memories – Quilty Pleasure

13 July 2021

She Came in Like a Wrecking Ball…..

2020 saw it’s fair share of challenges, something we thought we would and could handle, and for the most part Australia was no different. We began with a great deal of our country suffering crippling drought and monster wildfires which devastated homes and wildlife habitats, including the wildlife themselves. From there we had been exposed to the Pandemic – taking hold of the population by fear, and losing some of our most vulnerable members of our society. Tragedy followed, and so far 2021 hasn’t been much different. While some places are still in drought, we also had some massive floods and now a large rural disaster is unfolding in the shape of a mouse plague. Life here, whilst hard, breeds tough, resilient and tenacious people.

Aussies pick themselves up, dust off the dirt, put our big girl undies on, and deal with whatever life throws our way, so when others are finding it tough, we always get stuck in and help out, give as much of ourselves as we can, even if it’s our very last resources.

As Covid-19 ravages the world over, wiping the earth with an insidiousness, Aussies stopped. We lost a lot of jobs, but faith in ourselves and our abilities grew as we paused. We worked to help keep ourselves and others the world over safer.

While my job was considered “essential”, I remained working as well as making masks for my fellow workmates, and a beautiful nurse friend of mine in the USA, where they were only allowed ONE paper mask per week! To fight off a pandemic, only having access to LIMITED PPE to help keep THEM safe, was just absolutely plain LUDICROUS! Whilst my country paused, theirs continued to forge ahead, not worrying about the devastating loss it would encounter along the way. So, I got stuck in here, and belted out 55 masks in a weekend and posted those off to my friend for herself and her work mates – and then followed again with another 26. By this time, she was set, and so was her family and all her co-workers. Then Imade them for myself and my family and all those I held dear, and then for MY work colleagues and their families. A few of us at work were making them.

With all these masks, came a ton of tiny scraps. So.. what to do with those? Well, into a ziplock bag they went because most were approx 2” wide. Scrappy for sure, but what do you do with those?

On my stash busting mission, I decided to use an old register receipt roll I was given, and began sewing all those little scraps to it – making one V E R Y long strip. I cut 1 metre strips of paper and then sewed all the scraps together. After almost emptying the bag of scraps, I then cut another strip of white to add to the cross section edge of my paper strip, leaving the paper intact so as to keep the fabric from stretching out of place. Now comes the fun bit. 🙂

Paper piano keys sewn to white homespun strips, paper removed afterward.

Once the strip was joined, I began pulling out the papers. Laying this flat on my cutting board, I took my 60° ruler and began cutting wedge shaped pieces. I was going to create a hexagon of colour with either a white centre, or with a small coloured hexagon, and a lot of white surrounding it.

Measuring wedge shapes with a 60° ruler.

Wedge shapes cut from assembled strips of white and coloured piano key paper strips.

Having the pieces cut, I continued until I had enough for my quilt top. I then began to assemble the “wedge” pieces to make half a hexie shape. These later on, will be put together with some single white wedge shaped pieces of fabric.

One fun thing I had to keep in my mind a LOT when I began sewing was to be very careful NOT to stretch the fabric. Being cut on a bias made that naughty stretch entirely possible, even though I didn’t want it to happen. However, I managed it quite well – so far so good. 🙂

*Half Hexie with white outside, and small coloured inner hexagon.*

Sewing these together in a strip with a white triangle, made for the easiest assemblage of the pieces. And so, I repeated this and added my borders and voila.. a finished quilt top. I love this top so much, and have called it “Group Hugs in Isolation”. It was a reminder of all those people that I have helped to keep safe, some I knew, others I didn’t.

The charity of helping others is what we should strive for in our daily doings and beings. It’s a “pay it forward” opportunity, or a feel good moment. Like carrying someone’s groceries to their car when they’re struggling or checking on elderly neighbours. All the things you can help with during a pandemic that make life tolerable. That small amount of human touch to one another without actually coming into close contact. Sending messages and pictures of love and hope to another who is far away, or just smiling at someone walking towards you. Gifting without rewards, donating to charities that help others and getting the vaccination against Covid to protect yourself AND your communities.

