Work of our Hearts

When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts, the circle of creation is completed inside us, the doors of our souls fly open and love steps forth to heal everything in sight."

-- Michael Bridge

With COVID 19 hanging over the entire world like a depressing grey cloud, I am quite content to stay home in order to help ‘flatten the curve’, since I have a few tasks begging to be finished. There is bedding sitting on my sewing machine, stories on my computer and a new venture waiting for me in the attic. The new venture won first place. I decide to crochet a rug for our back door, where its rich hues and homemade warmth will welcome all who enter. I’ve crocheted doilies, afghans, potholders and other small items, but never a rug. The idea of working with a cumbersome rug draped over my lap, never appealed to me. Until now.

An ample amount of yarn, tucked away in the attic of my new home, kept calling me to do something with it: one never knows where the next nudge to create will originate. A loving mother had unraveled sweaters and meticulously sorted and stored this yarn, likely dreaming of creating lovely rugs. However, God saw fit to take her home. I didn’t know Sara well, having met her only once. From all accounts, she was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother – whose beautiful family I adopted by marrying Michael. I am humbled, that in God’s divine plan, I am now part of her family, blessed by the work of her capable hands and loving heart.

Kneeling beside barrels and boxes brimming with beautiful yarn, in a variety of hues, felt strange at first – like I was going through someone else’s belongings. As my eyes scanned the multi-coloured skeins, I wondered which ones Sara would have chosen to make a rug. I held up a green and a black ball towards the light. Would she have liked this combination? Or perhaps she would rather have gone for something bright, like blues and yellows? I finally settled on a mixture of red and white contrasted by shades of grey. I put my selections into two tuckers, dragged them downstairs and started mixing and winding a number of thin strands to form one thick one. A few hours later I had two large balls of yarn ready for my project. I was excited about trying this traditional Hutterite skill.

Crocheted rugs have graced Hutterite homes for many decades. Years ago they were simply made, following no particular pattern, using mostly leftover balls of yarn from knitting stockings and mittens. Re-purposing yarn from unraveling sweaters was also quite common. Today, complex patterns are used to create attractive works of art, which sometimes requires new yarn. My rug leans more towards simple, as the pattern consists only of interchanging four rounds of red, and then four rounds of grey. Still, grey and red will look striking in a rug. If nothing else, it will always serve as a reminder that it was created during the Corona Virus lock-down. Grey, for the dismal veil hanging over the whole world right now, I muse, as I start crocheting, admiring the contrasting hues. Red signifies strength, hope and determination to stay positive through this pandemic.

I’ve always found my crocheting hobby relaxing and gratifying. My mind meanders, as hook in hand, timeless treasures are turned out. It’s also an ideal time to dream, reflect, plan and listen to music, pondering messages in the songs.

As I make my way through another round, I hum along with Amos Raber, playing on my phone:

If you read the paper and turn on the news,

It doesn’t take long and you’ve got the blues…

There’s better times a-coming, but they ain’t here yet…

I wonder what’s in store for us with this vicious virus. It’s mind-boggling to think that this pandemic has most of the world in the same predicament.  I try to imagine what our Easter holy days will feel like. Here in my new colony, we’ve already postponed baptism and the same will be true for communion. I ponder the plagues God sent over the Egyptians, before freeing His chosen people, Joseph’s descendants, from bondage, since it’s basic to our annual communion service preparation teachings. This year, the mere mention of plagues will strike a raw chord, as one is leaving a devastating trail around the globe.

Numerous questions churn in my brain: Are we being careful enough? What colony would have the first corona case? Would we lose loved ones? What will students have lost, when school resumes? When will I see my family next? This was highlighted when I heard that my eighty-four year old mom, who doesn’t quite understand this social distancing, keeps asking, “Why does Linda no longer come to visit?”

Visions from yesteryear scroll through my mind when mom was still crocheting rugs. After every few rounds she was on the floor with her creation, patting it down, stretching it in all directions, then standing up and tramping it down, all to get it to lie flat. Sometimes she simply had to unravel it and start over.  Yanking days of work apart, she stated, “Ich erger mich la anmol. I’m only perturbed once.” I can relate to all of it, as this is my first rug and I have done a fair share of my own yanking. Watching me one evening, MichaeI reassuringly, but with a hint to mirth, whispers, “I promise not to tell anyone how often you’ve unraveled it.”

