch us so?

The Force of Serendipity

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely. Serendipity is a phenomenon that some might call “good fortune” or “luck”.  Serendipity is defined in Webster’s as “an aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally”.

The word, serendipity, derives from an old Persian fairy tale and its origin has been well documented. The word, serendipity, was coined by English author Horace Walpole on January 28, 1754 in a letter he wrote to his friend Horace Mann. In his letter, Walpole wrote “this discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word.”

Walpole formed the word serendipity on an old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip. He explained that this name was part of the title of “a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries .. of things which they were not in quest of ….”

Serendipity has always been present in discovery: Colombus’ discovery of America, Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, and Nobel’s discovery of dynamite, provide just a few examples of the serendipity phenomenon. Silly Putty and Teflon were accidental products that have been attributed to the force of serendipity…not some lucky roll of the dice.

While some scientists and inventors are reluctant to admit accidental discoveries, others openly admit that accidental discoveries occur. The truth is, serendipity has proven to be a major component of scientific discoveries and inventions.

In the 1930s, Walter Cannon of Harvard Medical School used the term “serendipity” to refer to the phenomenon of accidental discovery in scientific research.

Then in March 1946, Robert K. Merton authored a book on “serendipity”. In his book, he discussed the “serendipity pattern” in empirical research, “of observing an unanticipated, anomalous, and strategic datum, which becomes the occasion for developing a new theory.”

Does serendipity occur by chance? Is serendipity created at random? Or is serendipity created by some type of ordered process that yields an unexpected but worthwhile result?

Louis Pasteur, the French scientist and the founder of microbiology, has said that “in the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.” Pasteur’s viewpoint is certainly a valid one, so it is not surprising to learn that the definition of serendipity has evolved through the years. The more contemporary meaning of serendipity has removed much of the randomness once associated with the term. Now, the meaning of serendipity is used to describe a happy blend of wisdom and luck by which something is discovered not quite by accident.

Being a quilter with a scientific and analytical background, I know how my original quilt designs were created. Over the past 30 years, much of what I know about math or what I have observed has become the catalyst for my quilt work.

Along the way, I learned how geometrics could affect design. How did that happen? I furthered some of my designs from accidental discoveries, too. Some of those designs involved transparencies and geometric bisections. How did that happen? Were these the result of a serendipity phenomenon?

Inspiration comes in a variety of flavors, and like many others, I am fortunate when inspiration strikes. Admittedly, my eyes are constantly wandering, looking for that spark, that impetus for the creative process to occur. I am always on-the-hunt — looking and analyzing, trying to keep myself and my mind’s eye challenged and at-the-ready for that next spark of inspiration. But the question remains: how did that inspiration occur?

Occasionally, a design will appear before me. How did that happen? And when some particular design worked out particularly well, I wonder if this is experience or serendipity? Just this week, an architectural design was visible as I watched a televised portion of a Senate hearing. This design was very much in parallel with a quilt I recently made and wanted to create into a series. I have already sketched that design and made notes on how to proceed. Was that design an inspiration, or was it the serendipity phenomenon?

I believe that the force of serendipity is present in much of our creative discoveries.  I also believe serendipity can influence and affect our discoveries. I have learned the creative process involves keen observation. I welcome the force of serendipity and will continue to allow serendipity to influence and guide my own creative process.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sources:
The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science by Robert K. Merton and Elinor Barber

Webster’s New World Dictionary

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity

Hand Quilting A Border

When I am hand quilting, I use some type of a frame or hoop. Generally, I use one of my wooden quilt hoops because they are portable and easier for me than my floor frame. Quilt hoops were designed to hold the quilt’s sandwiched layers together between the inner and outer hoops. 

With hand quilting, the border of a quilt can become a problem area to work with because the quilt’s sandwiched layers don’t provide the quilt hoop with fabric layers to grasp.

When the time finally comes to hand quilt the border of a quilt, the typical quilt hoop can’t be used.  So what’s a hand quilter to do when quilting the border?

Many quilters have tried to stretch the sandwiched quilt border in a quilt hoop but quilting causes the sandwiched quilt to become very loose. So loose, in fact, that this method proves to be more like lap quilting, or quilting without a hoop. Finishing a quilt by lap quilting will usually result in a different tension and stitch length. Many years ago I tried this method and the finished quilt looked ‘puffy’ at the border area — I ripped out my quilting stitches and had to think through the problem I was facing.

I am a self-taught quilter and there were very few how-to books available when I began quilting 30 years ago. Back then, I eventually realized that if I basted additional fabric to the edges of the border, I could continue hand quilting into the border areas with my wooden quilt hoop. In this photo on the right, you can see the pinkish fabric strips that have been attached to the sawtooth border enabling me to hand quilt those small triangles easily.

