'G' is for Giving . . .

"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



‘G’ is for Giving . . . What we give and how we give it takes on many different forms – when thinking in terms of giving to the Meeting or Church Friends and non-Friends first thoughts would probably be the giving of their tithes & offerings BUT . . . it’s not just about giving our money, we also need to remember to give of ourselves. As a whole, Friends are good at doing both – some are better with their tithing, others giving of themselves and still others do both equally well.

 

 

Giving of our tithes & offerings . . . financially supporting the Meeting/Church and its ministries. The Bible mentions tithing – giving one-tenth of what one has to the Church, in the form of money or crops. The a lesson I heard more than once in Sunday School and Church when I was a child - that tithing is an obligation/responsibility of being a member of the Church.

 

Whether your Meeting/Church collects tithes by passing an offering plate or basket during worship, you drop it in a locked box or mail it in – your tithes are important to your Meeting/Church. Throughout the year there are various special offerings – in my Meeting we take up special offerings for retired ministers, Gideon’s, Churches in Mission (food pantry) and for the various mission projects supported by the Meeting/Church.

 

 

Giving of ourselves . . . we’re also asked to give our time, talents and gifts. Giving and doing for our local & yearly Meetings, our communities and for various missions around the world. While this doesn’t take the place of giving our tithes it’s still important that we share our gifts and talents with others.

 

Giving our time, gifts & talents – through serving on committee and boards, helping out with special projects and events, teaching Sunday School/First Day classes, helping during Meeting for Worship, serving as CIT’s (Counselor-In-Training) and Counselors at camp, helping with VBS (Vacation Bible School), youth ministry, helping make applebutter, crafts & working at annual bazaars/craft sales, mission trips & service and the list goes on.

 

Giving what you can where you are, that’s what God asks us to do. Knowing or finding out what your gifts & talents are and using those to benefit the Meeting/Church and your community - helping to grow God’s kingdom. The other side of giving is receiving – it’s been said that “it’s better to give than to receive.”

 

 

As I was working on this post I ran across a piece I wrote in the Fall of 2013 just a few months after I returned from a Pilgrimage to Ireland/Northern Ireland. That piece talked about giving – how and what I was able give to my Irish Friends. It was about how that giving made me feel, how I was blessed in the giving and sharing during that journey. This was a huge part of my Pilgrimage experience.

 

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‘G’ is for Grandma’s Flower Garden – quilts made from hexagons, also known as Flower Garden, French Bouquet or French Rose Garden quilts, a popular quilt pattern since the mid-1920. Early quilts made with hexagons were commonly made using the English Paper piecing method which is different from current paper piecing and is done by hand and not machine. English quilters call all designs made from hexagons honeycomb quilts and the hexagons are referred to as sixes.

 

Today some quilters still use English Paper Piecing and many quilt shops here in the U.S. teach this method, while other quilters trace around a hexagon shaped template. A ‘solid’ template (tracing around the outside of the template and using that as her cutting line) is used if the quilter will be piecing her piece on a machine and a ‘window’ template (where the middle of the template is cut away and the quilter traces around both the inside & outside of the template – using the inside line as her stitching line and the outside line as her cutting line) if she plans to piece by hand.

 

Grandma’s Flower Garden quilts are made by adding rows of hexagons around a central hexagon – the ones that I’ve seen have been from one row to three rows around the central hexagon. A quilter will make all of her ‘flowers’ before she begins connect them into the finished quilt top. These ‘flowers’ are then connected with a row of white or green which create a path between the ‘flowers.’ The path can be a single row of hexagons to connect the ‘flowers’ or more – giving a different look to the finished quilt. The size of the hexagons used has varied over the years from an inch or less across to several inches.

 

 



Pastel "Grandma's Flower
Garden" mini-quilt

The pastel and white Grandma’s Flower Garden quilt pictured here was made from 2 1/2-inch hexagons, using a ‘window’ template. I was only going to make one or two ‘flowers,’ but as you can see I made a few more than that. When I started connecting the ‘flowers’ I decided I didn’t like so many white hexagons in-between so I auditioned (tried) several different colors and liked the peach color the best so I traced and cut out peach hexagons – this created white ‘flowers’ among the pastel ‘flowers.’ There are a total of 215 hexagons in this piece.



Traditionally these quilts are either quilted in-the-ditch or by stitching a quarter-inch inside each hexagon – I chose to quilt mine using the in-the-ditch method by hand. The lime green binding seemed to really finish this mini-quilt. Start to finish, I spent 15 days tracing the hexagons, cutting them out, piecing them together, quilting it and adding the binding. Finished size is 14.5X35-inches.

