My friend Angela has been quilting her old embroideries and the latest one is quite stunning. It was a cross stitched embroidery stitched by her late mother-in-law, so it held special memories. She turned it, from an embroidered table runner
To a stunning work of art by mounting it on a background and then quilting it.
This is then an heirloom for future generations. What a wonderful way of transforming a piece of embroidery.
While the hearts will be on going I needed a special focus for my second piece. I saw reflections of my second son, Guy, in the first 4 sonnets. All my children are special to me but Guy is a special gift.
As a baby, only 4 weeks old, he contracted a virus. He was one of the first to contract it in our city of Cairns, which is in north Queensland. It didn't present as a virus, rather in babies and children it looked like Pneumonia. He was given a half penicillin injection and almost immediately suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest, he had inherited the autoimmune gene that I have, which we didn't know then. He was clinically dead for 50 minutes, although was having resuscitation in only seconds, which continued till they got him on a ventilator. (This had arrived at the hospital that day and it had to be assembled to hook him up.) The next 3 weeks, until he regained consciousness, were the worst of my whole life. But, he lived.
They told me he would be a brain damaged. I spent the next years looking for this. Yes, he had trouble with co-ordination but grew up to be a normal child, if a bit withdrawn. It did not effect his intellect. He now works as a Analyst Programmer and has done so since he graduated from University.
I look at that photograph of us when he was given back to me and sonnet No 4 "Thou art thy mother's glass " rings so true. The section that I have selected reads:
"Thou art thy mother's glass, And she in thee calls back the lovely April of her prime."
I have an old piece of cross stitch that I picked up on a sale table. It was partly stitched and my thought was to unpick some of the stitching and use it in a sampler.
I immediately ran into problems. The original stitcher had not been consistent with her direction of stitch, they went in all directions, were over sewn, pulled tight and just couldn't be unpicked. The fabric was old and ended up with pulls and lumps. But I have kept at it and am finishing the leaves. For the verse I have had to replace the thread with a thinner version than in the image above but kept the same colour. I intend to make the leaves into a wreath to frame the text.
These first set of sonnets are addressed to a young man and the sentiments and context do not ring true in our modern world. But, there are sections in every one that are timeless. I'm sure every mother can resonate with these lines. As yet I haven't been able to find any embroidery or textile item inspired by this sonnet.
I didn't really set myself any goals for this year other than to recover from the cancer, and, I seem to have done that. My last review said I was all clear. But, I have decided, after reflecting on this year, that I will refuse all treatment in the future. I intend to just live for each day.
I also thought that I had retired from involvement in social issue but somehow or other ended up on a committee to celebrate the 50th anniversary of International Women's Day. I stepped back into my old shoes, dealing with government bodies etc, and found that is no longer me. I will complete this assignment but will then permanently step away from involvement in this kind of thing again.
Added to that, I had retired from all kinds of teaching but was persuaded to take on a couple of classes. Maybe I will teach a few classes next year but if I am not asked I will not mind turning my back on that also.
I belong to three fabric related groups.
The Embroiderers' Guild of Queensland. - I will try to attend a meeting every second week. It is a long journey to and from the city but I have a great group of friends.
Star Seas Quilters - This is only for a few hours on a Monday and close to home. Here I am involved in charity work, which I love, and I am the librarian for the group. This one stays.
Mayberly Quilters Cottage Group - This may be my last year. They meet twice a month, which is do-able, but it is a long way to travel and the traffic on the highway is very heavy. I will take this year to consider this one.
So, to projects for 2025
(* More on this one in a future post.)
I thought I was winding back, but I'm not, am I?
(Those hearts should be on the list for next Xmas.)
I am laid up with a nasty infection and have been prescribed some strong anti-biotics. My mind is starting to return and I thought I might try some crotchet, but, I keep losing track of the stitches so I decided I needed to learn to use this laptop better, I've had it a year now.
Like many older people there are times that I struggle to keep up with the changes in technology. My latest challenge has been up-dating my medical certificate for my drivers license. This has to be done every year and last year, because I was in the middle of my cancer treatment, I asked my husband to post in my forms. Now, I'm not sure if the forms got lost or if he lost the forms because when I looked at my diary reminding me to get the test done this year, no forms had arrived. So, I downloaded them, got the medical done and then couldn't find an address to lodge them at. Frustration set in. Should I put them in on-line? What should i do? I think I will have to put them in at the local office.
Fast forward few days and I was in the post office sending a parcel to a friend and this young man, he was 18 or 19, approached me with this look of bewilderment on his face. He had an addressed envelope in one hand and a postage stamp in the other and he asked "how does this work?" He had NEVER posted a letter before, everything was done on-line. I burst out laughing and said "you lick it." He just didn't understand, that called for a demonstration of how to put a postage stamp on a letter. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard.
(I actually found a lesson on how to do this but I still couldn't find how to lodge my form.)
