It's a Once in a Blue Moon Day!

'Once in a Blue Moon', there is a second full moon in the same month. Of if you believe in the Old Farmer's Almanac, there is an extra full moon that occurs in a quarter of the year, which would normally have three full moons but sometimes, has four! But whether you believe in the old or the newer definitions, or even in blue moons, it is actually the third full moon in a season that has four which is counted as the extra full moon and named blue moon. According to folk lore, it is said that when there is a blue moon, the moon has a face and talks to the items in its moonlight. Today, as you might have guessed by now, is a blue moon day! So, like many of you, I am talking to the moon today!

As far as the color blue goes, apparently the moon can, indeed, actually look blue. After forest fires or volcanic eruptions, the moon can appear to take on a blue or lavender hue. Soot and ash particles, deposited high in the earth's atmosphere can also make the moon appear bluish. And there have been many recorded episodes of forest fires spewing debris into the air and creating the appearance of ...you guessed it...a blue moon!

The term apparently dates back to medieval England where in a work by William Barlow, the Bishop of Chichester, called "Treatyse of the Buryall of the Masse, 1528"...which has come to be known by its first line....."Rede me and be nott wrothe" there is the first documented reference to a blue moon."Yf they saye the mone is belew, We must beleue that its is true."

Back then a blue moon was a synonym for absurdity...considered to be as likely as the moon being made out of green cheese. This imagery was called on in Jon Frith's exhausitvily entitled essay "A pistle to the christen reader; the reuelation of anitchrist:anitheseis wherein are compared togeder Christes actes and urre holye father the Popes, 1529." where after that long title it read: "They wold make men beleue...that ye mone is made of grene chese."

I am eternally grateful for one thing...that our English language has had some obvious changes in spelling and translations ...this is hard enough to read with all of the spelling and font reversals of v's and w's , u's and so forth! And not only has our spellings and translations changed over time, but one of the most common definitions of a blue moon occurred through a simple error of Sky and Telescope magazine...whereby they changed the earlier Farmer's Almanac definition of a blue moon to its much easier 'second of two full moons in a month.' It proves that history can be rewritten if the source seems reputable and the content possible...especially if its about, well...you know.... blue moons.

I love all full moons, unlike a lot of people who associate them with 'luna-tic' behavior or erratic mood swings. I find them lovely to look at, great fun to bask in the moonlight of, and somehow, surprisingly......comforting. How lovely to think, that every once in a while, amidst all of the challenges and hardships of life, we might get an unexpected gift of something as simple as an extra full moon and on top of that.... it has a face, talks to us and just might be made of bleu instead of green cheese!

Memorial Day: Flags, Flowers and Remembrance

Memorial Day in the U.S. is a federal holiday, formerly known as "Decoration Day." We set out flags and flowers, we visit cemeteries, and we remember all of those who served our country. The first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at a race track in Charleston, South Carolina. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died while captive. A parade with thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.

General John A Logan, a northerner of the Union Army, was so impressed by the way that the South honored their fallen soldiers that he decided the northern states needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting, since the Greeks, had honored their heroes with laurel and flowers, that the grave of every soldier in this land be decorated on a special day and, if he could, he would have made it a holiday.

On May 5, 1868 in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization, Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year. Due to lingering hostility after the Civil War, many southern states did not recognize Memorial Day until after World War I although the name Memorial Day" was first used in 1882.

Given its origins in the American Civil War, Memorial Day is not a holiday outside the United States. Countries of the Commonwealth, as well as France and Belgium, honor members of the military who died in war on or around Remembrance Day(November 11). The United States uses that date as Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day) and honors all veterans, living and dead.

Today, many Americans use Memorial Day weekend to also honor family members who have passed away. Church services on the Sunday prior to Memorial Day may include a reading of the names of members who have died during the previous 12 months. The southeastern United States continues to celebrate Decoration Day as a day to decorate the graves of all family members, and it is not reserved for those who served in the military and this is usually celebrated the week before the official Memorial Day Weekend.

