No kidding – I already told you I am an Ace Procrastinator!
In the current issue of “Down Under Quilts” , feb 2006, oldest and IMHO the best Aus quilting mag, I have an article on unfinished projects, which, along with stash accumulation issues cause quilters of all persuasions a great deal of angst. This Work in Progress, as I like to term some of my unfinished objects, has been under way on and off during the last 27 years. Although, to be fair, it did spend over 6 years in storage while we were in USA, and since I have been coming to Uruguay and spending more and more time here over the past 8 or 9 years, it has been quietly sitting in a basket under a coffee table in the family room. This time I brought it back with me, and I know many of you will be surprised, on several counts!

I owe it all to my old friend Heather Stewart of Launceston Tas., a one time hexagon queen from whose hands sprang bedspreads, table covers, cushions and more – including a dear little pram cover for my own offspring #2, which I still have somewhere. They were all so appropriate for the early 1900’s house she was then decorating and in whch she still lives. It was she who got me started during the hexagon craze, which reached its peak in Aus in the mid ’70’s, and accounts for the character of the fabrics in this work. The green in particular was very special at the time – the print on it includes some fine red flowers and little lady bugs – I used all the shop in Mt Isa had, and I did originally envisage it going out in to the border. But the shop was unable to get me any more, and perhaps that was just as well. So now, although the flowers have grown out to DB size, there only remain about 500 hexagon and half hexagon pieces to be covered and sewn together to build the border out to a straight edge, and they will be of the cream calico (muslin USA) Then I will find a longarm quilter to do the quilting for which I know I do not have the time and patience – unless an enthusiastic hand quilter steps forward…. I think I know the perfect eventual home for it, but will wait to see if anyone in the family puts their hand up for it… since after all this time, there’s no rush to decide anything, is there?
(thanks, Jay Townsend for the photo)

One of the other exhibitors in the “Across Australia ” exhibition suggested how nice it would be if we all made and swapped a card for each other – as previously blogged a month ago, I hummed and haaahed, but eventually agreed. Not my thing at all, I felt, but I thought I could do it IF the efforts produced something that took me somewhere new experimentally (yes, they did) IF they stated ‘made by alison schwabe’ ( I think so – definitely referencing my piece in the collection, despite variations in technique and materials) and IF they were quick and easy to do – and on this they passed, easily – they had to.

Being the procrastinator I am, I left this project all until the last minute in effect, when any sensible person would have been lolling in the pool in the sweltering Perth heat, prior to a leisurely shower, a relaxed meal , and finally zipping up the suitcase to leave in a calm relaxed manner for the airport to fly back across the Pacific, as indeed we were doing thursday 23rd feb, ie a few days ago. We made the flight in time, and mercifully the temperature had cooled somewhat. And ‘relaxed’ is not the first word that comes to mind.

But picture this scene:
Once I photographed the finished eleven pictured in the previous post, I put each in a pre-addressed envelope already containing a little note, and found to my horror I had one addressed envelope left over – ie. I had not made enough cards for everyone on the list! Without pausing to wonder how on earth I could be so, um, blonde, and with post office closing time looming – a bare 25 minutes – a committment is a committment after all, and I felt it was now or never – in a snap decision I determined to just make one more, this last one, and get through the post office doors in time to post it. Fortunately all went well, no snags, broken thread or needles – someone was watching over me and taking sympathy perhaps. (undeserved – quite my own stupid fault)
I took a quick pic of it on its own, since I knew I did not have time to take all the pieces out of their envelopes and re-photograph them all together ! Then, and without breaking the speed limit between our house and the PO (3 mins max) I got there before the doors shut. Phew – mission accomplished. Why do I do this stuff I always ask myself – I feel it has something to do with always living withing several houses from the school I went to most of my life…..I could hear the first bell from my bedroom and still be there in the classroom by the second…..

So, anyway, this last pic is a typical full view. Like my quilt in the exhibition composed of blocks or repeat units like these , leather has been applied in a cut and expanded shape, sewn on by machine (in this case with thread that shows, metallic – although the quilt in the show, “Desert Tracks 4” the quilt is applied with almost invisible machine stitch) Also in that quilt each shape is surrounded by an amount of large hand quilting in one of several colours of perle #8, referring to the block formation, the base of so much quiltmaking tradition. This card features lovely gold leather I bought in Perth, applied to a fabric of similar hue – some other postcards have different leathers and most of them contrast more with the background – but remember, I was in a tearing hurry here! and actually I love the resulting low contrast which enhances the value of the texture, the sculptural quality… a mere accident – it was the only remaining scrap of fabric lying around after my frantic effort – and yet resulted in the pleasing colouration. A piece of calico/muslin had dropped to the floor – handily close to the size I heeded, saving me time searching in the cupboard.

One leather, with black spots stamped on it, was extremely difficult to handle and so I only used it on one of the cards, but have plans for the rest of the large piece I bought !!! and for which I will need to develop some other strategy when handling it, possibly using tearaway or tissue paper.

The catalogue for the quilt exhibition is now out, but it will be some time before one catches up with me. The exhibition has been very well received and you can read more about it on Dijanne’s blog, http://origidij.blogspot.com and on Jenny’s , www.jennybowker.blogspot.com

And to everyone else in the postcard exchange – watch your mailbox this week.

Ace proscrastinator that I am, planning to mail out the agreed exchange postcards while still in Australia, I naturally left it until the last couple of days I was there before beginning the work and thus needing a bit of fancy footwork and working into the night before we left to fully achieve my goal. I wanted to make sure the cards got to those promised them. In Uruguay everything is inspected coming and going, and nice stamps or interesting contents raise the risk of something not making it through the cordon.

The cards grew out of an initial suggestion by the curator of the exhibition, Dijanne Cevaal, that one from each exhibitor would be a nice thankyou gesture to fellow exhibitor, Jenny Bowker, a diplomatic wife in Egypt whose connections and enthusiastic representations on our behalf has opened doors enabling the collection to be seen in several Middle Eeastern countries, with rave reviews according to all reports, including their individual blogs, www.oridigidij.blogspot.com (Dijanne) and www.jennybowker.blogger.com .

As I mentioned previously, this toasting fork intrigued me for its apparent textile quality. When our rels took over the shack up in the far NE Tasmania where we spent a couple of idyllic days with them, it was already there, and they did not know the maker or origin. Perhaps one of my readers will though.

It’s interesting how my involvement with fabric and thread sometimes enables me to register common, everyday things in textile terms, and far removed from their everyday purposes. 

Now, doesn’t this look like ‘textile’ of some kind ?
It may look soft and silky, but believe me, it is very heavy guage aluminium wire – I looked and looked and really could not work out how it was done – those people who plait leather belts and rawhide riding whips and crops can probably tell, and the macrame and weaving experts can probably crack the code too, but I couldn’t.