 

 

Purple "Grandma's Flower
Garden" mini-quilt

I had originally cut out hexagons from a small purple print but put those aside after seeing the etched butterfly prints that I had. After finishing the pastel etched butterfly quilt I was sitting around one night and picked up the purple print hexagons that I had cut and stitched that block together . . . which lead me to cut out more hexagons and make this second mini Grandma’s Flower Garden quilt.

 

This time off-setting the 'flowers' and used a shade of green for the path. I also added a border before adding the binding. Again I hand quilted this one 'in-the-ditch.' This piece was made with - 2 ½-inch hexagons and measures 17.25X21-inches. There are a total of 95 hexagons in this piece.



 

I remember my mother hand-piecing a Grandmother’s Flower Garden for me using leftover scraps of fabric from clothes she had made for me. She worked on this while my brothers and I took our swimming lessons at the YMCA in Mishawaka, Indiana. She sat in the bleachers sewing the pieces together by hand. I know she had quite a stack of ‘flowers’ pieced but she never got it put together. I have no idea what happened to all those ‘flowers’ after my mom died in 1994 – expect that my step-father threw them in the trash . . . not knowing what they were.

 

 

As I sat at McDonald’s quilting the pastel etched butterfly mini quilt, I had two customers come up and ask me if it was for sale, they wanted to buy it! Well, no it’s not for sale. I was able to make this totally from fabrics in my stash so it really didn’t cost me anything but my time . . . and I don’t think there’s anyone out there that would be willing to pay me for all the time I put into making this.

      

'F' is for Facing Bench . . .

"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

 



Cork Meeting - Ireland

‘F’ is for Facing Bench . . . In Quaker Meetinghouses there is a section of benches or seats that are identified as being the ‘head’ or front of the room. These benches or seats are usually slightly elevated or there is a slight difference in their appearance from others in the Meetingroom and are known by Friends as the facing bench/benches. Traditionally those sitting on the facing bench are the ‘Clerk,’ ‘Pastor,’ ‘ministers’ or ‘elders’ of the Meeting and are considered spiritually gifted.

“The Presence in the Midst” painted in 1916 by J. Doyle Penrose, a well-known Quaker artist born in the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland but lived most of his life in Watford, England, shows the elders on the facing bench and a separate gallery for ministers – the raised gallery is behind the facing bench which is on the floor. These Friends are gathered in the silence of worship and are listening for Christ - the presence of Christ in the center of this Quaker Meeting for Worship can be seen.

 

Today the use of the facing bench varies among Friends – in ‘traditional’ Meetings those benches or seats are reserved for specific elders of the Meeting, while ‘non-traditional’ Meetings may allow anyone to sit there or committees may take turns sitting on the facing benches. Unless you know the customs of a Meeting you’re visiting its best not to sit there, unless you have been invited to by a member of the Meeting.

 

Mooresville Friends Meeting

In my Meeting, there are normally three Friends that sit on the facing bench – our Pastor, a member of Christian Ministry & Council (CM&E) Committee – the committee that gives oversight to our Meeting for Worship (considered the ‘elders’) and the Friend who leads our singing. On occasion there might also be a special speaker sitting there as well or in place of our Pastor.

 

Care should be taken by the Meeting when nominating and approving Friends for their Christian Ministries & Council (CM&E) Committees. As the ‘elders’ of the Meeting they should live their lives in such a manner as to represent our faith and our Meetings in a good light.

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‘F’ is for Fabric Boxes and Folded Star Hot Pads. There are lots of quilt blocks and quilts that I could have featured here, but my goal here is to share a variety of different quilted projects with you.

 

Rainbow stripe

Fabric boxes – I found several versions for these cute little boxes but they all seem to have the same basic instructions, the only real difference was in the dimensions of the fabric pieces and how deep the tucks are in the corners. Basically make a quilt sandwich (layer two squares of fabric – the outer fabric & the lining fabric with a piece of batting), stitch through all three layers around the outer edge – leaving an opening to turn right side out and turn right sides out. Then quilt the square as desired. Fold and mark the corners. The last step is to fold the tips down and sew on buttons.

 

Aunt Carolyn's
Ladybug box

I’ve made about 30 of these little boxes in all sorts of fabric combinations – the 10 lucky girls and CIT (Counselor-in-Training) that get assigned to my cabin up at Quaker Haven Camp next month will all get to choose one to take home with them! A couple of weeks ago I gave one to one of my Aunts when I saw her – she had made a comment when she saw the first one I made, and so I made a special one just for her!