This year, my husband and his brother continued their yearly tradition of bringing my mother-in-law to visit the cemeteries where her veteran son is laid to rest, having died of cancer at age 53, and both of the dear men she has loved in this lifetime, my father-in-law who died 19 years ago at age 83, and her late in life love who died this past year at age 90.

Three men, at different ages, all lovingly remembered by a mother and a wife, who had to be lifted from her nursing home bed, with great difficulty, into a wheelchair, into her car and driven to watch as her sons placed flowers from her own yard at their grave sites. It will probably be the last time she is able to do this, and it was very, very hard for her...but she still wanted to and managed to.

I always celebrate the occasion with making something patriotic, even as simple as these little flags that I simply serged the edges of from patriotic fabric and strung in the wisteria vines on my back deck.I thought of my own uncle, shot down at sea while flying his fighter plane during WWII, and I thought of those who shot him down, as well. I can only feel love now for all of these people....one I have known and those I have never met. It is a still a loss, a pain in the heart for all who suffer loss.

Whether we celebrate Memorial Day, Decoration Day, or just a day of remembrance....I simply remember the loss and thank them .....for all of their places in history, and for all of their places in our lives.

Chinese Coins or Pennies from Heaven: Not Always a Gift

Shanghai Daily News: Man Paralyzed When Hit by Falling Quilt
By Gu Jia 2007-5-22

A man living in Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province was knocked into a coma by a falling quilt last month, and is now suffering from hemiplegia from a neck injury, a local newspaper reported today. The man's family is hoping the owner of the quilt may offer some compensation to cover medical bills because they can no longer afford further treatment after spending 100,000 yuan (US$13,055), the Daily Sunshine newspaper said.

The victim, surnamed He, was on his way home from work at 4:30pm on April 15, when he was hit by a quilt which fell from a four-story residential building.The owner of the quilt is unknown at this stage.He was rushed to a nearby clinic by a friend and transferred to a hospital but when he woke up, he found he had difficulty in moving legs."Doctors said there is hope for my husband to be able to stand up again if we continue treatment," said He's wife. "But we have no income because I had to quit my job to take care of him around the clock.""We cannot afford further debt as it now amounts to 100,000 yuan," his wife told the newspaper.

The building is on Daping Road of Buji area in central Shenzhen. Apartments in it have been leased out and no resident has come forward to claim the quilt. He's wife told the newspaper that "though we didn't keep the quilt as a clue, we have narrowed down the identity of its owner after visiting the building several times.""We will ask for help from local police if the person doesn't show up in the next few days," she said.

* Life is sometimes stranger than fiction. What makes us laugh one moment, can make us cry the very next! Assuming this story is, indeed, true....say a prayer for this man and his family!

For Chinese Coins quilting information: HeartStrings Quilt Project: Chinese Coins

The Sandwich Generation: In the Middle of Life... We Enjoy the Softness of the Quilt

There are times when our lives becomes so compressed and so tight, that we just need a moment to take a big step back. Sometimes, we feel like the fabric, sometimes we feel like the thread, and sometimes we just plain feel batty.

Right now, I am somewhere in between the fabric, the thread and the batty. I have joined the 'sandwich generation.' A term coined to indicate someone who is still raising children, but finds themselves also responsible for caring for their own parents. Most of us go in and out of this role many times in our lives. Other times we get stuck in the middle and stay stuck; whether out of necessity or choice.

My 91 year old mother-in-law fell at 6 a.m. on Monday, either from a fractured pelvis, or fracturing it as she fell. As someone who was already living in constant pain from degenerative arthritis and the erosion of one hip, it seems like the final cruel blow. But life has a way of reducing us to our basic structure, opening us up to our greatest weaknesses and flaws and showing us that as much as we would like to think so, we truly cannot control the outcomes of most situations. What seems like hitting the floor one day, might seem like a place we yearn to reach up to, on another.