Basting fabric strips on the 4 edges of a quilt is essentially the same process quilters use when preparing a quilt to be quilted on a large floor frame, though on a smaller scale.

Another hand quilting technique that I have learned involves the use of a different kind of quilting hoop: the half hoop. Using a half hoop is easy and just as portable as any other small quilt hoop. With a half hoop, a durable strip of fabric is attached across the diameter of the half circle’s arc. The strip of fabric is used as a pinning base for the sandwiched quilt border area. Once pinned, the outer half hoop is brought down to close the contained quilt border within the half hoop, holding the quilt sandwich taut for hand quilting. My wooden half hoop does not have a wing-nut to adjust the tension on my quilt sandwich, but so far this has not been a problem.

There are half hoops on the market and there are also half hoop adapters that are currently available. These adapters provide an attachment to create a half hoop within the full hoop — a very clever idea.

When I am hand quilting a border, I have 2 choices that work very well:

1. Use cotton remnant or muslin strips basted to each border so that the border fabric is extended for the quilting hoop (these strips can be removed and used over and over again)

2. Use a half-hoop (or hoop adapter to create a half-hoop) designed for hand quilting borders 

My latest project is a small quilt, Little Bouquets, shown in the photo on the right. This quilt is now ready for some border quilting. Long straight pins are only slightly visible in this photo to the right. The pins are attached along the edge of the border and they’re holding the quilt sandwich to the half hoop’s fabric strip. Time to quilt!

Fruits Of Labor

So far, the gardening year has been a bountiful one.  Our summer garden is providing plenty of vegetables for our table, for sharing, and for preserving. We are enjoying the fresh produce that we grow and appreciate the quick ’shopping trip’ into our backyard. 

This year we are growing cucumbers, patty pan squash, a variety of herbs, acorn squash, green beans, a variety of tomatoes, and several types of green peppers.

In our vegetable garden, our large eating tomatoes are now starting to ripen.  We look forward to having several fresh tomatoes each day. Our Roma tomatoes are starting to color now, too. Soon there will be enough Romas for fresh tomato sauces, salsas, and canning our fruits of labor.

These July days are now occupied with gardening and with my canning chores. I enjoy preserving homegrown foods both for the quality and for the sheer enjoyment of cooking. I also appreciate having a full pantry of homegrown vegetables — these foods serve as a reminder that we should think more frugally and not be wasteful. And, admittedly, these canned goods literally equate to being the fruits of our labor. In today’s world, with the current imported food problems now facing America, I am even more appreciative of the homegrown foods that we provide for ourselves.

Sadly, the art of canning foods has become a forgotten skill in America. Having the ability to preserve homegrown or local fruits and vegetables, though, can be a bounty for those who enjoy cooking. Relishes, jellies, jams, pickles, sauces, and plain vegetables & fruits can be made with relative ease — at least for those who understand the processes involved. Some recipes are indisputably better than anything found in stores, too, and these are the fruits of labor that become a gourmet delight.

This year’s plum trees were overloaded and I was able to make enough plum preserves for our winter enjoyment. Now that the plums have finished, the peaches are in season. Our one productive standard peach tree was cut down several years ago, so we now get peaches from a local orchard.

Sunday, we drove over to Moore’s Orchard, near Flint Hill, and bought a bushel of juicy peaches so that I could make peach preserves, peach syrup, and peach pie. Today I will slice peaches to freeze so that we can enjoy them later in the year. There is nothing quite as intoxicating as the perfumery of fresh peaches, and that sweet, fruity aroma will surround me again today, making the task all the more pleasant.

There is true meaning behind the phrase fruits of labor, and no matter how difficult the task becomes, the end result can be very satisfying.

Little Bouquets quilt

In between the gardening chores and canning, I am still busy quilting the Little Bouquets quilt. There are two more squares to hand-quilt, then I will be ready to quilt small clamshells around the border. I’m still enjoying this small quilt and appreciate how easy the feedsack fabric is to needle.

I am looking forward to adding a few buttons and beads when the quilting is finished. A few of these flowers need a bit of sparkle from beads. And Sunbonnet Sue needs some chicken feed for those baby chicks!

Make A Quilt In A Pillow

Here are my step by step instructions to machine-stitch a Quilt In A Pillow. The Quilt In A Pillow is a cot-size quilt measuring 44″ x 72″ and is made with an attached pillowcase so the quilt can be folded and tucked into itself when not in use. The pillowcase holds the pillow intact and is attached to the sides and bottom of the Quilt In A Pillow quilt, hence the name I coined for my class.

Easy and quick to sew, the Quilt In A Pillow is good sewing project for the home. The Quilt In A Pillow can be a lap quilt, a traveling quilt for a road trip, or a nice snuggly quilt for kids. It also makes a wonderful gift!

