A Quilt In Time

There is one item that is not only universal in bringing comfort, warmth and security, but it has gone through the test of time and has come out stronger and more versatile. This generation-enduring gift of making cold nights warm, and worrisome tossing and turning into peace and tranquility - it is a quilt.
Throughout history quilts have been made as a necessity, but that turned into works of art as well as gifts that are treasured and passed on from one generation to another. While their simple components are merely pieces of scrap material and thread, they are woven with the personality of the quilt artist into a time machine of past, present and future. If you ever come across quilts that are torn, soiled, and worn, you can't just toss them away. Just looking at them, you can envision the multitude of "chores" they went through, from keeping a family warm when snow and blizzards blew, but they also provided a welcome mat for picnics near the lake with cooling lemonade served while conversations flourished and friendships became forever. Quilts brought beauty to road-ways as they waved in the breeze while hanging on clotheslines in back yards. They sometimes were endowed with pieces of cloth taken from clothing, or from nostalgic fabric used not only to highlight events in someone's life but to bring back the memory with the colors and feel of the fabric. They have become scrapbooks of family ancestry and walls for play houses when children need a place to read and just dream.
Quilts today are more elaborate than in bygone days, but they still are the messengers of "Happy Anniversary" or "Welcome Baby." They bring banners of "Get Well" or "So Sorry for Your Loss". They make a house of wood and mortar into a home that you want to come back to, no matter how your day went. They are always close by when a "chill" enters a room, or a problem needs a bit of deep thinking. They are a one size fits all, but they are one of a kind and unique. Quilts are the ties that bind, and they are the reminder that home is wherever you are,no matter the miles in between. Whether they are simple in design or fit to hang in a museum, they are "quilts," and in living up to what their mission is, they will always hug a child, or bring solace and comfort to the aged. In fact, they are there to lend themselves to whatever "ails" you, but they can also inspire and bring that certain touch to your decor that just can't be explained. Quilts will never become "old", they will just be given to those who follow and intended for those you love.
Whether you make a quilt for yourself or as a token or gift to someone you know or even someone you may never meet, such as a returning veteran or someone in a care facility due to life just being life, they don't need "words" to express feelings - you can just "know" that whoever made this quilt was giving more than their time - they were giving material and thread that was also woven into their hearts and lives. Each quilt is a warm handshake and a bear hug. It can take the heat of a roaring fire on a winter night, but it can cool and refresh when a nap on a summer afternoon is called for.
Quilts have quite a job ahead of them when they are finished by the crafter, but they also have a legacy of love behind them. Quilts have so many personalities that some-times they are hard to categorize. They can be "crazy" and wild and bring a smile, or they can "patchwork" and hold a life story in their borders. They are always "comforters" but "coverlet" sometimes is all that is needed. The words of description are not the important part, but the "giving" power of all that a quilt brings to someone is all that is needed to convey what words can never do justice. If you make quilts, then you are an artist who knows no boundaries, and if you find an antique quilt, then your pot of gold is overflowing. However, if you receive a quilt, then you are loved. Something to think about ©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009

Gardening - A History of Love and Life

When warm breezes blow and the sun shines on more days than not, it is time to begin the task of preparing and getting a garden together. It might just be a small plot, a container garden on a patio or porch, or several acres if you are so blessed. Whatever the space available, it is one of the most enjoyable, and healthiest pasttimes around. There is actually something "spiritual" about a handful of soil and a seed - each attending to a task of producting fantastic blooms of color and aroma, crisp and tasty vegetables and fruits, and herbs to tantalize and set any dish to higher standards.
Many who garden also enjoy scrapbooking or crafting. These ventures can be joined together and you can have the best of all worlds right there at your fingertips. If you garden with children, then the sense of unity, ancestry, and shared quality time is priceless. Many years ago, I visited a garden that gave me an incentive to try my hand at "naming" the wondrous flowers and succulent vegetables that I grew. While the packages of seeds already come with names, they really had no meaning to me or to anyone I gave the "Grand Tour" of my garden plot to. It just seemed like the perfect melting together of personal history and gardening success. Scrapbooking supplies provide the material for some fantastic yard signs at the end of a row of peas, or green peppers. They also can decorate a rose garden or a planter filled with fragrant flowers and set on a porch just outside the entry way of a house. These "markers" can give a hint of fun and laughter or a sentimental reminder of those we love and cherish. If roses were Grandpa's favorite gardening pursuit, then a small sign highlighting his love of tea roses can give him the honor of having his name on a banner proclaiming to all that he did have a hand in keeping the tradition of sachet scents greeting visitors to his home a while back. So "Grandpa Mike's American Beauty Roses" is a tribute, and one that will bring back fond memories as you work in the garden or just admire the unbelievable floral treasures that are yours in the height of summer. In the vegetable garden, cherry tomatoes are a quick snack and a very tasty treat as you well remember when you visited Aunt Betty's house for a Fourth of July picnic. So a garden sign giving her the "honor" of Aunt Betty's Red Ruby Tomato Gems will make you smile every time you pop one in your mouth delighting in the warmth from the sun and the "splash" of juice and tomato goodness with just one bite. There could be signposts for your best friend who lives miles away (Sherry's Green Goddess Green Peppers) or for a friend who always makes the best pies (Lydia's Azure Blue Blueberries).
This is not only a whole lot of fun, it makes your daily gardening chores a trip into friendship and family. It allows small children to relate to being part of the success and accomplishment of family and friends, who they may never have met, but whose lives they can now touch through something as simple as a garden signpost. A venture like this combines gardening with crafting and scrapbooking and those photographs of your child standing in a patch of Uncle Harvey's Candy Sweet Strawberries is another contribution from the garden.
So using your imagination and creativity just got a bit more "personal" but a whole lot more fun - now that's a harvest of some very good things all put together.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur February, 2008