We wake up exhausted and overwhelmed and we realize that today, of all days, we need to just "be"......the place of acceptance without judgement, known as "going with the flow." We all know the flow as we quilt and sew. We know it as we paint, or sing, or write or even plant flowers. We enter the space in between the words, between the events, between the hard place and the brick wall. If we fight or resist, the pain and the struggle only intensify. So we learn to sweetly surrender and switch direction with the current. We learn to see the beauty in the water, or the earth, or the flowers or even the colors in the fabric of our quilts. And we learn to go with the flow instead of constantly swimming upstream.

I have watched a strong, positive, and incredibly capable woman, be reduced to someone who can barely move, most certainly not get up, sit up, or even roll over. I had to search my heart for the words to explain why life can get so hard sometimes, how it teaches us to reduce and to simplify, teaches us to go to an inner world, instead of the outer one that we have spent most of our lives in. Our daily tasks change. Our daily needs change. And we find that bit by bit......we change, as well. In the middle of all of the pain and the suffering, we have to find something to look forward to, something to be grateful for, and something to enjoy.

Each day this week, I have driven to a neighboring town to help, to visit and to care for my dear mother-in-law. First to bring her to the ER, then admit her into the hospital and finally, reduced to the care of a nursing home. In one week, I am suddenly caring about one mother-in-law, one aunt by marriage and one aunt and one uncle of my own. A hospital, a mental health ward and two separate nursing homes, all in different towns. My heart, my time, and my life have all changed directions at once.

I have seen more older people in pain and in desperation in one week..... than I have in my entire life. I see them in crisis, in sadness, in states of severe loss and pain. And my own heart is broken open to their suffering. I want to climb under my own quilt. I want to be surrounded by its softness, it protectiveness, its love and its warmth. I examine my feelings, my own loss and even my own pain and then I look through those eyes, that heart, into theirs.

I realize the basic inner truth of each and every single one of us. We have one basic need during our lives and as we approach the ends of our lives. We want to know that we are loved, that we are cared about and most of all we want to know that when we leave this earth plane, someone will miss us, remember us and be grateful for having had us in their lives. It may be a short journey to the end of the path, it might be a long and arduous one. But each of us still has to take it, one painful step after painful step.

So, whether you quilt, you paint, you read or you garden......feel the flow, enter the space between the words, between the heartache and life's challenges. There is one basic need, one basic purpose... in and for.... all of our lives. We want and we need to give and to receive love. Wrap yourself and them in that quilt of love.

Instead of feeling trapped in the middle, compressed and squeezed, I am choosing to do my very best to just feel the softness of the quilt. To feel protected and warmed and comforted.... instead of burdened or overwhelmed by this life's journey. I may not be able to maintain this feeling of balance for very long, but for just now, this day or this moment, I can choose to feel the softness and not the tight pain.

I can be like a cat. I can find somewhere soft within me to surround myself with and be comforted by. I can create my own quilt in my own heart. A quilt to wrap up in and a quilt to share with another.

So this week, I may not be sewing at all.....but I am still quilting. I am quilting with my heart.

Crazy Woman Sox!

Paula the Quilter, has honored me once again! As I posted not too long ago, Miss Paula, being the kind hearted and generous woman that she is, had nominated me as her number 6 choice for the 5 choice limit for "The Thinking Blogger Award". And of course, I just had to comment that "as there did not appear to be any monetary gratuity attached to this award, such as the ones which accompany the Nobel Peace Prize or the Pulitzer Prize, I was hoping that she would at least knit me a pair of her darling, striped socks.

Well, bless her generous knit-picking heart, she did! I am now the very proud recipient of a delightfully striped pair of her now famous "Crazy Woman Sox." As the cute little tag proclaims, "When I tell them I knit socks, people ask me 'Are you crazy, woman?'. She is, she does, she did and I now have the pair to prove it!

They are adorable and are now hanging proudly from the mantle above the wood stove. I figure it's never too early to anticipate the joy or spirit of the holiday season, and since "Christmas in July'" is not that far off, I am simply a get-with-it kind of woman and decorating in advance.

