The "Dutchy" Quilt

There's a  quote I read that states, "Colors are the smiles of nature."  I believe that's true but in the case of the new color combo in my garden, nature is absolutely laughing at me.

My garden is full of pretty pastels, the colors I find soothing so this new color combo is quite startling. 

For years I've been battling a wild rose that popped up in my one of my backyard beds.  I've written before about how some (almost all) of tea roses reverted to their original color (red).   Then the roses got a virus (before the beginning of the pandemic) and I had to pull them out of the garden.  

The only thing I can figure with this wild rose is that a rose seed fell into the garden, germinated and now it wants to live.  The difference this year is that the sundrops are blooming later (it was a cool spring) and now we have this rather loud laughing color combo that is visible anywhere you go in the backyard.

I've decided to embrace the change and go with the flow.  The color combo reminds me a quilt in my collection.

I bought this quilt years ago from Sandra (or should I say via Sandra, I believe it was her friend's).  It is what we would call "Dutchy" a phrase of endearment for anything that is reminiscent of the Pennsylvania Dutch culture that was very visible here when we were growing up.  

Although the story of the quilt was that it was made in the 1970s, the quilt was actually a kit marketed in the 1950s.  I've seen a few of them through the years.  Back in the 1950s, folk inspired images was apparently very popular well into the 1960s.

The quilt has alternative blocks of flowers:

What I love about this quilt are the birds.

They remind me of the hex signs we always saw on local farms here in the valley.  No, this is not the quilt signs you see now on farm buildings.  But images that were directly painted onto the barns.

Birds were popular on the hex signs.  My quilt shows two variations of "the bird of paradise" that we would often see here.  Each hex sign had different meanings: the birds of paradise supposedly symbolized beauty, wonder, and the mysteries of nature.  It's a meaning that seems appropriate for my new color combo in the garden.  Who am I to mess with the mysteries of nature?  The roses shall remain in the garden as a reminder that some things are just nature's sense of humor.

Have a safe and happy day!