So, 2020 AND 2021 came in like a wrecking ball, but we don’t have to allow it to destroy our sense of belonging or closeness. We just have to be mindful, thoughtful, and build our relationships on totally new levels.

~ Rails.

11 April 20211 May 2021

2021: Life goes on

The New year has started off rough. Life has kept me otherwise busy, anxious and pre-occupied. To cope, I’ve been working on an EPP quilt. Small pieces, handcut templates, basting. All mind-less, repetitive activities I’ve used to cope with anxiety. At this point I don’t even want to know how many kites and hexies and half-hexies I’ve made!

April 2021: Life has not returned to ‘normal’. I’ve just had to adjust, adapt, and continue on.
My family has lost an important member, and every day I think of something I want to pass on, a gardening joke, a weather comparison, a smell that reminds me of another time and place. Sometimes I send the jokes or thoughts or weather to someone else. Sometimes I just lament that there’s a void. As mentioned, life continues. Life goes on.

So, on to the Aussie quilt again…

This is by far mom’s favourite block. It’s in memory of my parent’s wedding anniversary.

Burgundy is my mom’s colour. So of course finding a floral, heart shaped pattern with a background of burgundy was perfect for this block! I quilted it very simply, following the lines of the heart and the swags.

My parents were married in February, shortly after Valentines Day, in the middle of a bad snowstorm. Because my dad was in the military on short leave, they couldn’t just reschedule it.

As she tells it, my parents, my aunt and my grandparents were about the only ones able to show up. But they were married for 45 years, so an inauspicious start wasn’t much of a hindrance. They went on to have eight (8!) of us children!! I was by far the favourite, of course (hey, its my blog, TJ)!!!

(Sidenote: I wore this same dress for my wedding twenty-five odd years later)

The reason my mom and younger brother came to Australia, was my oldest daughter getting married to her sweetheart. Everything else was icing on the wedding cake, so to speak.

There’s a certain similarity to both of their wedding flowers in these blocks, sweet pink rose clusters. It appealed to my sense of life’s circularity. To match it a bit more, I used a heart template roughly the size of the heart quilting on my mom’s block. It’s a looser, not as traditional styling as her block which was suitable for a much younger, modern bride while still holding that bit of bridal tradition.

Remember I told you to look forward to the picture of my brother modelling? Here it is. Somewhat ironic that he was attempting to model the veil without any hair on his shiny head! Also, he’s never married. Always a bridesmaid and all that…..

When I first arrived in Australia, I remember seeing the most intricate wrought iron balconies and fences and gates. Someone told me that it was called “lacework” and that description has always seemed appropriate. It shows up in cities all over Australia. This fabric has the delicate scrollwork (though not the symmetry!) of iron lacework.

When silver threads are sewn into,
The quilt of life, inspired by you,
The memories of all you’ve done
The love you’ve shared, can’t be undone.
~ Raelene

1 January 202127 June 2021

I still call Australia home…

The continuing story of the quilt that was born in Australia

My brother and mom made a lot of stops on their way to Adelaide. They flew into Sydney for my daughters wedding, stayed for a week or so in Western Sydney and then came down to Adelaide with me where I was living at the time. Of course they hit the highlights, the tourist places that everyone visits when they come to Australia. Even I did when I first arrived! I was lucky enough to find fabric that made perfect patches…

The four corners of the ~~apocolypse~~ quilt- hehe, sorry it IS 2020, but these four corners were placed on the quilt nearly 10 years ago – are of iconic Australian places and animals. This patch is the Sydney Harbour Bridge and is recognisable as the ocean-side entry to Sydney.

Sydney Opera House is not only outstanding architecture in Australia, but is listed as a World Heritage site, alongside the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and the ancient Pyramids of Egypt. I remember visiting once and looking down the side of the Opera House into the ocean and seeing SO many jellyfish – huge groupings, I discovered are called blooms!

