Written piece
The Travelling Quilt
Patricia Eats
Australia
About this piece
My story is symbolic of my enrichment, global awakening and socio-political metamorphosis, which were fostered by visiting other Commonwealth nations, where I took time to enjoy local arts, crafts, music, theatre, traditions, and ceremonies.
“Owww!”
The needle’s end penetrates skin on my pointer tip; a magenta ebb rises in reply. The receiving hand pinches the barrel and eye, lifting vertically to draw the new stitch tight, binding the top, batting and backing together firmly. Sixteen per inch is the time-honoured standard, one pass at a time through all layers, at a 90◦ angle.
“Need some barrier cream and a thimble, love?” Mum’s eyes lift briefly from her romance novel to meet my acknowledging glance.
“I need to get a leather one. The rubber ones from the newsagent are no good, and I can’t feel the needle point emerge with the metal ones.” Circling thumb-tip over index tip, the focal sting gradually dissipates.
“Mmmm. Well, I guess you’re really woven into that quilt, along with the adventures you had collecting those fabrics over the years.”
My stash of hand-crafted cottons had gradually accumulated. Batiks from South African and Swaziland marketplaces; a jellyroll that I’d ordered from England, shipped to the Falkland Islands during my time living there. Australian indigenous prints and remote, regionally themed yardage from craft shops I imagined would barely make rent, but were bowerbird’s nests filled with inspiring finds. And my favourite: vibrant hand-printed patterns from Ghana. I’m still kicking myself for not having some made into a dress while I was in Sunyani. I’d bought some Kente too, but it’s still too precious to me to take a blade to.
I reflect on the young woman I was, building my travelling stash. How naïve I’d been to the lives of my Commonwealth sisters who’d created these beautiful fabrics. Their creative prowess increasingly inspires my awe and sense of connection to them. My blood-yielding quilting stitches bind us together, in beauty, warmth and harmony. I'll sleep well beneath it one day.