As Paula says, if they are too big for my dainty little feet, all I have to do is wash 'em and throw them in the dryer once! I figure with my flair for the dramatic, my sense of overkill, and never quite knowing when enough is really enough, I am more likely to create a felted creation that would be lucky to fit one of the elves and not me!

For now, I am just enjoying their view. And basking in the absolute and utter knowledge that quilters are very special, giving, and unique people......crazy or not!

How To Make A Quillow

Quillow: Etymological Note: quilt + pillow

Why make a quillow and not just a quilt?
With high school or college graduations quickly approaching, or for an unexpected birthday or even a great Christmas gift....what better gift to give from the heart than a quickly made 'quillow'? 

A cross between a quilt and a pillow, it can be as simple as sewing two pieces of 45" x 72" fabric together and adding a pillow section of 18" -20" square......or as complicated as any scrap or quilt pattern pieced design you might choose for the quilt top and pillow portions. Reverse the pocket opening to the top, add straps and you have a wonderful baby quillow for a gift. You can even add extra outside pockets for baby supplies, and use it as a changing pad or play mat!

I was needing a quick gift for a great nephew who graduates from high school in a few weeks, and I was fortunate to have some scraps of soft flannel which a focus fabric featuring cars. Many of the designs in this fabric are vintage Mustangs, one of which this young man owns and drives as a cherished possession.

Using a 'Turning Twenty" pattern, I was able to quickly piece a basic quilt top and add a simply pieced back section and pieced pillow and in very little time, I was then ready to machine stitch in the ditch, flip and turn it into itself for the magic quillow.

Quillow Instructions and Tutorial:
For those of you, who have never had the opportunity to make a quillow, I am including my own version of instructions, and then directions on how to fold it back up into a pillow, again.

Please note: 

The appearing side of the pillow case on the back of the quilt will be the 'inside back' of the Pillow, itself by the very end of tucking in the quilt into the 'pillow' section.

So the 'right' side of the pillow is on the other side of this ivory section..inside the opening where you can't see it from this photo. As you turn it right side out it pops out to the pretty 'right' side! 

And the opening for folding and stuffing the 'quilt' inside that is at the very edge of the quilt here at the bottom of the quilt photo.

Leave this open! Do not sew it down in anyway as you attach the pillow section to the quilt body!

Basics:

Materials needed

4-5 yards total of assorted fabrics for piecing
or 2 yds. for quilt top and 2 yds. for quilt back
1/2 yd. for pillow pocket
thin batting of your choice ( a twin batt, 72" x 90" will make 2 quillows)

Step 1: Cutting Directions

For the "pillow pocket" cut as follows:
(1) 18 " to 20" fabric square or pieced square in color 1 for top
(1) 18 " to 20" fabric square or pieced square in color 2 for bottom
(1) 18 " to 20" fabric square of thin batting
For the "quilt" cut as follows:
(1) 45" x 72" piece (or pieced into blocks) of fabric for top of quilt
(1) 45" x 72" piece (or pieced into blocks) of fabric for back of quilt
(1) 45" x 72" piece of thin batting

*For a baby quillow, down size as desired, making pillow section 1/3 of total width of quilt

Step 2: Sewing the Pillow Pocket Together

Oh 
1. Place batting on flat surface.
2. Place bottom fabric on batt, right side up.
3. Place top fabric piece on top of backing, right side down.
4. Pin together, stitch closed with 1/2", leaving an 8" opening.
5. Reaching into opening, pull out to turn pillow, shape corners and hand stitch opening closed.
6. Machine stitch a simple quilting pattern or hand tie to secure into a now flat pillow piece.

Step 3: Sewing the Quilt Body Together 

1. Place batting on flat surface.
2. Place bottom fabric right side up on top of batting.
3. Place top fabric right side down on backing.
4. Pin, then sew closed with a 1/2" seam, leaving a 10" opening on one side.
5. Reaching into opening, pull right sides out, shape corners, hand stitch opening closed.