I started out with no pattern, just advice from my sister, Sonia, my aunt Susie and my own crochet experiences. Apparently that is not enough. Finally I got my hands on a pattern. However, I could make no sense of it, as the abbreviations were nothing like the ones in my crochet books. It may as well have been from China.

Then one day, our minister, Eddy Vetter and his wife, Judy Basel stopped by. I told her of my dilemma and she was able to explain the pattern to me since she’s used the same one many times. The symbols indicating the various stitches are still strange, but at least I understand them now and my rug is growing again. Best of all, I don’t have to spend so much time on the floor trying to tramp and stretch a bubbly rug into submission. It’s gratifying to see my once unruly rug lie beautifully flat.

Woven into my rug are a few heartfelt prayers: asking God to protect family and friends, to give wisdom, strength and courage in dealing with this pandemic, and patience while we stay home until this plague is contained. I pray for our leaders, health care workers, truckers and businesses… all of whom strive to keep us safe, and ensure needed supplies are available. I thank God for his protection, love and omnipotence during this anxious time, the friend who lent me a stack of German novels, family and friends who call and write, the cooks who prepare delicious meals for us to take home, for my family, and the lovely Easter lily with which my husband just surprised me.

I’m reminded of a drama we did years ago, Grandma Says. In it, Grandma is always knitting. All day long, while family and friends stop to share their worries and woes. Each time, Grandma, barely looking up, calmly offers advice, but keeps on knitting, which serves to frustrate her visitors. After each one leaves, Grandma prays for them. The message is simple, yet timeless: stay busy, stay calm, trust and pray.

Hopefully in the years ahead, I’ll become more like this wise Granny – something to work towards. Nonetheless, thanks to Sara’s stash of skeins, I’m hooked on my new hobby.

And I long for the day when everything will return to something approaching normal. Until then, my ‘work of the heart’ will help fill these COVID 19 isolation weeks. I’m grateful for this skill and my supply of resources to engage in this immensely therapeutic work.

Shapshot Muse #28 - He Whispers Sweet Peace to Me

Hutterites engage in a wide variety of activities in their free time, such as woodworking, knitting, crocheting and sewing. My sister, Sonia paints, among many of the other crafts she spends time with. Many of the walls in our house are adorned with her gorgeous paintings. These often become the topic of discussions when guests arrive and marvel over her talent. With each piece she produces, I'm more amazed what her able hands create on canvas with a little paint and few brushes.

About a year ago she worked on a scene I instantly fell in love with. It is her depiction of a place near our colony where a narrow dirt road leads across the La Salle River, and has greenish blue water flowing through the culvert. The trees along the river are so realistic and the golden field and azure sky with white puffy clouds provide a grand backdrop. For me this scene whispers 'serenity'.

Last August I went into my room one day and there stood the completed painting, framed and all. Sonia had given it to me for my birthday. I have it hanging on my wall, as a constant reminder of her talent, generosity and the peacefulness and beauty of nature. It brings to mind a song by the Freedom Singers, one of my favorite groups - He Whispers Sweet Peace to Me.

 

Judith and her Horse Tess

 Judith and her horse is just one of the stories featured in Hutterite Diaries: Wisdom From My Prairie Community.

As you can see in this video, they're an incredible team!


                 

                        

Bring Back Board Games!

I've been thinking a lot about board games recently. Most likely, because I touched on these games a little bit in my upcoming book, Hutterite Diaries. I have many fond memories of sitting around the table at home, at a friend's house or even at school playing games like Snakes and Ladders, Scrabble, Crokinole, Sorry and many others. Sadly, with so many electronic games around, these games mainly sit on a shelf, if they're even in the house anymore. I wonder if people realize the impacts the games we choose have on us and our children? Electronic games encourage blocking out everybody, while staring at a screen for hours on end. Board games however, encourage healthy interaction with others, and stimulate intellectual development. 

One of my favourite games growing up were Probe and Crokinole. We played Probe at school during noon hour or on stormy days. We actually still have one in our school. About once a month, to ensure our children experience these simple joys, our whole school spends an hour or so playing board games. And yes, everybody has a great time! Next time we do this, I'll be introducing some students to word fun with Probe. So far, we haven't played that one yet.