The Kookaburra (aka the laughing jackass). The completed block has a small black button with red legs, to symbolise the Redback spider, star of ‘There’s a redback on my toilet seat‘ song! During our Christmas dinner that year, I pulled out the laptop and found as many classic Aussie songs as I could. They found it funny until I pointed out my inside/outside toilet (I lived in an amazing old house) was a great place for spiders! One of the sounds I miss most is hearing Kookaburra’s in the morning.

One of my funniest memories of kangaroos wasn’t on this particular trip, it was before my mom came over. I had been a citizen for about 15 years, and while not an uncommon sight, they weren’t normally seen day-to-day. However, there was a park down the road from where I lived and after I had just denied in a call to my mom that we have kangaroos roaming the streets like deer, guess what I happened to see on a walk down my street? Yes, indeed!

My mom was tickled to see this Kangaroo, even if it was in a zoo. How often do you get to pet the cuter half of the Australian Coat of Arms?? And to give you some more classic Aussie songs, click on the link to listen to Rolf and the Beatles do “Tie me Kangaroo Down” – if you’ve never heard it, you’re welcome for the earworm! (The original version.)

Keeping to the theme of Australian animals, this block is a brolga (a type of crane) in a billabong. This was eventually quilted with both spirals (a recurring theme in my quilts since it’s often symbolic of change, evolution, wisdom and infinity) and short straight stitches resembling rain from clouds. Mom initially thought the birds were emu’s, as her zoo visit included an ‘attack’ by an emu for a treat in her hand. Emu’s have very small brains and tend to think buttons, hair, and anything held in the hand is food and they want it. That can be frightening, their beaks are big and the feet are bigger and both look like weapons close-up!

Kangaroo Island, off the coast of South Australia, is a fascinating place. They have an isolated population of what is widely considered the last genetically pure strain of Italian Ligurian bees. We had dishes of honey ice cream (too sweet for me!), honey sticks and I got myself a hexagon of sweet smelling bees wax to wax threads for hand quilting – used in this quilt, actually! Memories are not just what your mind remembers, but also what your sense of smell remembers. If you want to learn more about the Island, and the bee population particularly, you’ll find one source here. I promise, no earworms! Just the pleasurable buzz of learning new things!

This block brings back fun memories. What can be more Australian than a Koala? Well, there’s the Australian drop-bear, read a history of this elusive critter from the Australian Museum. Beware, elusive as they are, they’re scarier than the Tasmanian Devil, even!

Featherdale Zoo has a strict policy against ordinary mortals cuddling their Koala’s. My brother was standing next to the open enclosure after the educational talk. The big female in the enclosure dropped down from the tree onto the hip-high fence around the trees and climbed directly into my brother’s arms and gave him a cuddle! The Zoo attendant rushed over and told him cuddles were not allowed, and my poor brother had to sputter that he hadn’t actively taken her up. We tease him about his animal attraction and possibly the grey in his beard, and his rounded stomach made her think he was a koala. He really didn’t agree, but what do brother’s know, right?

Later, we rented a cabin on Kangaroo Island, and while we saw plenty of wallaby’s, we were THRILLED one late afternoon to see a large male climb down a gum tree and galumph across the golden fields to another tree. Even after 18 years or so, that was the closest I’d ever come to a wild Koala, and certainly a first for my mom. Not my brother, though, since this was after his cuddle-up.

Skates, or stingrays. upside down, they look like they have sweet faces!

My brother really wanted to do a scuba dive when he was in Adelaide. There was a well known dive site not far off-shore where an old ship had been deliberately sunk. Lucky for him, I knew someone who had a scuba suit and tanks he could borrow, so he could join a dive group. While I’m not entirely sure he saw any stingrays or skates, I admit i just loved the pattern and just had to include it in memory of that dive.

There’s going to be at least one or two more in this series of posts. It’s been great fun going back and looking at the blocks and my mom making them. My brother will show up in photo’s next post doing some fashion modeling for us! Stay tuned, it’s worth it…

Love and blessings for the New Year, may 2021 be easier than 2020.