Step 4: Sew the Pillow Pocket to the Quilt Body

1. Lay quilt body, back side up.

2. Center the pillow pocket, flushed edges together, positioning at the center section of quilt,
wrong side of pillow pocket up, design nap pointing up towards outside edge. *pillow pocket final opening will be at the bottom of the pillow top, facing towards center of the quilt body as you look down at the backing. 

3. Sew only three sides of pillow down flat to quilt body, leaving lower pillow edge open (facing the center of the quilt, not the outside of quilt edge) to form pocket.

4. Secure the quilt layers together by either hand tieing or machine quilting every 9" apart.

Step 5: Folding the Quilt into the Pillow:
1. Place quilt with pillow pocket down on your flat surface.
2. Fold the quilt body into thirds. (the long way)

3. Fold this long section in half, and half again.

4. Pull the bottom of the pillow pocket up and over this folded section,
turning pillow pocket 'inside out', over the body of the quilt.

5. Turn and pull into a nice pillow shape,pulling out corners completely.

My tag along verse: 

"Use me as a pillow, until you get cold.
Then pull me out and gently unfold.
I'm a lap quilt now, from head to feet...
Then tuck me back in, all nice and neat!"

*Please Note: 

If you borrow my directions and copy this down, make it or use my verse, I would appreciate a link back for all of my hard work in creating and sharing. Thank you! 

Free Quillow Pattern and Tutorial Photos

And of interest: A quillow shaped to just fit a person in a wheelchair. 

Check out this link

For another version of a quillow that is more recently created, check out:

Making a Quillow

No time for a quilt? Make a Flillow!.......a Fleece Blanket + Pillow ;)

Want a really quick quilt look quillow?

Use a printed panel of any kind!

  

 

Quillow: Etymological Note: quilt + pillow

After posting a photo of my 14 quilting projects...on two walls, in umpteen baskets, and on my design floor just a few days ago, I was reminded that a Great-Niece was graduating from High School and being honored with a family barbeque.

Here I am, 14 projects already started and none of them is either appropriate or can be quilted/finished in time for the party. I ended up with only 3 days to get the gifts figured out, designed, and sewed.

I have always given quilts to every child in our family -- nieces and nephews or at least their babies when the had them, and now great-nieces and great-nephews and several times I have given 'quillows' and they have been big hits! So...a quillow was decided upon.

My original tutorial on How To Make A Quillow shows one of her cousins' quilt/pillow being made. But I decided to take photos as I went along for a second photo tutorial then maybe I could just made the next one on automatic pilot!

I used a simple quilt panel for my quick quilt, added some 5 1/2" borders all the way around, some co-coordinating fabric for the back panel and some stitch in the ditching for quilting. 

I was delighted to discover that my panel was designed by Diane Phalen, who once lived in Banks, Oregon. 

She also made lovely quilting art cards and prints that many of us still treasure! So, it was great fun finding this favorite panel among my supplies! But if you have a nice quilt top all finished try using that for a wonderfully easy to finish quillow!

Materials Needed:
4-5 yards total of assorted fabrics for piecing
or 2 yds. for quilt top and 2 yds. for quilt back
1/2 yd. for pillow pocket (pocket needs to be 1/3 of width of finished quilt)
thin batting of your choice ( a twin batt, 72" x 90" will make 2 quillows)

Step 1: Cutting Directions
For the "pillow pocket" :
Cut as follows or pieces that measure 1/3 of width of finished quilt top:
(1) approx.18 " to 20" fabric square or pieced square in color 1 for top
(1) 18 " to 20" fabric square or pieced square in color 2 (or the same) for bottom
(1) 18 " to 20" fabric square of thin batting

For the "quilt" cut as follows:
(1) 45" x 72" piece (or pieced into blocks) of fabric for top of quilt
(1) 45" x 72" piece (or pieced into blocks) of fabric for back of quilt
(1) 45" x 72" piece of thin batting

*For a baby quillow, down size as desired, making pillow section 1/3 of total width of quilt

Step 2: Sewing the Pillow Pocket Together

1. Place batting on flat surface.

2. Place bottom fabric on batt, right side up.

3. Place top fabric piece on top of backing, right side down.

4. Pin together, stitch closed with 1/2", leaving an 8" opening.

5. Reaching into opening, pull out to turn pillow, shape corners and hand stitch opening closed.

6. Machine stitch a simple quilting pattern or hand tie to secure into a now flat pillow piece.

Step 3: Sewing the Quilt Body Together
1. Place batting on flat surface.

