Flower Friday: May 31, 2024

 

Happy Flower Friday!

It's hard to believe it's the last day of May but here we are and most of us are bracing for the summer heat.

This week we have a bouquet of garden photos thanks to Lorraine, Sue, and Betsy!

Lorraine's garden is lovely.  It inspires me to make my own garden more orderly.  I don't how she got her flowers to remain upright since we had a pretty brutal storm here last Wednesday.  It's a testament to Lorraine's extraordinary gardening!

This week we have more lovelies from  Sue's garden:

Climbing Hydrangea:

Evening Primrose:

Roses on garden vegetable fence:

From Betsy's garden, these are butter colored "Julia Child" roses:

The roses grow alongside of this dark pink peony.  This was a gift peony from one of Betsy's friends.  The peony came from the 1800s farmhouse her friend lived on.

Thank you Lorraine, Sue, and Betsy!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

 

Good morning!

Lucky became sick over the holiday weekend and was diagnosed yesterday with an inflammation in his large intestine and colon.  He also had an ear infection.  Poor fellow was really uncomfortable and spent most of yesterday on my lap sleeping.  So I didn't get any writing on the blog done.  

He's on medication and a bland diet while we await additional test results.  The good news is he perked up last night after two rounds of his medication and I'm hoping he has a better day today.

For the summer and starting now, I'm hoping to write on the blog Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and have Flower Friday as usual....at least that is the plan.  

My garden is bursting with so many plants that I have to weed more out and give them to my beekeeper neighbor.  Lots of rain has contributed to this abundant jungle and it's a good problem to have this year.  What's going on with yours?  

You can share photos via email at allentownquilter@gmail.com.   I'm giving you all day Thursday because I go to bed early and am usually up at dawn and at the park with Lucky if he is feeling well.

Have a spectacular Wednesday! 

Peony Days

 

Happy Tuesday!

Today we celebrate the peony.  This ancient flower was first celebrated in China, then Japan and finally made it's way to Europe and the New World.

Sue's single peonies.

The fragrance of this flower can be detected from far away.  Often as I walk the dog, I can smell the flowers long before I find the plant.

The flowers symbolize a variety of good things:  prosperity, good luck, compassion, love, honor, healing, and even bashfulness.  People often have specific memories or sentiment when it comes to the peony.

This lovely peony sent by Sue came from the garden of her children's great grandmother.  I've read that peonies have a lifespan of 20 years but I think that is a conservative estimate.  Sue has had this peony--and it's moved with her--since 1968:

White peonies symbolize purity and new beginnings.

Another case in point are the white and fuchsia colored peonies in my garden.  They came to me by mistake.  When we first moved into the house, there wasn't any garden at all.  My husband and I were busy with out careers and I hired someone to mow our lawn.  Along the back alley, I noticed that there was a patch that the young man hadn't mowed.  

When I walked up to the edge of the yard, I found that he had mowed around two stalks--which turned out to be two different colors of peonies.  They had been mowed over by the previous owner for at least 17 years.  Neighbors told me that the woman that owned the house prior to him had peonies all along the alley.  When she decided to move, many of the neighbors were told to help themselves to the flowers.  Somehow the tubers from these lovely flowers managed to survive for over a decade.

Our quilting foremothers loved the flower as well.  Not only were peonies used for wedding bouquets and other events, quilt patterns celebrated the beauty of the plant:

Peony quilt pattern, 1945 Anne Cabot

1941 Household Arts

Sometimes peonies just remind of us a simpler times.  Sue said her pink peony (above) reminds her of a prom dress she wore 😀.  

The pink peony is believed to represent delicate love, gratitude or admiration.

Sue has quite a collection of peonies including the lovely red one below featured in a bouquet!

Wishing you a happy peony day!

Happy Memorial Day!

 

Have a safe and happy holiday.

Flower Friday: May 4, 2024

 

Happy Flower Friday!

I love the quote above.  Yes my housecleaning suffers during the gardening season.  I prefer to be outside!

Barb S. shared this wonderful photo of her Major Wheeler honeysuckle.  Barb is recovering from surgery and in the early spring she asked her 8 year old grandson to trim it.  😀 She said he gave it more of a crewcut but look how far it's come back!

Sue P. shared the photo of her lovely garden.  I love her farm bell!

Sue's poppy seems so appropriate for the Memorial Day holiday, even if this one is orange.

