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Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Every autumn as the new school year begins, I can’t help but think back to when I was a child and the frenzied shopping trips with my mom to buy new school clothes. Inevitably, she would pick out wool skirts, wool sweaters, new knee socks, and yes, penny loafers! Even then, long before global warming, days in the classroom were unbearably hot in September. I’d come home exhausted from battling the heat all day.

Recently, in chatting with a professor about the state of dress of university students in Spain, he revealed that students dress casually these days. My thoughts returned to my own experiences in that country in the early 1970s. College men wore suits, white shirts and ties; and women wore wool shirts and sweaters. The transition from the UNH campus to a more formal setting was a type of culture shock when at the same time, students here wore ragged blue jeans that needed a good wash, and tie-dyed, psychedelic tee-shirts. Looking unkemp was the norm in the United States. To me, it was refreshing to be in the company of scholars who dressed for the occasion. Somehow, it seemed that they took their education more seriously. Indeed, the classes themselves did seem more formal in Spain.

Today, some private schools still have a dress code and some still require uniforms. So saying, my only point of reference is the Catholic elementary school in Concord, NH. Wearing uniforms has its advantages. The focus is put on learning and not on who is the latest fashion model, a factor that can be distracting!

In the 1960s, mini-skirts were “in.” No matter how knobby one’s knees were, a girl was bound to be ridiculed if she did not wear a mini. The “litmus test” as to whether or not a skirt was too short was determined by kneeling in front of a high school administrator. If the skirt did not touch the floor, the girl was sent home. Today, from what I can gather, anything goes for school dress. Skimpy outfits seem to prevail. We’ve become a casual society. Has it ever occurred to you that this may be one reason our educational system is slipping behind? Everyone seems to have adopted a “whatever” attitude!

I remember dressing up for church every Sunday, wearing white gloves and a hat. Everyone in the family “looked” nice! Somehow, it was fun to wear Sunday clothes. Doing so showed a certain amount of reverence and respect. A lot of pizazz seems to have been lost in the last 40 years.

I am as guilty as the next person of dressing down. It’s easy to not bother wearing anything but jeans and loose fitting shirts when one works alone, from home. After all, husbands and dogs don’t scare easily! However, I am tired of saving nice clothes “for best.” By the time I even remember they are still in the closet, they have shrunk!

Lately, I’ve come to think more about this theory that dressing well helps us all to take our activities a bit more seriously. Any thoughts? By the way, the study of dress styles through the ages is a fascinating one and just another textile area that could become one’s specialty!

Patricia Cummings

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Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

For those of you who love Redwork embroidery or think you might like to learn more about this Victorian technique, please visit my new yahoo group. Membership is free. This is a place to share photos of your work or antiques you’ve collected, ask questions, and/or be inspired by other collectors and needleworkers.

Redwork umbrella holder
An umbrella holder embellished with Redwork Embroidery from the Victorian Age.

Join us at today!

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Monday, August 29th, 2011

Quilting

a poem by Patricia Cummings

August 29, 2011

With wild abandon I still stitch away,
While piles of fabric lay in sheer disarray.
I cannot be neat in the midst of a project
My method of working defies any logic.

A block is too large? I shall just cut it down.
A block is too small? I shall have to add on.
This quilt won’t be perfect, it’s not meant to be,
But when all’s said and done, it’s an expression of me.

So I shall not fuss and I shall not fume.
I am told that for everyone, there always is room.
If not here on earth, then at heavenly gates;
With that goal in mind, I shall toil till it’s late.

Better times are awaiting, I can’t linger here.
But meanwhile my quilting will fill final years.
As beauty surrounds me, stitch upon stitch,
I shall conjure a pattern with which to bewitch.

Content to be busy, with no idle hands,
I shall think of my forebears from faraway lands.
Perhaps they made quilts; perhaps they did not,
I shall never know, exactly their lot.

I envision their lives; some working on looms
or serving as mule spinners in factory doom.
And without much aplomb –
Their dreams quickly were – forever entombed.

And so we continue, their spirits and mine,
Like brambles of roses interwoven in time.
Each day we press on and so it shall be…
each day we are closer – to ETERNITY.

May threads of discordance ever be few
And may all of your quilts contain “patches of blue.”
For Nature surrounds us to always admire
and guarantee joy, as we strive to inspire.

crazy quilt by Pat Cummings - 2007
“Busy” Crazy Quilt by Pat Cummings

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Monday, August 29th, 2011

In 1786, Philip Freneau (1752-1832) wrote a four stanza poem that he titled “The Wild Honey Suckle.” The final verse is memorable:

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Read the entire poem: “.”