14 December 202027 June 2021

A Long Time Ago, In A Far Away Place….

My last blog post was about a new quilt I made for my young granddaughter. One of the quilts I also finished this year was a quilt I helped my Mom with about 9-10 years ago. This blog is similar to the previous blog about the Unicorn Quilt/Family Ties. There’s a LOT of meaning in these blocks I’m about to show you. However, there are 24 quilt pictures and a few extra, so I may break this into a few blog posts.

She’d never made a quilt before, so I taught her most of what she knows.

My mother and TJ, my younger brother, had come to Australia (her first and last visit) for my eldest daughter’s wedding. She stayed three months, and we did quite a few side trips to places like Featherdale zoo, the Blue Mountains, Kangaroo Island, several vineyards including a fascinating visit to a bio-dynamic vineyard where we bought the most delicious late harvest white wine. I don’t usually drink, but we did go through several bottles of that wine while they were visiting!

Cheese classes have been on my mom’s wish list for years. I did a quick search, just a few weeks before Christmas, to see if I could find any classes going on in the area. Amazingly, there was a place up in Hahndorf, Udder Delights, that had just had a cancellation of two students. I explained that my mom was from the US and had always wanted to take classes, and they were kind enough to offer me the two spots – normally you have to book ahead by as much as a year, we were told!

Cheese-making block (cheese in the middle, cave around that and olive groves surrounding the area as the third border)

The cheeses are made below the Udder Delights cheese shop , in their cellar. To this day, my mom still has the instructions, the rennet, the forms – everything you need to make your own cheese. We took home some Feta we had made that day as well. And of course, we learned whey can be used in everything from breadmaking, soups, and as a fertiliser in the garden. I’ve done all those things since then. The hills of Hahndorf have a lot of vineyards and olive oil groves, and we showed that in the olive leaf inner green border. The cave is represented by the darker leaf border and the cheese as the innermost block. We didn’t make it cheddar coloured, as feta and ricotta are creamy white.

We also took a dolphin cruise. Now, my brother is a first responder, and it seems EVERYWHERE he goes, he meets other firemen and first responders. This cruise was no different, and he talked up a storm with the guy, and gave him one of the first responder patches he carried with him everywhere in Australia.

the notion of dolphins, if not actual ones

We FINALLY saw some dolphins cruising along the boat just before the finish, and we were thoroughly delighted. Since my mom grew up in the Great Lakes region in the midwest, she hadn’t had much chance to see dolphins prior to her trip. While paisley isn’t technically a dolphin, they do look like them from above, right?!

Looks like truffles, cobblestones and sheep’s wool!

Being choc-o-holics, of course we went to the Haigh’s Chocolate shop in Adelaide, and bought their famous truffles. We also saw some cobbled streets and did the Adelaide tourist thing – including the farmers market. It had been a very long time since my mother had been to anything resembling a European Farmer’s Market, and this was as much fun for her as it was for myself and my brother. I adore Farmer’s Markets, the more diverse the better!

These are the Aboriginal fabrics that showcase some of the artwork and imagery of Australian Aboriginals in our travels. We were lucky to see a young man playing on a didgereedoo at an art gallery we visited. These blocks remind us of the Elders and Tribal lands that we stood on.

Mom bought small boomerangs painted with Aboriginal designs, and these reminded me of boomerangs – properly thrown – and their whirling paths back to the start.

This is the only block mom dislikes on the entire quilt. Witchity grubs! Of course, the dot painting style is familiar to many who have seen Aboriginal art. The witchity grub, is a protein rich food source for outback wanderers as well. I fully admit, it gives me a childish giggle whenever I see it and it’s one of my favourite blocks.

I’m already working on the next post for this, and at the end of all of them, will show the quilt in its entirety. With some luck, I should have the next installment up before Christmas. Hoping you’re enjoying the start of this series and that it gives you food for thought. Just not grub related food, as mom would most assuredly agree with!