Daisy Box Trio

 

Peppermint
Folded Star

Folded Star Hot Pads – described by some as a form of fabric origami they might look rather intimidating to most, they’re not difficult to make – just a bit time consuming. These amazing hot pads are created by folding and layering fabrics – a technique that was common in the 1980’s. It takes a lot of fabric to make a single eight-inch hot pad. They can be made larger and used as table toppers, table runners, placemats or used in clothing.

Holly Folded Star

 

I’ve found instructions for making them round or square, with round being the most common. Traditionally these are hand-stitched, however I have seen a few tutorials online showing how they can be done on the sewing machine instead . . . I’ll stick with making mine by hand.

 





One of the
Folded Stars
taken to Ireland

I think I made my first folded star hot pad in July 2008 at Church along with my youngest daughter (who was 12 years old at the time) – she gave the one she made that day to her Grandma for her birthday that September. If I were to guess has to how many I’ve made over the years I expect that number would be close to 100 - for our USFW (United Society of Friends Women) Fall Bazaar; USFWI (United Society of Friends Woman International) Triennial; gifts for – Christmas, wedding showers & weddings and I even donated four to The Market Place for the Irish Quaker Faith in Action fund-raising sale (mission work) when I participated in Ireland Yearly Meeting while on Pilgrimage in July 2013 along with several other items I had made.

 

'Ants' Folded Star
Hot Pad Cub Scout
Pack fundraiser

Both the fabric boxes and the folded star hot pads work up very quickly, are easily personalized and make awesome gifts! Did I mention that they are both rather addicting?????? In a good way, of course!

 



 

 

 

 

 



 

'E' is for Equality . . .

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

 

‘E’ is for Equality . . . a Quaker belief that all people are equal in the eyes of God. That no one person is above anyone else – no one is better than anyone else. Among Friends everyone has an equal voice or say in the decision making process. Friends believe that we’ve all been created equal by God and that there is ‘that of God in everyone.’

Friends don't tend to use ‘titles,' such as Mr., Mrs. and such when addressing one another – Friends address everyone by their first name or first & last name only. I’ve even known Friends to just address another simply as ‘Friend.’ I found that this was based on their understanding that there is no hierarchy, based on one’s standing – whether that is age, position or wealth. I expect that my parents and grandparents are all rolling over in their graves over this - they brought me up to respect my elders. Imagine the fits they're having over my children and granddaughter calling everyone by their first names!

There are other ways that Friends expressed their belief in equality, one is  ‘hat honor,’ the practice of taking one’s hat off or bowing to another person. This particular practice isn’t practiced now like it once was.

Men & women are equals – both can be found in various ministry roles among Friends. Friends played important roles in the anti-slavery movement, many freeing their slaves and supporting the ‘Underground Railroad’ – becoming conductors and turning their homes in to ‘safe houses.’ Friends worked for prison reform, and are still very active in this ministry. Treating all people equally and with dignity – regardless of race, gender, age, orientation, religion, job or rank, etc.. I suppose that one could, in some cases, substitute the word inclusive in place of equality.

What other ways do Friends practice equality? Is it easy? Are there other ways that that we can practice equality as Friends? As individuals? As a Meeting?

 

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‘E’ is for Echo quilting and Embroidery . . . a couple of different quilting ideas to share with you in this post – echo quilting and embroidery. Both can be used to actually ‘quilt’ the quilt, hold the layers together, and both add some ‘decoration’ to the finished quilt.

Echo quilting is when your quilting lines follow the shape of the applique or design. It can be done with a regular presser foot, a free motion foot or a walking foot – this depends on what you’re quilting and personal preference. Echo quilting can be done any distance from the design – from 1/4–inch to 1-inch distance, the distance would be depend on the design you’re quilting around and the look you’re wanting to achieve. It’s like the ripple effect when you toss a pebble into a pond or lake.



'Echo' quilting

The example I have is a pillow that I helped my youngest daughter make this last Christmas as a gift. She sent me a picture that she found online and asked me to help her make it. I created the pattern, grabbed fabrics from my stash for her to choose from and helped guide her in piecing it. The echo quilting just sorta happened - the photo she sent me was quilted with 'stippling,' which I haven't done. To keep the stitching as straight as possible, I marked stitching lines with a disappearing marker on the fabric. The echo quilting is done around the tree. She picked a simple wave stitch to do the quilting.