The work of Philip Freneau is thought to have been, i.e. the works of nineteenth century poets and writers who were friends and were based in Massachusetts, including but not limited to: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott and her father, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, etc.
The sometimes gloomy poetry often seen during the period is partially based on the high mortality rate due to epidemics and the lack of medical expertise. Alcott, herself, suffered lifelong damage due to poisoning by Calomel, an often prescribed drug.

One of the most startling poems of the age can be seen in the following epitaph:

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Time can seem to move as slow as a turtle. This is an African spur-thighed turtle at York Wild Animal Kingdom, York Maine.

Through the ages, poets and writers have shaped the manner in which humankind perceives life and its ultimate outcome, death. Often, the image of a flower is used as a manner of describing the short length of any life. “Gather ye rosebuds, while ye may [...].” Between “now” and “then,” quilters are busy making quilts!

Patricia Cummings

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Sunday, August 28th, 2011

Quilting has been popular for centuries! The involvement of men as quilters is not a new situation. We need look back no further than the story of “Joe the Quilter” in England. (I previously blogged about “Joe.”) Today, quilting is a multi-billion dollar business worldwide, in part due to the involvement of men.

In some circles, quilting is still viewed as something done by “little old ladies.” Not true, my friend! For the initiated, we know that the men involved with quilting operate on many levels. Some are fabric manufacturers or book publishers; others organize quilt shows or sell antique quilts; and a growing number of men, both “gay” and “straight” are being drawn to quilting as an expressive means of self-expression. It is my theory that without the interest or involvement of men, quilting would never have taken its rightful place as an “art” rather than a “granny-craft.”

Now, there is nothing wrong with grannies or those who quilt just to provide warm and colorful textiles for their family to keep warm. Today’s quilt world, at least on the professional level, is all about competition, high appraisals for one’s quilts, and bookings at museums and other venues for one’s quilt art or collections of antique quilts. To under the quilt world today, just follow the money trail. Some people collect quilts because of their current or anticipated future values. They can be a hidden investment.

Prize money awards given today would astound our foremothers. Still and all, at least some of those awards are really purchase prices set by show organizers who require that the winning quilt be “donated” to their museum, to add to their own collection. Unless one makes a quilt, knowing that it will be sold, it must be very hard to part with an outstanding piece of one’s own vision, time and talent. Yet, for many quilters, selling a quilt means moving it on out to make room for future quilts.

I was once told that the most valuable quilts of all are made by quilt artists who do not sell their work. If that is the case, the quilter is making a statement that no amount of money will purchase his/her work and that the quilt is more valuable for the maker to keep rather than to shuffle it off to the four winds to be used/abused by those who may not place as high a value on it because the new owner had no part in the quilt’s making.

People quilt for many reasons. The draw to quilting for men seems to be the potential monetary value of it either for the sale of quilts themselves or all of the possible revenues that can be derived. For these reasons, I believe that with the interest of men now in the equation, the current quilt revival is here to stay for a very long time. Quilts matter and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the reasons why. Quilts = potential dollars.

Post note: Lest anyone misconstrue my intentions, this is not a male-bashing post. If anything, it points out the widespread support and involvement of men in the “industry.” I am just pointing out that the activity of quilting has gone far beyond the hobbyist stage into a greater arena where quilts ARE considered to be artistic endeavors and therefore are more commanding of high prices for those who wish to sell their work. The outward and blatant monetization of quilts (and every product associated with them) adds to the vitality of the industry and keeps it moving along, as well as adding to the Gross National Product index.

Patricia Cummings

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Friday, August 26th, 2011

He called her “Dollie”; she called him “Peaches.” A book now permanently records the love between William Vermilion and his wife, Mary, who wrote letters to each other during the Civil War. Now in print, thanks to the University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, Iowa, the invaluable volume is the diligent work of editor, Donald C. Elder III, professor of history and chair of the department at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.

As the book opens, Vermilion is serving in the Union Army in 1862. He is a medical doctor and Captain of the 36th Iowa Infantry, Company F. His wife, Mary, a former school teacher, is staying with his parents who are sympathizers of the Confederate cause, a point of discussion in many of their letters. Like many other couples, apart by circumstances of the war, a recurrent theme is their longing to be reunited.

