"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto
Naomi,
Let me now go to the field,
and glean ears of corn after him
In whose sight I shall find grace.
And she said unto her, Go, my
daughter."
Ruth 2:2 KJV
‘C’
is for Community . . .
Who OR What is community? OR What is
it about community?
In Scouting, both Girl Scouts and
Cub/Boy Scouts, we talk a lot about doing community
service. When it comes to defining what the community is, I always find myself having the same conversation
with leaders and parents that I had with the Scouts, and there was always someone
in the group that just never seemed to get it.
When talking about community there is not just one quick or
simple definition that I could give, as your community is always changing. Community
is where you are at any given time or place . . . your neighborhood, school, Church
and workplace are all communities.
Scouting itself is made up of many communities, too – our Units, Service Units,
Districts, Councils, National organizations and International organizations.
So, when talking about ‘serving our community’ OR doing a ‘community service project,’ we always
have to start out and first identify which community
we’re talking about. We might even list several of the above mentioned communities, and think of projects that
fit each one. Sometimes it seemed that this part of the process took longer
than the project itself.
The same can be said among Friends
as we also have many different communities
among us: our Monthly Meetings (congregations), Area Meetings, Yearly Meetings,
the various Branches of Friends, the United Society of Friends Women/United
Society of Friends Women International (USFW/USFWI) and Quaker Men
International. All of these smaller communities
are a part of the wider circle of Friends, aka Friends World Committee for
Consultation (FWCC).
But, even Friends have to stop and
define which community they’re
speaking of – is it one of the Friends’ communities?
OR is it some part of the local community?
Some part of that geographical area around their Meeting? It does make a
difference in the work that we do, just as it does for the Scouts.
We’re all part of the community of Friends and many of us are
part of multiple Friends communities because of the various positions that we
hold or jobs that we do. Community members
need to be unified, take pride in and learn to work together for the health and
well-being of the whole community.
The members need to support and encourage one another and help the ccommunity stay strong and grow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
‘C’
is for Cathedral Windows
and Crazy Quilts. As I was working
recently to finish up one of the Cathedral
Window projects and the Crazy Quilt,
to feature in this blog post, I realized that I had taught both of these quilt
blocks to our quilting group at Mooresville Friends Meeting. Interesting that
both of the blocks I have taught begin with the letter ‘C.’ It’s about time for me to be teaching another block to the group .
. . wonder if it will also begin with the letter ‘C’???
 |
| Ornaments |
Cathedral
Windows are made
using “a technique in which squares of fabric are folded and sewn
together in such a way that small pieces of contrasting fabric may be inserted
to form a design of interlocking curves when many squares are sewn together.”
Cathedral Window quilts have no batting because of
the thickness due to all the folds of the base fabric. The first few rows of
stitching can be done on one’s sewing machine, but then the blocks must be
finished by hand. I think it’s easier just to do it all by hand.
The
first Cathedral Windows I made were
double sided single blocks with a bit of stuffing or filling in them – some
with ribbons attached turning them into ornaments and others that could be used
as a small pin cushion or as a sachet.
 |
| Hanging block! |
My
second Cathedral Window project, just
completed, was done from a photo posted on my Facebook page by one of my
younger cousins, over a year ago. This was shortly after the National
elections, here in the US, where there were issues in several locations with ‘hanging chads’ on some of the paper
ballots – those little punch-outs that didn't completely separate from the
ballot.
This
was made without a pattern or instructions, so there was a lot of ‘trial &
error’ involved. After finishing, I thought of another way I could have done
it, which might have been a bit easier and quicker to do. This little quilt doesn't have a name that I’m aware of. If you have any ideas, please let me
know.
 |
| Crazy Quilt blocks |
Crazy Quilts are a form of patchwork in which
irregularly shaped pieces of fabric are attached to a cloth foundation. These
pieces of fabric can be totally random or follow a specific pattern. These
quilts are usually embellished with embroidery stitches and this stitching can
be all over or just over the seams or both.