2. Place bottom fabric right side up on top of batting.

3. Place top fabric right side down on backing.

4. Pin, then sew closed with a 1/2" seam, leaving a 10" opening on one side.

5. Reaching into opening, pull right sides out, shape corners, hand stitch opening closed.

   

   

Step 4: Sew the Pillow Pocket to the Quilt Body (if quilting or tying is needed under it do that before attaching pillow to quilt!

1. Lay quilt body, back side up.

2. Center the pillow pocket, flushed edges together, positioning at the center section of quilt, wrong side of pillow pocket up, design nap pointing up towards outside edge. *pillow pocket final opening will be at the bottom of the pillow top, facing towards center of the quilt body as you look down at the backing. The 'right' side of the finished pillow is 'inside' and does not show on top at this point!

3. Sew only three sides of pillow down flat to quilt body, leaving lower pillow edge open (facing the center of the quilt, not the outside of quilt edge) to form pocket.

4. Secure the quilt layers together by either hand tieing or machine quilting every 9" apart.

Do NOT sew over the pocket!!! If need be quilt under it before getting to this stage!

You should now have a lovely finished quilt, with a pillow section on the back. This is a quillow. A quilt+a pillow=a quillow.

How to make it look like a pillow, you ask;) It's pure magic!!!

Folding the quilt into the pillow shape to create the quillow in 10 steps:

1. Take the quilt,laying it flat as shown above.

2. Fold over 1/3 using back pillow edge as guide line.

3. Fold over another 1/3 using back pillow other side as guide line.

4. Fold down 1/3 using top of back pillow as guide line.

5. Fold down again creating a square shape.You can see my elastic loops at the bottom edge.Using these with buttons on the other side of the pocket opening is a closure option.

5.Using your hand, open up the inside of what will become the pillow section. You hold onto this edge as you reach within to pull the folded quilt sections into the inside of it and then inside out...like pulling through a case inside out.

6.Here it is beginning to emerge from the inside to the outside. The bright yellow strippy square is on the quilt front, you see as you pull it into the pillow.

7. And here the final step of pulling it out. Now you see the pink blocks that become the front of the little pillow form.

8. Almost a pillow!

9. Now if you want buttons and loops, as you might see here, I added mine at this last stage by hand and just tacked them down. 

Sew 2 bottons and two pieces of tied black elastic made into little button loops.

   

Button those elastic loops around your optional buttons hand sewn to the outside of the pillow bottom for closure..or you can just leave the pillow opening open, no buttons and loops, or use velcro tabs whatever you want!

 

As the pillow 'sits' on a surface, it is on top of this opening and it doesn't really show very much, anyway! But I added this last step as the gift was part of the quillow directions test I put into my hand made Graduation card for even more fun.

10. My quillow -- a little quilt that turns into a pillow!

Quicker and easier than it even sounds! I made the quilt, the pillow, and a cute bag with pockets, and and ID tag in less than three days. And yes, you can be that crazy productive, too ;)

Free Bag Pattern and ID tag tutorial

No time for a quilt? Make a Flillow! A Fleece Blanket + Pillow ;)

Make a Fleece Blanket or a Quilt that you Already Have into a Quillow!

Remember! 

Any quilt or fleece blanket can be made into a pillow quilt by simply creating a pocket on the back. 

For pocket: Cut out two pieces of fabric (or fleece) and one piece of batting about 18 1/2” square.  It can be smaller if your blanket is smaller as your pocket should be about 1/3 of the width of the quilt or blanket you are using.

Now, place the  fabric right sides together and place batting on top of fabric. 