Descendants of the couple donated all of the saved letters to the University of California San Diego (UCSD) where Donald C. Elder III received his doctorate degree. Most of the letters in this volume are excerpts, the editor explains, in order to create a book of reasonable length. With access to a wealth of raw material by way of primary source documents (the letters), their transcription enables readers to be transported to another time and place and to experience the realities of the War in a real and viable manner.

First hand accounts such as diaries and letters provide a “window” to historic times, as no other source of information can offer. real cialis no prescription is touted as “the most complete collection of letters exchanged between a husband and a wife during the Civil War.” If anyone were to have any doubt as to the meaningful value of this trail of letters, one only has to read the following words written by “Dollie” herself:

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If you love true stories about the Civil War that are compelling and reveal what individuals were thinking and saying at the time, you will want to read this book!

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Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Before learning of Dr. David Ripley and the music video he made for YouTube with his music students at the University of New Hampshire, I had never heard of a little town in Nicaragua called “El Hatillo.” The purpose of the video is to draw attention to the poverty of the people there and to highlight the work of his former student, Danielle Costanza, who majored in Spanish at UNH and is now serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. The song is an effort to raise money to buy seeds and ovens to bake bread for this impoverished population, hit by a natural disaster fairly recently.

If you visit YouTube, you will be able to hear the well-done song with great solos by music students, and Professor Ripley, playing guitar and accompanied by many other instruments.

Donations are being collected at the following address. No amount is too small. Every dollar will help this worthy cause.

“Seeds for El Hatillo”
c/o Meredith Village Savings Bank
Route 25
Moultonboro, NH 03254

This announcement is brought to you courtesy of

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Saturday, August 20th, 2011

The Remick Museum in Tamworth, New Hampshire is always a worthwhile destination if one wishes to commune with Nature and farm animals. It is a great place to take children and has cows, pigs, goats, sheep, turkeys, chickens, etc. and offers educational programs and artifacts concerning rural life in northern New England and the old ways of farming. This file shows a few photos that Jim took last Friday before a thunderstorm showed up.

This photo shows an overview of the farm with its lovely yellow barns and outbuildlings

Sunflowers

Sheep
This was the first sheep to show up near a feeding station where visitors can purchase a handful of corn for 25 cents to “feed” the sheep. The other sheep came running when they saw me at the feeder.

A Scarecrow helps to ward off uninvited guests to the garden

A pony and a sheep
Why can’t all species get along as nicely as this pony and sheep? Horses of all kinds are gregarious by nature. Wise horse owners always own a goat or sheep to help calm down their horses.

Cows
A group of cows at the Remick Museum Farm

calf
Calf

Storm coming
Our visit was cut short by large drops of rain, suddenly, and thunder in the distance.

I spent some time conversing with one of the pigs who apparently had just given birth. Her piglets are being kept in another building and are available to see if one signs up for the “tour.” We had a good chat, and she responded by occasionally grunts but was too busy eating her wax beans and tomatoes so we did not make eye contact! It is always a joy to visit this lovely place. The gift shop offers many items from handmade cards to tee-shirts, stuffed animals, books, and even one quilt!

There are a number of essays about this location on our main website and we previously wrote an article about the quilts of the Remick Museum for magazine. Keepsake Quilting is just “down the road a piece” from the farm!

Patricia Cummings

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Friday, August 19th, 2011

One of several miniature quilts I made, in association with the presentation I gave this week, is based on line drawings found in a book by Rosemary Youngs, real cialis no prescription. Features I added to the basic design are the inked inscription and an appliquéd patch with a Confederate and Union flag. I decided to leave the faces undefined, preferring them to represent “any soldier.” I used Ultrasuede for the boots.

Rosemary Youngs design
“Two Brothers” is the name I gave to this miniature quilt, hand appliquéd and hand quilted (by me, Patricia Cummings). The inked words represent a song by Irving Gordon that I have sung for at least the last 42 years. Photo by James Cummings

While the quilt looks deceptively simple to make, it was not! It involved figuring out sequences of how and when to stitch very parts and which pieces overlay each other. The figures were very time consuming. This is a very small quilt! I love the finished result!

Rosemary is a very inspiring quilter and designer and she is my friend! I can’t wait for her next book (the fourth she has written) to be published in 2012. In spite of her busy schedule of quilting and preparing publications (and being a grandmother), she manages to post regularly to her website and blog. Check them out for a dose of inspiration!