But thinking about it, we were both at opposite ends of a continuum. Me struggling to keep up with technology and him reaching back to understand how sending a letter works.
We all have our little problems.
It has been raining, a lot. My daughter went up to the farm, and the sun was shining and the river easy to drive through.
Then the rain came and they were stuck out there for 3 days, with little food and no extra clothing, till it went down.
I think extra clothing and camping food needs to be in the cupboard. It is off the grid out there and although they are adding a power source in the form of solar panels and water tanks they need to have a back up plan.
Experience is the best teacher.
My friend Marion is visiting from the U.K. Oh it is lovely to see her again. She sent me an embroidery kit from Cornwall when I was deep in my cancer treatment. That was the gift that kept me embroidering when I thought I would never embroider again. It gave me the strength to adjust to the limitations brought on by the radium treatments.
What is that old saying?
"friends are angels who teach us how to fly when we have forgotten how to use our wings."
Marion is my angel.
One thing I did do last week was go to the Laidley Spring Festival. I looked at the quilts which were many,
all hanging in the Lutheran Church which had an old tractor display out the front.
All this area was settled by German people who were fleeing persecution back in the 1800's, so there are lots of Lutheran Churches. (The first missionaries to come to Q'ld were Lutheran, back before people were allowed to settle here.) There were so many quilts, all on top of each other, but this one caught my eye because the patterns for these embroideries were published in the newspaper back in the 1940's and 1950's. The maker had found buttons to decorate them, like the ducks on the wall.
This was the first day of the fair and the official party were having morning tea out the front. I know those tea pots came from the CWA. Every CWA in Australia have the same ones.
This valley was completely destroyed by floods just a few years ago. It is so good to see them bounce back.
Then I headed for the gardening show. Paul West was speaking, and this bloke can talk underwater! (You might remember him from A River Cottage TV show.)
I loved the gardening pavilion. I could only buy one plant, because that was all I could carry, but I bought a face for my old tree out the front,
I always knew there was someone living inside this tree, and, I bought a little dragon to scare away the mozzies.
But I think he is too cute to scare anyone!
Then we drove down to Forrest Hill for lunch, which is a very small town in the next valley, but it does have two pubs and some rather nice places to eat at.
This was a trip organised by my patchwork group. A lovely day with lovely people.
I now have all of my Apple products talking to each other. Thank goodness, and I do have quite a few, 8 at last count.
It has taken me nearly 8 months to get this done and at times I was just tearing my hair out. Living in paradise does have it's draw backs when it comes to technology. There are so many people working from home and taking up a lot of space on the bandwidth because they are computer progammers and others that are streaming information, the rest of us get squeezed. Even talking to the techies today on my phone saw a very limited reception. But I got it sorted, on my own!!
I don't think I have had a run of adverse events in years as those that have dogged me since my cancer returned at the end of last year. It has been a constant struggle just to get from one day to the next. But I am learning how to accept the circumstances that have come to me. At first I 'raged' against fate but now I find myself accepting what is given to me and continuing on the best I can.
One thing that has brought me great pleasure has been my garden and this year the Camellias have been beautiful.
I have some interesting books to read, especially the Marjory Allingham books but I also found "The Remarkable Mrs Reiby" by Grantlee Kieza.
This is the true story of the woman who graces our $20 notes. My ancestor, who decided to settle in Australia, was an officer in the 73rd Regiment. He was a mounted soldier so wore a blue jacket rather than the red. This was the first Australian Light Horse Brigade. He transferred from the 73rd to be part of the mounted troop who became the Govenor's (Macquarie) body guard. (The rest of the 73rd were sent back to England.) The book gives a vivid description of what life would have been like for him and his family at that time.
But the most precious thing I have come to appreciate more and more are my friends. They are a true blessing.
Yes, all alone, except for the dog. My husband has gone to Tangalooma Island with his ex business partner for the week.
He has a holiday apartment over there. I'm not sure if there are any whales at this time of year but it used to be a whaling station in the old days as it sits on the whale migration route
The resort is situated on Moreton Island, which is some way out in the bay but you look back to the mainland and see the city skyline. It is remote and beautiful. (The website has some great photos and information.)
I took day trip excursions there when I was a high school teacher. It is quite a 'wild place'.
I have taken this time to struggle with the computer, work in the garden. walk the dog and have commenced quilting the last quilt. I hope to have this completed by the time he returns. It took 2 full days to get it all tacked together, by which time my wrist said "that's enough, I give up". So then I sat and read my next Marjory Allingham book "Flowers for the judge". This was published in 1936 and there is a notable change in the writting. A lot more modern in the use of the English language and her use of suspense sees a change, but the story is just as enjoyable.
So, it has been a kind of holiday for me as well. I am enjoying this time.
This is what my daughter constantly asks.
I looked at the weather blog this morning and this is why!!
It's too cold, -2 degrees this morning and they live in an old Queenslander with no heating!!!