Joyce’s Quilting Quandary

Fire Aftermath near Daylesford

A terrible time in Victoria !  

We have had some very bad weather days, by that I mean, extremely hot, dry and low humidity. When the days are calm, then it is not too bad! But , when a Northerly wind is forecast, then the fire danger is very real.  February 6th was announced  as one of the worst days that had ever been, and that it proved to be. The wind was blowing at over 100 kmh, and the temperature was 46.4 degrees Celsius. The bush fires absolutely devastated some of the mountain areas quite close to Melbourne, areas where the population density is quite high for a country area due to large numbers of people choosing to live in the bush. Due to the temperature and the wind, the fires moved very quickly. Some small towns, such as Marysville,  were destroyed with many people killed.    

By Sunday morning, the news was gradually coming through about the extent of the tragedgy. In Ballarat, which was a distance from most of the fires with the exception one fire at Bendigo and one at Daylesford, it was all a little surreal. We had a bit of smoke in the air, but otherwise, there was very little impact on our area. The final loss of life was 173, 100 male, 73 female. Some were children and families. 113 deaths occured in houses.    3,500 structures were destroyed.

There were some herioc stories, some tragic.

The army was called in to assist, so Michael spent several days in the fire areas.

The aftermath of the fires will be with us for years. It must NEVER happen again.

Amongst all this tragedy, I have been sewing to get ready for the trip. I have made a couple of pairs of trousers and a couple of shirts. I have been working on my Kaffe Fassett quilt, which is now complete except for sewing the hanging pocket by hand and going over the quilt to redo some of the quilting . I still love the fabrics! I will put this quilt into the Begonia Quilters  Exhibition.

Tony Delroy, Ron Radford,me and Arnie at the exhibition

A very busy week! Momi is coming to stay again with the girls from Shibuya High School. It was delightful to be able to host her again. She arrived on Wednesday.

 On Thursday morning  we had to be up very early because we were off to Canberra for the Degas exhibition! I knew that the exhibition was on at the National Gallery in Canberra. I had thought of various options to go, including driving up for a couple of days or flying up for a day. But, after some consideration I had decided that as we were going overseas , that I could not justify the cost etc. But then one afternoon on Local Radio 774 they announced a competition where you could win a trip to Canberra to see the exhibition. You had to choose one of four Degas paintings and write 100 words about it. I thought that I could have a go at it, so I did!   And I won!!!  A trip for two to Canberra, staying at the Hilton, a Cocktail party and tour of the exhibition with Tony Delroy hosting the occasion. We were then offered an extra night in Canberra and lunch with two senators, Trish Crossin from the Northern Territory and Gavin Marshall from Victoria. What to wear to the Cocktail Party was a little worrying. I eventually decided on a pink silk shirt and I made a new black silk skirt from a Sandra Betzina pattern.  I had bought the silk in Bangkok.  After organising Momi, we drove to the airport, flew to Canberra, got a taxi to the hotel – lovely- and then walked up to Parliament House. We met up with the winning couple from Darwin, Simon Elliott from the National Gallery and the two senators for lunch. 

We had a delightful lunch, went to Question Time and then walked back to the hotel. The Canberra Hilton was wonderful! Built in 1927 so that visitors had somewhere to stay, it has all been restored in the 1920’s style.  The next day we went to the War Memorial in the morning and then came back and were ready to go to the Cocktail Party at 5pm.

We met up with the other competition winners, four couples from NSW, one couple from South Australia, one from Queensland and one from Tasmania. We loaded onto the bus and went up to the Gallery. We gathered with people from the ABC and the National Gallery. Simon, who we had met at lunch, took us under his wing. Ron Radford, Director of the Gallery and Tony Delroy introduced the exhibition and then we went for a tour. It was wonderful!  Prints, drawings,  a beautiful pastel from the Mildura  Gallery and some other  great paintings. The painting that I wrote about,  ”Dancer with Bouquets ” was in pride of place with the Little Dancer. The painting was suprisingly large. Our guide was great, but it is not the way that I usually look at an exhibition, I usually like to take my time. But, it was great to be there with only 50 other people.

