Friday 1 May 2020

Corona Crow on May 1st


“When three crows harried a hawk across the sky, Ruby expressed her great respect for the normally reviled crow, finding much worthy of emulation in their outlook on life.  She noted with disapproval that many a bird would rather die than eat any but food it relishes. Crows will relish what presents itself.  She admired their keenness of wit, lack of pridefulness, love of practical jokes, slyness in a fight. All of these she saw as making up the genius of a crow, which was a kind of willed mastery over what she assumed was a natural inclination toward bile and melancholy, as evidenced by its  drear plumage.” Charles Frazier. Cold Mountain, p 137.



My first choice for this quarter’s Endeavourers challenge, “A Scene from a Book,” was not this. It was a wonderfully vivid scene from Bill Barich’s book, Carson Valley, about a man delighting in devouring a slice of cherry pie à la mode. But, as I tried to get it to come together, it simply would not, and the joy in creating drained away. These pandemic days are already difficult enough without having to contend with recalcitrant fabric cherries. Especially when my quilting modus operandi is squares.

I found I wanted something to match my more somber mood. The book itself, set in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War, has a somber undercurrent. Tan, black, and white called. Solids. Maybe make something with a primitive feel where mistakes would only add to the charm. If I messed up writing on the blocks, I would just cross the damn thing out and keep going. Luckily, that wasn’t necessary. 
In these trying times, the kind of willed mastery over a tendency toward melancholy that Ruby so admired in the crow certainly comes in handy. Thus, I present Corona Crow on May 1st.



9 comments:

  1. Maureen, this is genius! I love the way you've chosen to use squares in your quilts, and the ingenuity of adapting this to fit the theme - here with the shape of the crow, and the use of the text. I also love the influence of the sombre setting in the book, and the current times, on your colour choices and most of all the element of optimism in the idea that the cheeky crow relishes and masters its current circumstances and tendency to melancholy! Is this also a clever Corvid (crow), Covid pun? :-)

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  2. You are really rocking this square piecing Maureen, this is wonderful! I love the colour placement,the embroidered text, the quilting, actually I love everything about this.

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  3. I'm certainly finding a "willed mastery over a tendency toward melancholy" is just what I need from time to time lately and I love the way you have taken a scene from a book set in 1865 and turned it into a quilt for our time. The image of the crow against the sombre background is a striking effect and the details of the quilting and words are perfect. I love it :) I also loved the style of writing and turn of phrase in the quote you gave. I must search out this book.

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  4. I think I'm glad your first idea didn't pan out, because this really turned out well. I like the idea of the words stitched in the squares, and the crow (I love crows!) is wonderful. You clearly gave this much thought and work! Nicely done!

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  5. I was going to call it the Covid Corvid but Catherine beat me to it!

    I love to see how you adapt your style to each theme!

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  7. I love how it draws me in and is intrigueing with the text squares. Glad you setled on this and I am finding it hard to imaging cherries now!

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  8. Maureen, it’s a wonderful quilt, I love it!
    Well done!
    Barbara x

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