Sunday 23 September 2018

Women's Work



 In Canada May 14. 1918 marked the passage of women's suffrage for most Canadian women.  Asian women were excluded. and Inuit too. One hundred years. Not really a long time but almost  unthinkable is the fact that it is so recent that a woman could have been not considered a citizen with rights and privileges and responsibilities.

Imagine today needing a man's signature in order to get a bank loan, or buy a house or a car. Or hold a job. or a credit card. What if you didn't have a male who would or could sign for you.

In my family it seemed like it was my mother who handled the money. who kept the books . who acted  as treasurer. My father went to work every day but left all of the accounting and bookkeeping in my mothers hands--but it was his signature on the bank books and the mortgage papers.

One of my favourite types of quilts are those that take a political stand.
Throughout history women have announced their political leaning in the work of their hands.



Schoolhouse quilts celebrated universal education. when my eldest went --escaped --ran headfirst--to university I made her a schoolhouse quilt. i don't know where  it is now.  Its been missing for a long time.

I made this quilt to honour my mother. its called Willingly She Works With Her Hands.

And that is what my mother did. She willingly worked. She worked at making a home for her husband and her children. She cared for her aging mother and then her aging aunt. She bore children into her menopausal years. last one at 42 years of age and called her a blessing. She did whatever she needed to do to keep our lives on track. And she did it willingly. And she was a maker. She crocheted doilies . I picture her sitting on the couch with her pattern and ball of cotton, hook in hand, crocheting another doily.




I stitched words from a love letter that my father had written to her from Italy during the war onto a slip that had been hers. It was the most I had ever heard of my father talking.And he was in love. nice.




She was of the generation that wore gloves, went to church and did everything their husband told her to do. She never wore those gloves, never went to church but she did follow directions from her husband. Even though she really was the brains of the family.

She married at the age of 20. She was a war bride; married my father after knowing him for several months. She gave birth to 5 children over 21 years. There was always a baby in the house. They were married for more than 50 years. After my fathers death, mom struggled.


I made this quilt to honor her in her struggles against dementia. She lost her way, her voice, her memory and finally her life to Alzheimers.

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