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Thursday, August 18th, 2011

The other day, I was approached by someone, after my talk about Civil War quilts, who stated that she believed that Log Cabin quilts with black centers were made by slaves as part of the signaling methods that were used to guide slaves to freedom. She had, after all, written a paper about this topic for a college class. She thinks that if more research were done on the subject, the idea could be proven. To her way of thinking, black is an unusual choice of color (Log Cabin quilts most often have red or yellow centers). Therefore, the color choice real cialis no prescription mean something.

A few years ago, in a discussion of this very topic in a file on my website, I wrote the following information:

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The danger of trying to access antiques made by people who are no longer here to explain any potential intent is that it is simply a guessing game. While it can be fun to speculate about any subject, when it comes to history, professional historians look to verifiable facts and are reluctant to create fanciful and fictitious MYTHS.

There is another reason why the argument does not hold water. It was not until the late nineteenth century (that is, late 1800s), long after the Civil War, that a reliable dye method was created for manufacturing black cotton fabric. Before that time, the textiles that we see in the omnipresent black hues of the Victorian Era are made of silk or wool fibers. Again, it is not until the late nineteenth century, after the dawn of Crazy Quilts and their popularity in the 1880s, that we see Log Cabin “show” quilts (made of silk, not cotton). Any earlier attempts at creating black cotton fabric utilized iron mordants in the dye process that eventually made the fabric look “rusty” and ate holes in the surface.

Personally, I have seen a Log Cabin quilt of late nineteenth century vintage (with lots of shirting prints) and blue centers, another color variation. Do these color changes mean anything other than the self-expression and fabric choices of an individual quilter? I think not.

Both the idea of quilts being hung outside on clothesline to signal that a home was a safe haven on the Underground Railroad AND this idea of quilt blocks with black centers can be traced to specific sources. One film producer sincerely wishes that such a reference had found its way to the cutting floor before this real cialis no prescription information ever was placed in front of the public. None of us are all-knowing, particularly in a discipline (the study of quilt history) that has only existed since 1926 with the publication of Marie Webster’s book. It is very easy to repeat the mistakes of others when one is not engaging in research efforts of their own and are mainly compiling information, and such was the case in that instance. I thought I knew where I’d first seen the idea in print, but in glancing through the book, I am not readily finding the reference.

I do not mean to be casually dismissive of someone’s “belief” and it is very difficult for people to give up ideas that they have come to think may be true, especially a “new” truth. Until the time when more substantial evidence can be proven, without a doubt, I shall remain a “doubting Thomas.” That said, every bit of good research does begin with a question and a quest to learn more. Please continue asking questions!

To read more about this topic, visit the file in its entirety:

Patricia Cummings

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Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

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Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Dr. John Chaston, Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the University of New Hampshire, presented a program titled “John Chaston on Spain: A Magical Mystery Tour” on August 16, 2011 at the Hampstead Public Library. The talk is just one offering of the UNH Speaker’s Bureau program. Chaston is the director of the UNH Study Abroad Program in Granada, Spain. He lived in Spain for an entire semester in the years 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2010. Projected images, videos and music accompanied his remarks about food, agriculture, Spain as the gem of the Roman Empire, Moorish architecture, and the totally immersive and influential elements of the Catholic Church on Spanish Art and Architecture.

He showed clips of a soccer game, bullfights, and a flamenco dancer performing for tourists in a cave located in Granada. Anyone would come away from this lecture, inspired to know more about the topics he presented and perhaps might wish to travel to the country itself.

In any lecture about so broad a subject as the presenter was tackling, much information would be left out, by necessity. The talk was meant to whet appetites, not satisfy them completely. As a graduate of UNH with a degree in Spanish, who also studied abroad through UNH’s student abroad program in Pamplona (about 40 years ago), I applaud the efforts of the University to reach out in this manner. As it turned out, a young man in the audience, now a sophomore in high school who is studying Spanish, mentioned that he is thinking of majoring in the language. The professor was quick to give him contact information and to invite him to sit in on some Spanish classes. This is great encouragement and the young person seemed to be very pleased.