After our viewing, we  had a Cocktail Party in the Members’ Lounge. We had a chance to chat to Tony Delroy, which was great. Tony hosts the  Nighttime show on Local Radio across Australia from 10pm to 2am Eastern Standard TIme. From 12 Midnight he runs the 25 Question Quiz.  He told us thast he had someone phone in from the oil  fields off the coast of Scotland complaining about one of the answers. We usually listen to Tony as we are going to sleep.

After the drinks, we were then taken back to the Hilton where some of us had a little more to eat.  The next morning we flew back to Melbourne and then came back to Ballarat and picked up Momi from Rosemary’s place. The Canberra trip was wonderful. Eleanor Kirkham had done all the organising for us, so thanks to her. Momi

Back home again! Cats and house were fine! Jet lag was non-existent! Sad news greeted us on our arrival home.  Geoff, a long-time friend and the best man at our wedding had died after a long illness.  He must have died as we were flying from Syndney to melbourne on the last leg of our journey.

I have mentioned the CROSS STITCH a couple of times. It is a cross stitch of the 23rd Psalm and to say it is a long term project is an understatement. About two years ago, a friend of my brother’s, Caroline had found this lovely cross stitch. As she has eye-sight problems, she was looking for someone to do it for her.  I asked Catherine to do it, and very foolishly she said “Yes!” She took it back to London with her and commenced the work. Very soon she found that the design was very complex, both the design and the colour mixtures.

The rate of progress has been rather varied.  It is a very well travelled piece of work, it has been to South Africa, Slovenia, Cpenhagen,Ireland and to many parts of England. It has been done on trains, on planes,  in the tube, at aprties, in pubs and at Catherine’s work. It has been such a part of Catherine that now people are asking her where it is!    During these various expeditions  it managed to aquire a smell all of its own! I did some in Toyko!

Over the last few months, there has been a determined effort to finish! The deal struck was that Catherine would complete all that she could, and then I would bring it home with me and finish it off!!!  By the time we were to leave London, Catherine had completed all of the cross stitch, some of the back stitch, specifically on the Shepherd panel which is the most difficult and some of the writing.  I think she was up until about 1am on the morning we were flying out to St Petersburg.      

When we arrived home, I was determined to finish the  piece. My cross stitch and back stitch are not up to the same  wonderful standard as Catherine’s, but I was determined to do my best. I was very worried about the writing, I seemed to get a bit bigger every time I did it. But, when I finally finished, gave it a good soak, and ironed it, I found that the writing had settled down and had come together so it was difficult to pick the difference.  

FINISHED!!

We now only have to make the arrangements for the hand over!!

I said that I would write some thoughts about the Journal Quilt project when I had time to reflect on the process. I think that this reflection/evaluation part of the design process is really important.

I have decided that it is a wonderful thing to because of a number of reasons. It extended my skills and encouraged me to be creative. The small size of the blocks also helped this aspect. My free-hand machine embroidery, which I have always loved doing, was vastly improved.  

The project encouraged ( should I say forced me? ) to be aware and thinking of the project at all times. Due to the pressure of one block a week, I could not afford to get too far behind so there was a constant deadline which encouraged me to be quilting, and I needed to think about what would be the inspiration for my block that week.  Now that it is finished and hanging on the wall, the quilt is a great record of the year and the experiences which were contained within the year.  But,  I can show friends and relatives where they were involved in the story of the quilt. My friend , Gertrud, who is included in Week 42, went to the blog and read all the stories after being shown her block! 

Would I do it again?  That is the big question!! Yes I would! But, I am glad I am having a rest in 2009!

 When I look at   Elizabet Perry’s   WoolGathering website,  http://www.elizabethperry.com/woolgathering  I admire greatly her creativity and dedication to do a drawing per day!  It is not only ALWAYS doing the drawing ( no excuses, no putting it off until tomorrow), but also scanning it and writing about it EVERY DAY for  seven years! 