I
have years of fond memories of a crazy
quilt made by my step-great grandmother. It was made of a variety of
fabrics, textures and embroidery stitches. The backing, which was rolled over
for the binding, was blue thin wale corduroy and was perfect for snuggling
under on cold days and nights.
During
the Victorian era crazy quilts were
very elaborate and contained satin, velvet and lace embellishments. Today crazy quilts are still popular some are
planned and the quilters purchase fabric for them much like any other quilt
they might make, while other crazy quilts
are created as a way to use up fabric scraps. Modern crazy quilts may be made out of all cotton fabrics or a variety of
washable fabrics.
 |
| 'Stack & Whack' |
The
first crazy quilt blocks I made were done using the ‘stack & whack’ method.
This involved deciding how many ‘pieces’ each finished block would have and how
big the beginning squares would be. Then picking out that many fabrics and
cutting out the same size square from each fabric. Stacking the fabrics on top
of each other and then using a ruler and rotary cutter, cut out the pieces. The
next step involves taking each ‘stack’ of fabric: stack #1 - leave it alone; #2
- take the top piece of fabric and move it to the bottom; #3 – take the top two
pieces of fabric and move them to the bottom and so on taking one more piece of
fabric off each time and moving it to the bottom, so each ‘layer’ will have a
different fabric in each shape. Beginning with the top layer, sew the pieces
together, repeating with each layer. One needs to pay attention when sewing
these pieces together as there is a proper order to sew them in so that they
will fit together.
I
used six fabrics, so I ‘whacked’ my squares into six pieces, which gave me six
finished blocks. I cut and sewed my blocks together individually, not sure what
I’m going to do with them. Thought is to cut some move squares and ‘stack &
whack’ them, in different designs and then put them together and quilt them
with the decorative stitches on my machine.
The
next three crazy quilt projects I made were completed in a short period of
time, then again they were smaller projects. First was a ‘walker tote’ for Aunt
Sylvia, I've mentioned her in several of my blog posts, most recently ‘B’ is for Bibles . . . and ‘B’ is for Bow Tie Quilts. I made the
walker tote for her for her 101st Birthday/Christmas while she was
in rehab at one of the local nursing homes in 2009.
 |
| Aunt Sylvia's Walker Tote |
Aunt
Sylvia like pink, so I dug through my stash of fabrics grabbing pink ones I
could find. I had found a set of four crazy quilt templates online, which I used
as the foundation for the blocks that formed the pockets on this tote. Four extra-large
snaps, two on each side, kept the tote securely fasten to the front bar of her
walker. This was a HUGE hit at the nursing home and one of the residents asked
me to make her one in purples, she pestered me every day until I finally did.
The third one was for member of my Meeting, Doral. Doral like earthy tones, so I
used an assortment of brown prints and tonals. Doral's was made to fit over the
arm of her wheelchair with just one pocket.
 |
| Group Crazy Quilt |
When I taught the crazy quilt block to the group at my Meeting I used the same templates that I had used for the walker and wheelchair totes. Each of the quilters was able to take two of the sheets I had drawn out the templates on, so they could make two blocks - one to give me and one to keep for themselves. Eleven of the quilters returned blocks to me, one gave me both of hers, so I had a total of twelve blocks to make something with.
The blocks are arranged in a 3x4 arrangement, trying to keep from having two blocks from the same template next to each other, which was really hard as most of the blocks received back were from the same one. Some of the blocks got twisted so they don't look alike. A dark green inner border and a tan tonal outer border. Embroidery stitches on my sewing machine to do the quilting - changing the top thread often, but using cream thread on the bottom, to match the unbleached muslin. When I got all the blocks quilted, I then quilted the seam between the blocks and the green border - using cream thread and changing the stitch every time the fabric changed. For the binding I used a dark chocolate brown tonal.
Using
the same templates I made mini pillows, six-inches square, for the girls in my
cabin up at Quaker Haven Camp in June 2011. The girls loved them!
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| Four of the 20 mini Crazy Quilt pillows for camp |
