If you are visiting the blog for the first time, you will see that there are 3 sections to each entry. Life Before Quilting documents my early years up until the time I started to quilt. My Quilting Journey covers my 25 years of teaching and the quilts that I have made during that period. Quilting 2010 addresses what’s happening in my quilting life now. Just enjoy what you are interested in and visit often!
LIFE BEFORE QUILTING
Life on Tarawa, the main island in the Gilbert Islands group, was certainly different from anything I had ever known before! Land consisted of a strip of compressed coral, no more than about 6 to 12 feet above sea level. This tiny strip of land was so narrow in places that it was possible to throw a stone into the ocean on one side and the lagoon on the other. There was only 12 miles of hard packed coral on the south side of the atoll that could loosely be called a road and, although a few cars had started to appear, bicycles and motorbikes were the main mode of transport. The remainder of the island, stretching to the north of the 100 square mile lagoon, was broken into smaller uninhabited islands by tidal channels but it was possible to walk and wade to the Catholic mission school of Taborio if necessary. The mission was mainly accessed by boat. Coconut palms accentuated the shaped of the atoll and gave welcome shelter from the searing rays of the tropical sun. This same sun rose in the morning at 6am and switched off dramatically some 12 hours later as it disappeared over the horizon.
MY QUILTING JOURNEY
The hand appliquéd and hand quilted sections of what became known as Jacobean Spring progressed steadily, in between my regular classes and travelling workshops. After 10 weeks of intensive work it was sent off unwanted, unloved and uninsured to the National Patchwork Championships. Quite frankly, with the intensity of work I had seen enough of it and was glad to see the back of it!
‘Only 10 weeks!’ I hear you gasp. It was at this time that I started to learn how to save as much time for my sewing as possible:-
I taught my daughters how to cook: Tin opener: can. Can: tin opener!
I only ironed the front of my husband’s shirts in the sure faith that he just didn’t look at the backs.
I realised that if ‘stuff’ was put back where it belonged, it produced an aura of orderliness.
I sprayed polish into the air just before my husband came home so he would assume that I had been polishing.
I have always been told by my husband that I never put things away after I used them so all I had to do was leave out the polish and duster or the Hoover and he would just assume that I had used it!
What a game but at least the quilt was finished quickly!
LIFE BEFORE QUILTING
Life on Tarawa, the main island in the Gilbert Islands group, was certainly different from anything I had ever known before! Land consisted of a strip of compressed coral, no more than about 6 to 12 feet above sea level. This tiny strip of land was so narrow in places that it was possible to throw a stone into the ocean on one side and the lagoon on the other. There was only 12 miles of hard packed coral on the south side of the atoll that could loosely be called a road and, although a few cars had started to appear, bicycles and motorbikes were the main mode of transport. The remainder of the island, stretching to the north of the 100 square mile lagoon, was broken into smaller uninhabited islands by tidal channels but it was possible to walk and wade to the Catholic mission school of Taborio if necessary. The mission was mainly accessed by boat. Coconut palms accentuated the shaped of the atoll and gave welcome shelter from the searing rays of the tropical sun. This same sun rose in the morning at 6am and switched off dramatically some 12 hours later as it disappeared over the horizon.
MY QUILTING JOURNEY
The hand appliquéd and hand quilted sections of what became known as Jacobean Spring progressed steadily, in between my regular classes and travelling workshops. After 10 weeks of intensive work it was sent off unwanted, unloved and uninsured to the National Patchwork Championships. Quite frankly, with the intensity of work I had seen enough of it and was glad to see the back of it!
‘Only 10 weeks!’ I hear you gasp. It was at this time that I started to learn how to save as much time for my sewing as possible:-
I taught my daughters how to cook: Tin opener: can. Can: tin opener!
I only ironed the front of my husband’s shirts in the sure faith that he just didn’t look at the backs.
I realised that if ‘stuff’ was put back where it belonged, it produced an aura of orderliness.
I sprayed polish into the air just before my husband came home so he would assume that I had been polishing.
I have always been told by my husband that I never put things away after I used them so all I had to do was leave out the polish and duster or the Hoover and he would just assume that I had used it!
What a game but at least the quilt was finished quickly!
Jacobean Spring Detail 1
Jacobean Spring Detail 2
QUILTING 2010
Little progress has been made quilt-wise due to a trip to London where we attended a practice for the Trooping of the Colour. We watched the Colonel’s Review with the Duke of Edinburgh officiating - a practice for the Queen’s Birthday Parade the following weekend. The 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards was trooping its Colour this year having recently returned from Afghanistan in April. Regimental flags were historically known as ‘colours’ because they displayed the colours and insignia worn by the soldiers of different units. The principal role of a regiment’s colours was to provide a rallying point for the troops in the chaos of war and so it was necessary to display them through the ranks of troops. This is the origin of the word ‘trooping’.
The spectacular event, in the welcome June sunshine, was an impressive mix of striking red and black uniforms, precision marching and manoeuvrings and pulse-stirring music. What I shall remember most, and what you don’t pick up when you watch the even on television, is the rhythmical crunch of the over-polished boots on the loose gravel of the parade ground. Nor will I forget the gleaming coats of the high stepping horses as they passed proudly and spiritedly before us. Absolutely great!
QUILTING 2010
Little progress has been made quilt-wise due to a trip to London where we attended a practice for the Trooping of the Colour. We watched the Colonel’s Review with the Duke of Edinburgh officiating - a practice for the Queen’s Birthday Parade the following weekend. The 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards was trooping its Colour this year having recently returned from Afghanistan in April. Regimental flags were historically known as ‘colours’ because they displayed the colours and insignia worn by the soldiers of different units. The principal role of a regiment’s colours was to provide a rallying point for the troops in the chaos of war and so it was necessary to display them through the ranks of troops. This is the origin of the word ‘trooping’.
The spectacular event, in the welcome June sunshine, was an impressive mix of striking red and black uniforms, precision marching and manoeuvrings and pulse-stirring music. What I shall remember most, and what you don’t pick up when you watch the even on television, is the rhythmical crunch of the over-polished boots on the loose gravel of the parade ground. Nor will I forget the gleaming coats of the high stepping horses as they passed proudly and spiritedly before us. Absolutely great!
No comments:
Post a Comment