I certainly  relate to her statement at the top of the web page ”  looking-thinking-drawing-being “.       

I think the Journal Quilt would be a great group activity. For instance, members of a quilting group could be allocated or volunteer for a number of weeks throughout the year. Imagine the discussions!

However, I don’t think that my stash of black and white fabrics has diminished!!!!

Peterhof fountains

We flew to St Petersburg from London. We had five days in St Petersburg where we had a guide, Tanya, and driver, Marat, who kept us on the go! It is a beautiful city, with many rivers and canals. There are no tall buildings ( a amximum of five stories high) and very few advertising signs.  The Hermitage was an amazing experience! Amazing art in equally amazing surroundings!  The Impressionist collection, including the ones that the Russians took back from the Germans, is great. We went to a Russian musical night and to the  ballet, Swan Lake performed by the Kirov-Marinsky Ballet. We came out of the performance at 10.15pm, into bright daylight.  Daylight was at about 4am and it did not get dark until about 11pm.

Cathedral of the Split Blood

We caught the overnight train to Moscow.  There was not much English spoken on the train, but we had a great sleep! We  did a tour with the delightful Anna, and then flew out to Tokyo. We had run into trouble with accommodation in Moscow because of the Euro-Vision song festival, so thought the one day tour was our best option. We were standing in Red Square at 7.45am. Anna, our guide and Marat our driver gave us the swift 7 hour tour of Moscow.

I was a little stressed about navigating in Tokyo, but thanks to Momi (a Japanese travel guide, who has stayed with us in Ballarat), our Michael’s instructions and the help of an Irish fellow who was on the train with us, we found our hotel at the Shinjuku station without getting lost once!  We had left our BIG  suitcases at Toyko airport .Thank goodness for Japan Rail hotels and helpful Irishmen working in Tokyo.  We were very fortunate because Momi was able to spend the next day with us, showing us around Harugku. She knew all the best places! We had great fun cooking our Japanese pancakes for lunch. And the 100 yen shop was a treasure trove.  The bustle and lights of Tokyo was a huge contrast to Russia! 

We navigated our way back to Tokyo airport and then home after just over seven weeks away.

The stopovers in Russia and Tokyo certainly helped with the jet-lag. 

We had a wonderful, wonderful trip! No major hassles! We had seen some amazing things and been part of some amazing experiences. Apart from a minor brush with the strange taxi driver in New York, we always felt very safe.  We stayed with some very precious friends and relatives which is a great way to travel, and we were really pleased that Arnie got to meet Thea and Jack in Santa Rosa and Andy and Kate in Boston.

There were many, many highlights. Special moments that one remembers with a smile! One was certainly the spring flowers. What we saw depended on the latitude of our location at the time. Sometimes the tulips were just coming out, other times they were in full bloom. Sometimes the trees were still their soft winter brown, in other places they were covered with bright green foliage. We were too late for the cherry blossom in Tokyo, but had seen the apple and cherry orchards in flower in Faversham (near Dover) ans in Durham, and had seen the blossom trees and forsythia out in Central Park. The bed of purple tulips backed by the lilac tree in Moscow was wonderful. As were the bluebells and primroses flowering wild in the English and Irish woodland.  

The brown, burnt hill as we flew down from Sydney brought us back to the reality of the bushfires.

Natalie and Ewan picked us up from the airport.

We caught the ferry back from France, had another night near Faversham and then caught the train back to London. We met Catherine at work, met the people she worked with, had lunch with Catherine and Anthony and then went back to the flat.  We had a couple of days recuperating and doing the washing at Catherine’s. We did a couple of short visits including a tour of Lord’s Cricket ground, and a visit to Eltham House. This was a former palace of Henry VIII which was purchased by the Courtland family and renovated in Art Noueau/Modernist style. The Hall had been renovated on Tudor style. It was lovely!   But the best thing is just to spend time with Catherine.