Crokinole conjures happy memories playing this game with my cousins, at uncle Josh and aunt Kate's house. They had a homemade one. The board was about an inch and a half thick and was well-varnished. Those pesky pegs near the centre were finish nails. Combined with the varnished wood these nails really scattered the disks in a hurry, more often then we liked. But still, we had many laughs playing this game. The way I remember it, nobody could beat my cousin, Harvey. He had the kind of aim and just the right speed the rest of us could only dream about. I'd love to have a Crokinole game! Are they even around anymore? Should maybe check second hand shops. But hey, if you have one you want to get rid of, I can take it off your hands.



Another game that we should dig out one day is, Spazieren (the Hutterisch word for visiting). This game was put out by Crystal Springs Colony many years ago, probably together with the Bruderhof. We still have that game in our school as well, but we haven't played it in years. I'm not even exactly sure how that one goes anymore. Perhaps the aim of the game is to visit as many Hutterite colonies as possible.

It's really troubling to see how much time today's youth spend with playing electronic games, and many of them violent. Nothing good can come of those stare-at-a-screen activities, at least not as far as I can see. So, here's me on my little podium with my Bring-Back-Board-Games campaign. Feel free to join me!!

I'd love to hear your fond memories with board games:

• Do you have a favourite one?
• Do you still play these games?
• In your eyes, how do they stack up against electronic games?

Intarsia - Recycling Wood Pieces

It's been a while since I posted anything on recycling. Today I'm going to shine the spotlight on some gorgeous art pieces our highschoolers and their teacher Karen Maendel created. Using scrap wood from our carpenter shop they made intarsia wall hangings. Some of these were then given to family members as gifts. The first one hangs in the highschool wing of our school at the moment.

Hutterite Children

 

 

Bald Eagle

 

 

Rose

 

 

Calla Lily

Woodworker

White-tailed Deer

 

 

They're all beautiful, but my favourite is 'Hutterite Children'. Which one do you like best?

Bible Stories in Hutterisch

For a number of years now Hutterite children have enjoyed Bible stories in our mother tongue. Together with Dick Mueller, Wycliff Bible Translater/Linguist, I helped translate this set of books. The three that you see here have already been published, with two more coming out at some point in the future. I've heard many sweet stories from parents whose children have these books, how much time they spend with the them and the CD that comes with each one. Or older siblings reading to younger ones - all of which make the long hours spend translating very worthwhile!

 Jakobi and me

Right now I am thoroughly delighted watching my darling nephew, Jakobi listening to these stories.  Every night he brings his parents Book 1 in this series, to read to him, other times he follows along in the book, while listening to the CD. Sometimes I have to joy of reading to him as he's snuggled on my lap. His favourite Bible story is Noah and the Ark. One day he was playing on the floor, placing animals in a bowl. When his mom asked what he was doing he replied, "Oah Ochn." (Noah's Ark) He's just starting to talk and some of his beginning consonants are always missing. So you can imagine how many chuckles we have as he's trying to articulate things, which we sometimes have a hard time deciphering.

At snack one day, his mom, Karen gave him a candy with Santa wrapping. He took one look and announced, "Mein, der Oah!" (My, Noah) He's never heard of Santa, but knows Noah quite well. In all the time spent with this book, nobody ever told him that I am the one narrating the stories. So, one evening while listening he exclaims, "Mama, Linda zellt." (Mama, Linda's telling the story.)

A few days ago I was babysitting, I noticed that he was talking to himself, while stacking blocks on the floor. I listened closer and he said, "Huchn Turm. Aufn, aufn, aufn, Hibbi.)" (High tower, up, up, up to heaven.) Just as he'd heard it many times from his book. Not only is he learning Bible stories, but building his Hutterisch vocabulary, with practically the only books he'll be able to do this with!

Jakobi, fast asleep with his favourite book.

A clip of mommy reading, with Jakobi chiming in, click here.

 

 

If there's a Hutterite child in your life, Bible stories in the language they know best would be an ideal and special Christmas gift. The books are available at HB Book Centre.