 

The Quilt In A Pillow is a machine-stitched quilt designed to be folded and tucked away into its own pillow when not in use. When in its pillow-form, the Quilt In A Pillow becomes a square pillow measuring about 18″.

Fabric and Batting Requirements

2-3/4 yards EACH of 2 cotton fabrics, 45″ wide

*  Note: One fabric will become the quilt top, the other fabric will be the quilt backing.
  Suggested fabrics include: Floral print, large floral print, tropical print, theme print, or   animal print.

Polyester batting, low-loft piece measuring 45″ x 72″
Polyester batting, low-loft piece measuring 18″ x 18″

Cutting Fabrics

Label each of the two different fabrics as Fabric A and Fabric B.
Fabric A will become the Quilt “top”; Fabric B will become the back of the Quilt.

Pillow Pocket
• Cut 1 unit 18″ x 18″ of Fabric A
• Cut 1 unit 18″ x 18″ of Fabric B
• Cut 1 square of low-loft polyester batting, 18″ x 18″

Quilt
• Cut 1 piece of Fabric A to measure 45″ x 72″
• Cut 1 piece of Fabric B to measure 45″ x 72″
• Cut 1 45″ x 72″ low-loft polyester batting

Stitching the Pillow Pocket

1.     With right sides together, pin Fabric A and Fabric B pillow square units together.

Pin batting to wrong side of Fabric B.

 

2.     Stitch layers together using 1/4″ seam allowance. The layers are easiest to stitch when the batting is on the top.

NOTE: Keep a 6″ opening along the edge of one side of the pillow pocket. Be sure that the opening is relatively centered. Once layers are stitched, trim corners and excess batting, if necessary.

3.     Turn pillow right side out. Gently finger-press sewn edges of pillow, making sure that the seams lay flat. Press pillow lightly, especially around edges so they are crisp and squared.

Turn opening of the pillow seam under 1/4″ slip-stitch opening closed.

Stitching the Quilt

Stitching the quilt portion of the Quilt In A Pillow is done with the same process as the pillow pocket portion.

1.     With right sides together, pin Fabric A and Fabric B quilt units together, making sure that raw edges are even and fabrics align properly.

2.     Pin batting to the wrong side of Fabric B.

3.     Stitch layers together using 1/4″ seam, leaving a 10″ opening along the center of one edge of the quilt. (Note: It appears easier to turn a quilt right-sides out when the opening is made along the ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ which is one of the  45″ sides of the quilt.)

4.     Turn quilt right side out. Gently roll out and finger-press sewn edges of quilt, making sure that the seams lay flat. Press quilt lightly, especially along sewn edges.

5.     Turn opening of the quilt seam under 1/4″ and finger-press along edge creating crease for seam line. Pin to close; slip-stitch opening area.

Quilting The Quilt In A Pillow

The Quilt In A Pillow can be hand-quilted or machine-quilted along the lines of isolated fabric motifs.

The quilt can also be machine-quilted at measured intervals in long, vertical lines, diagonal lines, or cross-hatched lines. The Quilt In A Pillow can also be hand-tied using embroidery floss.

*NOTE: If you choose to quilt an all-over pattern to your Quilt In A Pillow, then do not attach the pillow pocket until you have quilted the body of your Quilt In A Pillow.

Optional Machine Quilting for the Quilt In A Pillow

If you choose this optional method to machine quilt your Quilt In A Pillow, you can attach your pillow pocket prior to machine quilting. This option requires minimal machine quilting but cannot be recommended if you are using a cotton or cotton-poly batting.

1.     Mark 2 straight lines from the inner edge of the pocket to the opposite end of the quilt. These lines will be the guides for machine-quilting.

2.     Pin-baste the Quilt In A Pillow near the straight lines to prevent layers from shifting.

3.     Machine-stitch along the marked lines.

Attaching the Pillow Pocket to the Quilt

1.     Mark the center of the sewn pocket. Mark the center of one short edge of the sewn quilt.

2.     With Fabric B facing up on both the pocket and the quilt, pin the pillow pocket on the quilt, matching the center markings for alignment.

3.     Machine-stitch 1/4″ from pillow pocket edges leaving top edge open (this is the pocket and must have one side remaining open!)

Folding the Quilt Into the Pillow Pocket

1.     Lay the quilt on a flat surface with the pocket side down. Fold the quilt into thirds, overlapping the long edges.

2.     Turn the pillow pocket over the end of the quilt. (Turn the pocket INSIDE OUT.)

3.     Fold remaining end of the quilt into thirds and continue folding the quilt into the pillow pocket, until the pillow is formed.

4.     Adjust the pillow shape, if necessary, and the Quilt In A Pillow is a pillow!