Wonderful Traditional Music in a Traditional Pub

On the Saturday, after a very early start, the four of us flew to Belfast. We drove across through the green,green countryside to the West Coast of Ireland, where we stayed in a thatched cottage (my Milly-Molly-Mandy experience) at Tully Cross, a tiny village about an hour from Galway in the Connemara region. It was great, and suited Catherine and Arnie perfectly because there was a pub across the road! It is a  wild area of Ireland, with the cutest sheep that you have ever seen! Black faces, black legs, long wool which blew in the wind and the most beautiful little lambs. Hills/mountains were very much like Scotland, very bare, covered with heathlad with peat bogs in the valleys . The cottage was warm and comfortable with all modern facilities plus a peat fire. The weather was a bit chilly and wet at times, but we had a great time. There was even a resident cat, Seamus! We had some delicious local mussels. We drove to Galway one day and the remainder of the time spent exploring the Connemara area.

Coonamara Mountain Sheep - how cute are they!!!

The following Saturday, we flew back to Stanstead, and then got ready to fly out the next day for St Petersburg. We had to even out the weight in the suitcases!!!!!. Early the next morning we were on our way back to Heathrow. We said goodbye to Catherine, which is never easy, and seems to get harder every time we do it.

Catherine doing THE CROSS STITCH on the train to Durham

We flew to London overnight and Catherine (with bright red short hair) picked us up from the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport and took us out to her and our son-in-law, Anthony’s flat  for a few days before went to France. We had not seen catherine for sixteen months! Fat too long!

 We had a session on Skype with Michael, our son, and another with Anthony’s brother, sister-in-law and aunt in South Africa. Catherine, Arnie and I had a day trip on the train to Durham to see the twelth century cathedral. It was a building which I had been seeing photographs for forty years. It was beautiful, amazing Romanesque decoration and the most beautiful modern embroidery on kneelers and altar decorations.

Cherry blossom at Durham Catherdral

 We also visited  Kenwood House,  A stately home only about 30 minutes from Catherine and Anthony’s flat.  Wonderful gardens and a wonderful art collection featuring Turners, a Rembrandt, a Vermeer and many others.

We caught the train to Faversham, near Dover. We arrived about 2pm and had a couple of hours exploring the very old town before Michael, our guide , picked us up and took us to our B&B in a little village nearby.  We met the other couple who were going to be on our France/ Belgium tour, and the next morning we set off to catch the ferry at Dover. It is an extremely busy port, but the system works very smoothly. We drove on and then went up to the passenger decks. Breakfast was on the ferry going across. When we arrived in France, we set off for our Battlefields tour. We went to Villiers Bretonneau and had a look at the cemetery and the museum. We then set off for our hotel at Arras. At dinner we met up with another tour group which was being guided by the owner of the company, David. There were 5 Australians on his tour.

The next day was Anzac Day, and we had to be dressed and ready to go at 3am for the Dawn Service. We arrived at Villiers Bretonneau, walked up the hill to the cemetery and found some seats. It was certainly a privilege to be there and be part of the occasion. There were a majority of Australians present, but also a significant number of French people. The sky behind the cemetery gradually turned from black with stars to the pale blue of the dawn sky and then to the brighter blue of the day sky as the service proceeded. Yvonne, Pat, Arnie and I laid a wreath in memory of all those men who didn’t come home and in memory of  Private Cooke,  a VC winner who was killed in that area. His body was never recovered.  He served in our son Michael’s Battalion. After an hour, the cold was beginning to penetrate into the bones!  The local authorities of the Somme area provided us with coffee and cake to warm us up! A very generous gesture considering the numbers at the ceremony. Some people resorted to a liquid just a bit stronger!!! In ANZAC tradition of course!  We had to be back at the busses by 7.30am and then set off on our tour again. We stopped for a hearty English breakfast at a local restaurant run by an English woman. Yum!!!!  

The restaurant was complete with resident cat.