Sue's clematis is blooming!

I love clematis and how the blooms evolve in such a charming way.  The rain over the weekend may have diminished the petals of my plant but I love the seed head that remains:

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday weekend!

The Heat is On!

 

Happy Thursday!

Well the heat has returned this week.  We have a good 29 days until summer but it feels like it's here already.  Today I will be packing away the summer clothing once and for all.  I did that earlier but then it got cool and I ended up pulling sweatshirts and long sleeved shirts again.  I think it is finally warmer days now.

If I didn't have air conditioning, I'd be changing bedding as well.  I'd be substituting warm quilts for summer weight coverlets and bedspreads like these:

Above and below were appliqued and embroidered on sheets.

With the changing of the temperatures, our routine changes as well.  Most of my work is done in the morning and Lucky gets lots of exercise during that time.  Mid-afternoon is for reading, sewing, or even napping (depending on how much work I did in the afternoon).  The evenings we visit neighborhood friends and watch the ball games.  It works for us.

I wonder if your routine has changed as well.  Is your garden blooming like crazy at this point?  Tomorrow is Flower Friday and please feel free to share goodies from your garden by emailing me at allentownquilter@gmail.com!

Have a safe and happy day!

Lucky in May

 

Good morning and Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday I was working in the garden.  I use a big lawn chair pillow as my kneeling pillow.  Yesterday I was sitting on the pillow while weeding and I felt someone's back to mine.  Lucky has decided I need to share my pillow with him.

He often sleeps in the moss as well: 

Tinkerbell is my neighbor's dog.  She doesn't tolerate puppies very well and Scout always deferred to her.  Enter Lucky-the Street-Pup.  Yeh he does things to set tease her off on purpose.  Tinkerbell will be sitting in the house on her throne (Nancy's lap) and he will go up and tap Tinkerbell's foot which starts a ruckus. Tinker snarls and barks, "He's touching me!"  Lucky smiles and runs away awaiting the next time he can torture her.

But things have changed with the warm weather.  We all sit outside in the evenings and both dogs are equals on the patio.  They chase the squirrels together and even (gasp) drink from the water bowl together.

During the rainy days, we still visit Nancy and Dave but things have changed a bit.

Although Lucky turned two last month, he's still in an early puppy stage.  At least that is what all of us are thinking.  It's like he's finally getting a puppyhood and I must say, he's thriving and even his behavior is improving now that he's more trusting.  He even wags his tail at strangers and when that first happened I was stunned--because I hadn't realized he wasn't doing that until he finally did.  But of course, he's still a young dog...

"Who me?"

Wishing you a happy and safe day with your furry or feathered friends!

Gaman

 

Happy Monday!

Did you have a good weekend?

As part of Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander month, you may want to take a look at a specific set of quilts.  These were made while Japanese Americans were interred during World War 2.  It's a bleak chapter in our history but one that should not be forgotten.  Nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned at this time.  One of the most famous was actor George Takei who later produced the Broadway musical and movie, Allegiance (see here).  Carol and I went to see it years before Covid.

The term "Gaman" was practiced by the Americans interred in the camp.  It is a Japanese term derived from a Buddhism that means "enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity."  Many of the prisoners practiced this by creating art and craft things.  There's even a book featuring the crafts:

You can see many of the items that were made at this site.

And quilts were made too!  The Poston quilt (now housed in the Boston Museum of Art) featured blocks made by fourth graders.  See here--it's a delight.

My favorite quilt from this chapter was one that wasn't made by Japanese Americans.  It is the story of kindness.

A pregnant woman named Shizuko was in the detention camp south of San Francisco.  While imprisoned there, Quaker women would come to the fence and deposit fruits and vegetables over the barrier to help the Japanese Americans.  One woman, perhaps observing that Shizuko was pregnant threw a quilt over the fence and said, "Perhaps this will help."  Throughout her life Shizuko would not be parted from the quilt, not even at her death bed.  To her it represented that someone cared outside of the camp.  You can read the full story here.  I hope you do.

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: May 17, 2024

 

Happy Flower Friday!

Barb S. sent this lovely photo of her allium!

And Sue sent a sweet variety of Irises and Poppies!

Irises:

Poppies!

And as an added bonus, Sue shared what she found when she was walking to the compost pile.  Awww!

Have a safe and happy weekend!