Today on the to-do list was to create a printable block cutting chart with graphics for Pauline to take with her to teach at Wacky Jacky’s fabulous retreat in Brisbane. There, a group of quilters will have a week of fine dining, hilarious conversations, relaxing away from the norm and most of all Quilting classes with Pauline. Who could want more!?
Prelude: The Day before
Working late into the afternoon watching Pauline as she attaches the borders for the class project, I learnt something new!
She had the unfinished quilt pinned to the design wall and was umming and ahhing over the borders. My height came in handy, and I held up this fabric and that fabric, pinning and unpinning them to the design board around the quilt until Pauline said with a matter of fact and delight, “that’s it, perfect”.
I sat and watched as she took the Quilt As You Go (QAYG) quilt and sewed on a 1 inch backing strip along the side edges. My thoughts as she took the border and pinned it onto the other edge of this strip were ‘how on earth is she going to do this?’ I could only imagine that it was going to be very squishy as she did this in the next stage.
I was dubious until the end, as she had both side borders on and took the quilt to the ironing board.
To my amazement she pressed and ironed the newly attached borders completely flat, with the border and the quilt sitting flat and butting up perfectly against each other. It just worked!
There were a few tricks along the way of course; the use of the open toe foot, and needle adjustment to the exact ¼ inch seam, trade secrets she was sure to pass on during the retreat’s classes. I was impressed. Again…
Back to today:
The next morning, taking Paulines notes and the quilt with coffee in hand, I asked her what the name of the quilt was.
“You can name this one Simon,” she mused “I am sure you can come up with something.”
I took her scribbled notes, the quilt and a tape measure, and up to the office I ventured, still impressed as I ran the join between my fingers.
I knew exactly how I was going to do up the graphics, no problem. But the naming was something else entirely. I have made only one quilt, and I named it the Kings Quilt after I realised what it meant to me.
It was mine; a throw for the couch or the bed. The colours and the disappearing nine block, dark and aged, the simple straight lined quilting pattern. It all was me and for my house, and in my house I am king. So that was easy.
But this was Pauline’s creation.
Batiks were used, with ocean blues being the main colour, as well as yellows, pinks and oranges. I looked at it and it reminded me of something specific, something nostalgic.
It took me back to the 90s when our family would catch the Fantasea ferry each year and sail over to Hamilton Island for holidays over Christmas. We stayed in a family owned condo at the far end of Catseye Beach; the older 3 story apartments; Lagoon Lodge. My nanna was the main decorator of this apartment, and like her home it was bright, open and peaceful.
I looked at Pauline’s quilt, and it reminded me of the bedspreads from the apartment; bright and vibrant, hibiscus and flower patterns. Often, we would drag one of the single bed’s quilt covers out from the room and over to the wicker furniture. We would curl up under it with the smell and sound of the ocean drifting in with the cool air through the open doors, as the sun set in the late afternoon, our sunburn easing as the cool air touched the aloe vera lotion.
That’s it, perfect! I have the name.
Over the Wicker.
Endless threads,
Simon