Thatchwick Cottage: South African National Quilters' Festival

Before I tell you about our day at the South African National Quilters' Festival, do know that I join you in remembering those who lost their lives on September 11. I am also standing still for a moment or two in today's busy-ness to remember everyone suffering violence across the globe, especially those in 'small', so-called 'unimportant' countries, people whose pain seldom makes international headlines. I think particularly of our neighbours in Zimbabwe.

Does a report on a quilt festival combined with solemn remembrance make for insensitivity? I don't think so. Quiltmaking is the antithesis of destruction; quilts speak of warmth, nurture, love and the value of keepsakes. Quilts are a metaphor for the creation of beauty out of life's bits and pieces. Jagged edges are fitted into neat geometrics in quilts; patterns form out of pain; colour out of drab, mundane lives; cherished memories out of worn out clothing; something of value out of otherwise discarded leftovers.

My friends, Elisabeth and Noleen, and I took a day's leave to travel in heavy traffic on the Eastern Bypass past Alexandra, Linksfield, Bedfordview, Germiston to name a few sprawling Jo'burg suburbs, to Alberton where the National Festival was held in the Civic Centre. Don't you love this pic of ladies at the serious business of shopping for their stash? We don't have the kind of quilting resources you may take for granted in the US so the vendor stalls were a treat.