'Crazy Quilt' stitching

And then there are quilts that contain embroidery like the Crazy Quilts I talked about in my ‘C’ post. Back when I was in college I purchased a package of quilt squares to embroider with some animals on it – the plan was to embroider them and sew them together to make a baby quilt for one of the girls on my floor that was pregnant, I didn’t get it done in time for her but I did finish it and was able to dig it out and use it with all four of my kids several years later. Disappointed that I couldn’t find it to share with you all here . . . my first quilt.

Embroidery can be a part of quilting stitches or designs stitched in the blocks OR the embroidery can be the quilt. It can be done by machine or by hand. I have a couple more ‘quilts’ to share with you that are embroidered . . . actually they are quilt patterns that I have done in ‘counted cross-stitch.’ I have a counted cross-stitch computer program now that creates the patterns for me - from a photo if need be.



'Wedding Ring' quilt
in Counted
Cross Stitch

The first embroidered quilt I made was a Wedding Ring and I believe I made that for one  my cousins. I had a pattern that was two rings by two rings and was for used on the front of a wedding photo album. I liked it, but it was way too small for what I wanted. So, I made several copies of the chart cut a few of those up and taped them together until I had created a new pattern that was big enough. I then decided to add a border to it and some ‘binding’ to create the illusion of a quilt. The finished cross-stitched quilt is then matted and framed. I made quite a few of these over the years, choosing floss to match the wedding colors. One was black, grey and white with red binding and another was peach, mint green and white. The one I have here was done with dark orange spice, light tangerine, very dark avocado green and ultra-dark coffee brown with dark garnet for the binding. This ended up being one of those 'addictions,' that is the first one was so much fun and turned out so well that I made quite a few of them as wedding gifts for family members.



'Single Irish Chain'
quilt in Counted
Cross Stitch

Second is an Irish Chain quilt pattern that I did using pastel variegated and white embroidery floss. A Single Irish Chain quilt is made up of alternating Nine-Patch blocks solid blocks. I experimented a bit using the variegated floss instead of a solid color when I made this one. Stitching a row of white and two rows of variegated around the edge is like putting borders on a fabric quilt.



'D' is for Diversity . . .

"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 

'D’ is for Diversity . . . Diversity can be seen not only within the various Branches of Friends but also between the individual Meetings and Yearly Meetings. Our theology, worship styles, vocabulary & terminology, some specific beliefs and the way we do our business, just to mention a few. Not sure when I was first introduced to any of these diversities as I think sometimes it’s hard to see within one’s own Meeting or Yearly Meeting.

In April 13, 2007, when I became acquainted with members of Friends Committee on Scouting I began to see diversity among Friends and Scouting. The committee members represented not only different Scouting programs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Scouts Canada, but also different branches of Friends. Part of this experience was a different way of doing Quaker business including more silence than I had been accustomed to.

Friends Committee on Scouting’s 2009 Annual Meeting at Waycross Conference Center (in Morgantown, IN) showed me more diversity. It was my first experience with Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas. Diversity among international Friends, Spanish speaking Friends, more vocabulary & terminology and then there’s the worship . . . bilingual worship! I planned a Girl Scout campout that weekend as one of our camps was just a mile down the road from Waycross. Three of the four girls, including my two daughters, on the campout that weekend were members of my Meeting and the four of us went up to Waycross Sunday morning for Meeting for Worship – an interesting experience for all of us with the various interpretations going on and singing in English and Spanish.

In the summer of 2013 I experienced more of the diversity among Friends when I participated in a Pilgrimage with and among Friends in Ireland & Northern Ireland. I learned not only from my new Irish Friends but also from new Friends from England, Sweden and the Netherlands. During Ireland Yearly Meeting the breaks during business sessions for tea & biscuits, the Singing in English & Irish workshop, Friday afternoon field trips, a bat walk in the old cemetery behind Cork Meeting House, the Quaker Lecture and of course the Epilogues by Candlelight each night. Visiting and sharing with Irish Friends in their Meeting Houses – learning their history, Un-programmed Meetings for Worship and sharing more tea & biscuits. Seeing and learning about the work of Irish Friends, in Northern Ireland, in reconciliation efforts.

The last two years I’ve had opportunities to travel to the East Coast, attending Annual Meetings for Friends Committee on Scouting. More opportunities to meet new Friends, learn a bit more Quaker history and share in Un-programmed Meetings for Worship.

