Fools rush in .....

Growing up in Knysna, I was blessed with emotional security in my parental home and a very special childhood friend.    Everything came easy and I was never forced out of my comfort zone....  I had however no problem to move to Port Elizabeth after marrying Willem and start a family as this was a natural progression of life.   All of this was to change early in 1988 when Willem was transferred and I was forced out of my comfort zone......      One of the biggest lessons which I learnt during this time, was that I had to make the effort to reach out to make friends as I was the new face in town.....

Moving to King William's Town early in 1988, was my first tentative steps into creativity and becoming a serious quiter......     I discovered latent talents of which I was unaware........   Indeed exciting....  

As I was very lonely in my new environment, I decided to offer patchwork lessons to make friends!   One prospective student, Louise Els responded to my advertisement in the local newspaper and I decided to start with her and was hoping that it would soon take off by word of mouth.   It soon did and Louise brought friends along and soon classes were very busy ..........     Soon I was teaching various methods of patchwork, hand & machine applique, shadow applique, hand embroidery and soon candlewicking followed.   

During this time I joined the Kaffrarian Quilters' Guild in East London which exposed me to the quilting fraternity in South Africa.  The copyright issue was raised in quilting circles and I decided to draw my own designs for candlewicking and embroidery classes.   The students were so taken by my designs that they encouraged me to compile a candlewicking pattern book which I sold in the area.    I designed patchwork and candlewick quilts for the students of which I would give them scaled down diagrams in ink for them to work from....   This gave me the freedom to create my own work and I regard this as the platform of my quilting career.  

During this time, wonderful women from all walks of life touced my life and we formed special friendships as we learnt so much form each other.    I was very touched when they organized a huge farewell party for me when we left town....   Yes, we were transferred again....    

  Friends Wilma Pitt, Maureen Burger, me and Elza Conradie pictured left and Heather Farrow and Cynthia Olivier on the right at the farewell party in the Library Hall in King William's Town.