Recycling - From Sweater to Rug

 

I believe the reason Hutterite women love thrift shops is that most of them are...well, thrifty - they love to find great deals on some piece of fabric or yarn, rescue it from a shelf or rack, and give it a new and beautiful life. Not that the piece they purchase isn't beautiful, but at that point, many times it has lost its usefulness as a garment or afghan. Along comes a Hutterite women who envisions the colours in a pretty crochet rug for her home. The shop is happy for the sale, the woman is happy about the good deal and more importantly, abandoned article will once again be a prized possession. And the earth is smiling too.

The rug in the picture was made from old sweaters, that had been unravelled and then crochet into a rug. There is nothing better to place by the door - it not only offers a splash of colour to the entryway, but is absorbent, keeps most dirt of the floor and best of all, it's easy to wash. The re-purposed wool will serve as a rug for many years.

I know many Hutterites make gorgeous rugs with new wool and use intricate patterns, and I love those as well. But I'd rather see something old become something new.

Recycling - From Swatches to Quilt

Many Hutterites are avid quilters and their handiwork is evident in the masterpieces they produce. My sister, Shirley is one of them. I always marvel at the amount of patience, expertise and time each quilt requires and how much these crafty ladies enjoy doing it. I can sew, but don't like to, so therefore would not attempt a major project like this. However, I admire everybody who does. I'd much rather recieve one of these cozy beauties as a gift. And thanks to Shirley, I did. With my favourite colour as a guide and without me knowing anything about it, she lovingly made this gorgeous quilt for my birthday.

This pattern is known as Crazy Quilt, (click on link for directions on how to make one). It's a great way to turn leftover swatches into something useful - even the smallest pieces can be used. Because Hutterites sew most of their own clothes, there's no lack of quilting material in every household.

I know there are quite a few Hutterites following this blog. Do you have any recycle/reuse ideas you'd like to share? Even if it's just something like reusing your Tim Hortons' cup. I've heard from a number of people doing that. No, we don't picked them up from the street or other places, just the ones we drank from. (-: It actually works to wash them and reuse them. Good old Timmy would probably love us for giving their cup a second chance at holding coffee.



If you have a wonderful idea, but are too shy to leave a comment, just send me an email using the 'contact me' button to the right of this post. Would love to hear from you!

Recycling - Tin Can Footstool

 

This footstool is made from tin cans, juice comes in. They're covered with upholstery roll ends. All has to be done by hand, but since I never made one, I'm not entirely sure how it all goes. People usually try to find fabric that matches their living room furniture, to make a set of two stools.

 I wish I knew who came up with this idea, but I don't. It's such a great way to use tin cans, that are practically useless after the juice is emptied from them. Better the cans are sitting pretty in a home, than sitting in some nuisance ground for years and years.

I wonder if other people have some interesting ideas to make footstools, especially from recycled materials.

(An hour after I posted this, Cindy left this link in the comments. Very interesting! Thanks a lot!)

Recycling - From Clothes to Cushy Fortrell Floormats

 

This is another rug made from Fortrell. To make it, requires a strong fabric like denim for the back. You cut your desired colours into 1 or 2 inch squares. (I know, it's a tremendous amount of work, but with a rotary cutter, not so bad.) Each piece is folded into a triangle and sewn unto the backing, which has the pattern already marked on it. You can either sew these pieces on, going in a circular motion starting in the middle and working your way out. Or you can start at one side and work your way across. It all depends on your pattern.

These are my favourite rugs, because they are so cushy. Perfect for the type of cold weather we're having right now. They're used in bathrooms, kitchens and bedrooms. But they also make nice dog beds, especially since they wash so well.

Recyling - Baler Twine and Fortrel Clothes Woven into Floormat

This mat is made out of old  fortrel clothes and baler twine.  First the twine is put on a loom. After the fortrel is cut into strips, folded and ironed, it's woven into the twine. Finally the mat is sewn along the raw edges and trimmed a few inches from where the weaving ends. Perfect for the kitchen or bathroom! Fortrel mats are not only practical and pretty, but wash and wear well, too. These days though, it's difficult to find this type of fabric, that is durable and doesn't fray.

 

I'm sure there are many people besides Hutterite who make beautiful floormats from recyclables. Do you have a favourite rug story to share?