Spanish mysticism was mentioned, and examples of great paintings were discussed. A few poignant quotes from acknowledged Spanish thinkers and notables such as Unamuno, were added to the mix. I enjoyed every component of the lecture and for Jim, who has never been to Spain, the talk opened up new information, a real service to those of us who are lifelong learners. Kudos to UNH and this professor for encouraging community involvement in the University and its programs. Dr. Chaston plans to offer additional talks about Spanish Art in the future. He can be reached at:

Patricia Cummings

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Monday, August 15th, 2011

When I woke up this morning, Jim asked what I wanted to do today. I said, “What I’d real cialis no prescription like to do is to go see Mother and enjoy a piece of her delicious apple pie.” He said, “What?” He knows that my mom passed about six years ago now and that was not a possibility. But the longing persisted. I went over in my mind again that the farm now belongs to someone else and the interior is not the way it was when she lived in the old farmhouse. Life is ever changing and while I do not take anyone for granted, I come up short when I realize than now I am the Mother and the Grandmother and that my days are also numbered.

I cannot think of any particular day I’d like to go back and live over again. I’ve been pretty happy that life has moved along at a steady pace and that I am constantly growing, evolving and becoming due to my own efforts to engage with life and other people. But in the recesses of my mind, I still seek a mother (I never really had): one who would accept me and love me unconditionally and be totally supportive of every one of my undertakings. I am not sure such a mother has ever existed. The best of mothers tend to be judgmental and put conditions on their sharing of “love.” That said, a couple of my friends report having an “angel” mother, as did Lincoln. Of course, easy for him to say… when someone dies young, it is a logical step to immortalize them and put them on an eternal pedestal.

My mother did make the best apple pie ever! She had it down to a science. She would even cut out little apple shapes of crust to decorate the top crust. The pie would come out of the oven with a slightly browned crust and she’d get out the vanilla ice cream. But, then again, pie making was only one of her specialties.

Today, I really could have enjoyed spending time with her, but alas, old age and illnesses took her mind and then her life. I have to content myself by savoring memories. Isn’t that what life is sometimes all about? Enjoy each and every moment and treasure those who are meaningful to you now. Today is all about the memories of tomorrow. It is never too late to love your mother.

Patricia Cummings

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Monday, August 15th, 2011

On this rainy New England day, my thoughts turn to the time of the Civil War and all of sufferings the Union soldiers endured. Mucking through swamps and rivers, they often slept unprotected on the ground, subject to ants, scorpions and other creatures crawling up their pants legs. While on the march, food often consisted of hard tack and coffee. They marched for interminably long distances that would wear out anyone’s shoes quickly, and fell victim to diseases in a “foreign” environment. The not-so-lucky were taken prisoner and kept in over-crowded conditions and given so little food, many of them looked like walking skeletons IF they survived at all. The minié ball, a type of bullet that shattered bones as it passed through flesh was the invention of a maniac. For years later, survivors of such wounds would pick chards of bone out of their flesh as pieces made their way, finally, to the skin’s surface. We cannot imagine the loneliness for home, wife and children or a war that seemed to never end.

For civilians in the South, we can only imagine the terror of citizens when the slash, burn and destroy tactic went into play, particularly during General Sherman’s “March to the Sea.” Animals, a source of food and transport, were either stolen or wasted so that the Rebels could not have the benefit of them. Cotton was burned as were houses, barns and anything else in the way of the Army. Anything of value that could be confiscated was taken as the spoils of war.

Even those lucky enough to “come home” at war’s end suffered long term health effects from malaria, malnutrition and abuse of their bodies for such a long time. Then, as always, money talks! Those of higher classes who could afford to pay a fee were excused from serving their country.

Food and textiles were the primary needed components to keep the war going and both were in short supply. We cannot imagine the hardships.

Yet, when we look at the 20th century and the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War (in 1961), not much was made of it at that time. Why? The country was too preoccupied with civil unrest and the Civil Rights movement. You see, the slaves were given their “freedom” and little else.

Black people were considered to be inferior in Lincoln’s time, and by Lincoln himself, and that was still the case one century later when they were made to sit at the back of the bus and use separate drinking fountains. Seems as though our thinking about Freedom has come a long way in the last fifty years and for that, we should be thankful. I surmise that today, the people of color who are targeted for discrimination are from “somewhere else” and therefore, fair game. Until there is kindness toward our fellow human beings and we can embrace all differences among people and reach a level of acceptance, in spite of an individual’s color or national origin, we will never truly be free ourselves. We will certainly never be free from the enslavement of our own prejudice and narrow way of thinking. In many ways, the Civil War continues.

Patricia Cummings

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