Last year at Sandy Spring Friends Meeting, (Maryland) attending Meeting for Worship in an old Meeting House where you walk directly into the Meetingroom from the outside - entering ready to settle into worship – in the silence you could hear Friends coming & going. Near the end of worship a Friend standing up and asking if there were any needing to be held in the light . . . several names were mentioned, just names. Thinking afterwards I like this, very simplistic and Quakerly, just names. As a visitor to Sandy Spring Friends I didn't need to know who these individuals were or what their needs were in order to pray for them, as God knows all of that. This was so unlike those Friends who give a name, the relationship that individual is to the speaker and a whole long explanation as to why this Friend, individual or group, needed prayer.

Last month we were at Gwynedd Friends Meeting (Pennsylvania), another old Meeting House, with some interesting history. Here one enters the Meetingroom when the door is open and takes a seat, when the door is closed you must wait until it is opened, about 20 minutes into worship - when the Young Friends and adults working with them leave for First Day classes and then you may enter and sit down. At the end of worship the Friend in charge of worship that morning read several pages of announcements. This was followed by all the Friends and visitors introducing themselves, going row-by-row around the room, an interesting practice.

Outside of Friends out in the world diversity is more often talked about in what we ‘see,’ the physical characteristic: hair, skin color, eye color, the clothing we wear, if we wear glasses or not OR one’s size. Then again sometimes it might be based on what someone does: their occupation, their family OR a hobby.

I have a large file full of diversity activities and such within my Girl Scouting materials. I’d like to share one of the lessons I used with my girls with all of you. Open a package of M&M’s you should notice right away that they’re all the same size and shape (although I usually find one or two broken), they’re also different colors – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown and if you buy the holiday packages you’ll find various other colors. All those different colors in one package, existing together, one color is not superior, they don’t discriminate against one another. And believe it or not, they all taste the same! They may look a bit different on the outside, but that’s only the colored ‘candy shell’ – there’s no flavor there. Yeah, I tested my Girl Scout Troops – blindfolded them and asked them to guess what color the M&M’s were . . . they had no clue, BUT it was fun! We can learn a lot from a bag of M&M’s.

What diversity have you seen or experienced among Friends? Are you open to the diversity around you? In your Meeting/Church? In other groups to which you belong? In your community? Do you think all diversity is good? What is the greatest diversity you've seen or experienced?

 

Traveling with and among Friends is a great way to see, learn and experience the diversity within our Quaker faith. Thanks to all my Friends, new and old, for sharing with me.

 

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‘D’ is also for Disappearing Blocks . . . Before I had actually settled on what I was going to write about for the letter ‘D,’ I had decided that I was going to feature disappearing nine-patch and disappearing hourglass quilt blocks. When I started to write about diversity I thought WOW my disappearing quilt blocks really seemed to fit right in with this post . . . showing some of the diversity in quilting. Disappearing quilt blocks are fun and easy to do with a few fun rotary cuts.

 



Nine-Patch block

In order to make a disappearing nine-patch OR disappearing hourglass quilt blocks, one first needs to make a nine-patch OR hourglass quilt block. Then the fun begins! The quilter gets to slice up the original block, move and rotate the pieces around and then reassemble, thus creating a whole new look and making it difficult if not impossible for anyone to figure out how they did it. The technique(s) for the various disappearing blocks has been developed over time by many quilters.




Disappearing
Nine-Patch block

The phrase disappearing nine-patch suits this block perfectly, because to make it one takes a traditional nine-patch block - nine equally sized squares (four of one color/fabric and five of another) sewn together (3 squares x 3 squares) forming a larger square and slices it apart. The nine-patch disappears and is replaced by four smaller equal sized units. Two of those four pieces are then turned 180 degrees and the four pieces are sewn back together, creating the disappearing nine-patch block. This block has also been referred to as the tossed nine-patch OR fractured nine-patch by some quilters.



Hourglass block

For the disappearing hourglass block, one starts by sewing four half-square triangle blocks together and then slice it into nine equal pieces. The eight outer pieces are all rotated 180 degrees and the center square is rotated 90 degrees. Then you sew these new pieces together. Of course there are other ways one can turn the nine cut pieces which will result in other looks to the finished block.

  

Disappearing Hourglass



Interesting history on the disappearing hourglass block, it is the result of someone making a mistake (really, a quilter making a mistake in a class???NEVER!) She was supposed to have made a pinwheel block instead of the hourglass. And as with the disappearing hourglass block, there are several variations to the disappearing pinwheel block – depending on which way you turn the pieces. Now I’m gonna have to make this block as well.

Diversity in quilting comes about through the use of size, color, pattern and individual interpretation. In our quilting group at Mooresville Friends we can all be making the exact same block, but no two will be exactly the same . . . since we’re using different fabrics and colors.

Happy quilting!