Recycling - One Bag From Fifty

Instead of adding new recycled items to a separate  page, (or forgetting to, actually) I'm going to be featuring one at a time right here. That way I'll probably write more about the particular item featured that day.  Hopefully this will also keep me posting re-purposed tidbits more frequently, and content will be presented in a more interesting fashion. The Recycle page will eventually have the links to each item I've featured.

I never really liked my recycling page - kept forgetting to add stuff and everything I did add, had to be on the same page. The purpose for this page is simply to showcase our love for reusing things - gift that has been passed down for many generations in the Hutterite community.

So in the name of reusing instead of throwing out here's todays item:

These shopping bags won't be clinging to a nuisance ground fence, trees or shrubs. They are made by cutting ordinary plastic shopping bags into strips and crocheting them to create practical and pretty bags - my sister Elma's handiwork. They have a sort of  soft leathery feel to them. Each bag requires about fifty shopping bags to complete.

My sister got the idea from a dear elderly lady in a neighbouring town, who had been creating them for years. She could easily have sold them, but chose rather to give them to family and freinds as gifts. Elma was one of those lucky recipients. Later, she got Elma started on making them as well - sharing patterns, ideas and techniques with her.

If you'd like to make your own bag, you can get directions here. Found this, but don't know Amelia Redmond. In any case, my thanks to her for making it available online. Apparently there are many people who wisely repurpose shopping bags. Great to see!

Do you have a bag story you'd love to share? The comment section is waiting!

Say it With Straw

Because of the fact that our home is a giant farm, there's always lots of fun things for children to do. This is especially true during harvest time. Nothing beats riding along with dad on the combine or truck. Other harvest highlights include joining a brother/cousin on a swather, or playing hide and seek in a big corn patch.

So, with fun and photography in mind my sister and I headed to a nearby freshly baled field with our nephews, Jakobi and Terrance. Forget about the perfect pose with two lively little boys - just let them play and try to capture some sweet moments. Haven't met a kid yet who doesn't like to play with straw, our sweethearts are no exception.

Outside of sticking it in his mouth, Terrance didn't know what to do with the straw. From his golden perch, Jakobi loved throwing it in the air and watching it flutter to the ground.

 

 Jakobi wanted no part of sitting on top of those big round bales, but little brother, Terrance had no fear and thought it was great fun.
So, with feet firmly on the ground, Jakobi too enjoyed this new adventure.

"Let's see, what could I do? Oh, I know!"

 

 "I think I can roll this thing."

 

 "Guess not, too prickly."

"How about hide and seek?"

"Gotcha!"

 I'm on top of the world, lookin' down on creation...

"That's it, when I grow up, I wanna be a farmer!
Sorry daddy, but there's nothing like this in your carpenter shop."


No pricey toys.
No faraway place.
No travel expenses.
Just good old fashioned, freshly baled straw fun...
So what if it's prickly and itchy.
All part of the down home country charm,
That engages all senses to
create sweet homemade memories.



Is cursive becoming a lost art?

I love cursive and am glad that I got to learn it in school! But, I have to admit, most of the time, my writing is a combination of printing and cursive, unless I make a conscious effort to stick to one or the other. According to Sarah Matson, an Occupational Therepist, who does Handwriting Without Tears (HWT)workshops, most people combine the two. I attended one of their workshops last week. The program starts with printing and continues into cursive. I used the printing component all of this year and find it works like magic.

Jan Olson, the  creator of the HWT program believes that it’s important for children to learn cursive. Today, however schools really do not place a lot of emphasis on it, ours included. I agree with Ms. Olson, it’s a good skill to have. Thus, I will try to pass it on to our 4-6 students next school year. One of the arguments HWT uses is a valid one: ‘All tests are still handwritten.’ Cursive is supposedly more efficient, as it helps people get more down on paper in less time. I heard of a guy who claims he wouldn’t have passed the bar exam without cursive.

We can probably all agree that computers have caused the cursive demise. However, there are still plenty of ways that people use curves and loops to communicate, including these:

ü  Sending greeting cards – the paper type you pick up at the store

ü  Shopping lists -  at least I don’t think people run to the computer for those yet

ü  Letter writing – remember, Dear Grandma…..

ü  Notes – 'Will be out late – leftovers in fridge. Enjoy!'

I always think cursive reveals a bit about someone’s personality. Apparently others feel the same: Handwriting analysis, aka graphology is used by professionals in various ways. Learn more here.