Lee L. Grumbine once wrote a poem about the dengelschtock (a peening anvil used to sharpen scythes) which provides a view into the Pennsylvania Dutch grain harvest. He included the following stanza about an important element of the harvest.

This past December I was commissioned to make a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch textile to celebrate the birth of a child — an heirloom to hang in the nursery. I decided on an ausgenaeht handduch ‘decorated towel'.

This week on my loom are some placemats in a pattern that I’ve called “Meadow Valley.”