Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012

January

I am a bit behind on this challenge, not much, but still behind.  I found that I couldn't complete one block in isolation.  I had to plan out what I wanted to finish with.  This meant that I had to draw up the layout of the completed quilt and how the blocks would all fit together.  Then I found that the design of the blocks had to compliment the finished design and flow into each other.

Also, being stuck in a wheelchair for the past couple of months, I couldn't get to a shop to buy fabric.  This meant that I had to use my stash.  I was surprised at just how many fabric I had.  Of course they were not all in one place.  Some where with my patchwork fabrics, some with the dressmaking and some just stuck away in boxes.

My theme is water and this block sits towards the bottom of the quilt.  I am using two poems of Henry Lawson throughout the quilt.  'Reedy River', only those lines that refer to water, and 'The Water Lily'

Whilst looking for copies of these poems on-line I came across Lawson's poem 'The Old Bark School'.   The school master in the poem was my husband's Great Grandfather and reading the poem filled out more details about him.  His Irish brogue and how he taught them all about Ireland, (not England) out west in that little bush school.

I have incorporated all the stitches for January from the TAST 2012 challenge in this block and the little figures are the aboriginal mimi spirits that live in the waterholes.

The words do not show very clear in this photo but they say;

Ah, the waking is sad,
For the tears that it brings,
And she knows 'tis her dead baby's spirit that sings:

 

 

Comments

[Rachel]

Great idea, reinforcing what you've done in TAST by incorporating the stitches in something else immediately!

And it's a delightful piece, too!

[Carolyn Foley]

I need to break out from the strict structure of the sampler. I know I could on the sampler but they are for teaching and too much information is not a good thing in those circumstances.

[Wendy in Kennewick]

This is a beautiful block. The idea of a themed "crazy" quilt is appealing to me.

[Carolyn Foley]

I am trying to overcome my aversion to crazy quilts so am trying something different.