Sew all the way around (with batting on bottom), leaving an opening of 4” - 5” on one side to turn - this is the same method used for making quilts envelope style. Some quilters call this birthing a quilt or make a envelope style quilt.

Trim corners of the pocket and turn right side out. Stitch opening closed.

Place pocket at end of blanket and then stitch to blanket on three sides, leaving the top of the pocket open and not stitched for packing the blanket into it when you turn it into a 

More ideas! 

What else is similar?

My own shopping bag design: pocket pouched!!!'

 Make a Re-useable Shopping Bag: Pocket Pouched!

Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands as she shares her imaginative, magical, and healing journey from Alaska to Oregon. Creating, designing, sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting... from my heart and with my hands.

Happy Mother's Day!

As we celebrate this holiday which honors mothers everywhere, it is good to understand the strange roots and the path that this celebration took to become what it is today. Like many holidays, it also seems to link back to ancient celebrations in Greece. Originally, it honored Cybele, a Phyrigian goddess, who symbolized the deification of the Earth Mother. Like Gaia, Mother Earth, or her Minoan counterpart, Rhea, she embodied the fertile earth, the caverns and mountains, nature and all wild animals. And Spring, with all of its symbols of life, death and birth, became the time of the entity and deity of the 'Great Mother'.

As with many ancient rites and traditions, the peoples of the British Isles transposed the more pagan deifications into more acceptable Christian forms. In time it actually even represented "Mother Church". It wasn't until the 1600's, that England celebrated a day called 'Mothering Sunday. All servants would be given the day off, encourage to return to their own homes and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called a 'mothering cake' was served.

In the United States, an official Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by social activist, Julia Ward Howe. As an abolitionist, pacifist, suffragette, and the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", she wrote her now famous Mother's Day Proclamation as a reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War. Her proclamation was tied to her belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level. And she called upon them as women, as mothers, to make a difference in the political climate of the era, by rising up in support of peace.

In 1907, Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a national campaign to establish a national Mother's Day, beginning first in her own church, and then moving outward into others. Miss Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.

While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May.

Happy Mother's Day to all, in all countries, in all parts of the world!

2,700 Year Old Piece of Fabric Found in Burial Urn

<<News:-Archaeology May 10, 2007 — Archaeologists in Greece have discovered a rare 2,700-year-old piece of fabric inside a copper urn from a burial they speculated imitated the elaborate cremation of soldiers described in Homer's "Iliad."

The yellowed, brittle material was found in the urn during excavation in the southern town of Argos, a Culture Ministry announcement said Wednesday. "This is an extremely rare find, as fabric is an organic material which decomposes very easily," said archaeologist Alkistis Papadimitriou, who headed the dig. She said only a handful of such artifacts have been found in Greece. The cylindrical urn also contained dried pomegranates — offerings linked with the ancient gods of the underworld — along with ashes and charred human bones from an early 7th century B.C. cremation.

Papadimitriou said the material was preserved for nearly 3,000 years by the corroding copper urn. "Copper oxides killed the microbes which normally destroy fabric," she told The Associated Press.>>

Well, ladies, I hate to be disrespectful......but when I read this, all I could see or think of was the imagery of Finn, Nellie, Bonnie ,Tonya and Su B. I'm sorry. But you will have to admit here...Finn would want it for her scrapbag and it would probably end up...after being happily appreciated with great delight...in some dolly quilts. Nellie would be enthralled with the inherent artistic possibilities of the folds, pleats, wrinkles and aging textures and turn it into the Dead Lake Series #503. Bonnie...no doubt about it, would cut it into strips and have it pieced, sewn, and quilted in a couple of hours. Tonya would immediately grab the urn and place it on her mantle shelves along with her Egyptian alabaster collection and phrenology head. And Su B? She would find out that it was an antique and she and I would immediately start fighting over it.

It's probably a very good thing that its under lock and key and being studied and carbon dated right now. And you'll have to admit. Whoever was buried in there must have really loved her fabric stash, because she definitely took it with her!