We then continued our tour and visited Posieres where Private Robert Beatham,  another 7^th Battalion VC winner , fought and visited Heath cemetery where he was buried. The next day, we spent some time locating the area, near Bullecourt, where a friend’s father had been badly wounded. We are sure that we located the valley that he and his fellow soldiers were advancing along when he was shot. We then made our way across to Ypres in Belgium where we spent two nights, spending the days exploring the battlefields around Ypres. Michael, our guide found the grave of   Nellie Spindler, a nurse killed in 1917, one of only two women buried on the battlefields for me. I really noticed the lack of a woman’s presence on the battlefields.  Would the situation  by any different in the 21st Century

We really enjoyed our time in Belgium. The trip to France/Belgium and going to the Dawn Service had been one of the reasons for our trip and certainly the reason for the timing of trip. It was a worthwhile thing to do.

We then caught the train from New York to Boston and had five days with my friend Geraldine and her family (Geraldine is my journal quilt friend). We visited some great fabric shops (fabric at $ 8.00 a yard!) and also the Lowell Quilting Museum which had a contemporary exhibition of Swiss/American quilters plus some of their antique collection on display. Geraldine has finished her journal quilt. It was great to see all her blocks.  We assisted with the Art Exhibition at Stacey’s school. One great thing which we did was to go to a Boston Red Socks baseball game. I had bought tickets over the internet for the five of us. It was interesting to be with a crowd of 35,000 people, 33,000 of whom were supporting Boston. We also had dinner with Andy and Kate Ebbott, my distant cousins on my mother’s side.

From California, we flew to New York! The most wonderful city! Vibrant! Alive! And not at all scary once one gets in from the airport!!! We landed at JFK Airport at 8.30pm and I carefully followed the signs to the Hotel Shuttles, not realising that they were to the hotels around the airport, not the Manhattan Island hotels. We ended up in a rather seedy taxi with a  driver who eventually dropped us at the correct hotel, but not before I thought that I should perhaps text someone and tell them where we were! We certainly saw some of the industrial areas of New York. But all’s well that ends well! We were in New York over Easter.

 One thing that we really wanted to do was walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. So, we purchased our subway ticket, planned the station we would have to get out, and off we went! Whoops! We missed the station. After discussing the situation with two police, we worked out that we were over the river in Brooklyn, so, following their directions, we walked across the bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan. A great thing to do and the best direction to do the walk! We went to Ground Zero as well. Just as well we did that on the first day, because the weather got a bit chilly.

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but the costume collection was closed and we also visited Strawberry Fields in Central park. Central Park was beautiful with its spring flowers. Our hotel was on 57th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, which was a great location.  The subway is great and the street numbering system means that you always know the right direction to go when you come out of the subway. We visited Times Square and the Chrysler Building. We mainly ate at a local diner which was convenient and cheap. 

Tulips at Strawberry Fields

I managed to get my scissors confiscated in Melbourne before I had even got on the first plane in Melbourne.
First stop was Santa Rosa, California, visiting some friends, Thea and Jack Dolan who I had first met 12 years ago… Thea is a quilter of many years so it was good to see her current projects which included a lovely log cabin quilt for her grandaughter. We had a trip to Korbels Winery, a chamnpagne and brandy producer and then went to see the Californian sequoias, some of which are 300 feet high. Arnie wondered how many pens he could manage to make out of one of the trees. Michael, our son suggested a lot of pens or one pen plus a huge pile of saw dust.
We managed to get our selves lost in the sequoias, one of those miss-communication occasions. We thought that we had to meet Thea and Jack at a certain spot and they were waiting at another. We eventually walked back to the front gate of the Park and asked that the rangers keep an eye out for an elderly couple looking for two Australians. The ranger assured us that it would be all OK because we couldn’t possibly imagine all the things that had been lost in the National Park. Eventually, they arrived back at the front gate and rescued us! In time to go and have hamburgers at the local bikies hangout by the Russian River. THE BEST HAMBURGERS! Arnie sampled the local beer; I had to make do with the local Chardonnay! The restaurant was a good example of the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover!!!” The outside was very strange, but the inside was spotless wirh great staff. It was lovely to stay with Thea and Jack and for Arnie to meet them.