Difference between revisions of "Logs:What Makes a Rag-Quilt"

It's a pretty, pretty, pretty day at High Reaches, and therefore a busy, busy day at the lake, even or especially as it drifts into late afternoon. Solith's splashing around with other dragons, even if they do have to be careful with all the breakable humans in the waters, but Telavi isn't one of them... exactly. Instead, the greenrider's waving after a friend from where she sits on the land bridge above its less-shallow dropoff, dangling her toes in the cool, cool water.

A pretty, pretty day deserves to be appreciated by all, sooner or later. As it happens, it is later that Hana finally escapes the stairs and tunnels of the Weyr proper to make her way to the lakeside. Rather predictably, she has a basket of odds and ends to work on, but she /is/ wearing one of her cooler frocks for enjoying the warmth of the sun, and there is a rather light air about her as she makes her way around the edge, looking for just the right spot.

It's the motion that brings her to Telavi's eye, right as the greenrider's about to settle down again, and then... why not? She waves towards the auburn-haired woman. "'Hana,' right?" No workbasket for her, though there is a small linen bag next to where she sits, a natural color that's more grayed than the light sundress she wears.

Hana looks up at her name, then tilts her head. A smile appears, "Telavi?" There is that questioning note towards the end, despite being fairly certain of her namings, before changing directions. "Out enjoying the sun, too?" she asks, a bright and cheerful smile accompanying the words. "Mind company?" she adds, before lifting her bag, "Well, working company?"

"Yes and yes," and Tela's smile can't help but widen. "And no, I don't mind in the least. Here," and she moves the folds of her skirt out of the way, and her little bag, too. "What are you working on today? I am done for the day, but then, I had to get up at dawn." A very early northern dawn. "Tell me you didn't, do."

Hana chuckles, "Have to? No. Do I? Well, generally yes - it lets you get a headstart on everything, so when little tangles and problems appear, there is less to have to juggle," she offers, before picking her way over to the spot and sitting down carefully. "This is mostly busy-work and ongoing projects. Mending, or quilt-patches, as I've no baby-gifts to make at this point in time."

Telavi has such wide eyes for Hana. "You half sound happy about it. Do you have anyone to wake you, or do you manage all on your own? I used to like to sleep in, back before the barracks, but... it's hard to do that with a friend poking you on the shoulder and reminding you about breakfast." Hana's basket might get more of an interested look if it didn't involve mending, but she also can't help but tease, "Not even for the Weyrwoman?"

Hana grins a bit ruefully, "Well, ah... I like mornings? They are quieter," she explains, and allows the listener to put in whatever details she might like. "Admittedly, breakfast is a very attractive lure for getting up as well - if you beat the crowd, you often get first pick of fruit and pastries." As for the Weyrwoman, the greenrider gets a look, "I'm sure I couldn't say - unless you've heard something?" she asks, even as she moves her basket to her side, and pulls out... well, she may have said mending, but it's a quilting square she's pulled out - and some flossy-thread.

"Very true, and the lines are shorter," Telavi's quick to agree, and then she tilts her face up to the sky, smiling. "Yes, but nothing reliable. You know how people like to speculate," read: gamble, "on the slightest thing." She doesn't say anything more just yet, doesn't even glance at the quilt square, sunlight playing with the seven-strand braid of her hair and the very tips of her lashes.

Hana chuckles, "Well, I don't expect anything reliable to appear unless she comes out with the news herself," she points out, before going about fishing out a needle, prized as it may be, and threading it. "And I have noticed that, about the Weyr. Is there anything they won't bet on?" she asks, asking of the unspoken portion of speculation so commanly found, head tilted forward so that the sun can begin warming her from the top down.

"I can't think of anything," but then Telavi teases with a smile finally slipped back Hana's way, her eyes reopened, "but then, I'm not thinking too hard right now. It's summer, things aren't up in the air anymore," except for all the fallout, but who's counting? "It's wonderful." Now she looks to what the other woman's working on, to see what the square is like and what she's doing to it.

ana grins. "Summer is one of my favorite seasons. Followed by fall and spring - rather odd, I suppose, that I love High Reaches so much, then." What with it mostly being winter and snow. Evil stuff, that! As for what she is working on - well, the square itself is an obviously reused piece of fabric, a light yellow in this case, and the floss is something in a cheerful green - it's attach on one end with an orange patch and red embrodary - and the hem is reverse, so that the frayed bits are sticking out.

"Why do you love High Reaches so much, then?" Telavi promptly asks. "Is it getting to flit all over Pern with your time off? Or, I know! It must be the stew we've been having." As she continues to look over Hana's work, she sweeps her braid forward over her shoulder, idly dusting her cheek with its tasseled end until finally she just asks, "What will you do on that square? Do you have an exact plan, or are you making it up as you go?"

Hana hms thoughtfully, "Well... I suppose because it is home." The region at the least. At the bent head, she adds, "That's an interesting braid; more than the usual number, right?" as she doesn't quite twitch fingers to check it out. "... the .. oh - well, it more depends on what fabric I find that matches the feel of the other ones. I am debating alternating stripes of fabric, one soft one not quite so, with an underside of one piece - sort of a make-do rag-version, without having to worry too much about supplies."

"The Weyr? But you're... relatively new, aren't you? When did it become home?" There's a subtle, complicated note to Tela's voice, her eyes blue and thoughtful on the other woman. Which doesn't mean she doesn't realize, and pat her hair before flipping the braid down so Hana can see a bit better if she likes; "This? Seven. It's tricky to do by myself, but the right pins are a wonder." It also doesn't mean she's too thoroughly distracted from Hana's work. "Feel? That does sound nice, just, will you be thinking of color at all? I'm sorry, I know there are so many questions, it's just... shop talk. You know."

"Hm... Just... in general. Not the Weyr - well, not yet, though it is now a familiar place," Hana admits quietly - and after a turn or so, it's a claim she can make honestly. "But as opposed to.. oh, Ista with its black beaches, or Fort." Fingers still, as she takes a moment to look it over, then nods, "Very well done - I'll have to try playing with that - Mave may be dragged into it," she adds with a hint of a grin, before looking down at the square. "Well, I /will/ be trying to match colors - keep things from clashing overly much - but part of what makes a rag-quilt is the fact you are using what is at hand, and not planning it all out with specific colors."

"Oh." Telavi says it like she's swallowing the word whole now that she's tasted it, like she's speculating whether it will stay down. But instead, "'Mave'?" and, "Ah, yes. It sounds so useful," for which a dimple shows briefly. "And the embroidery makes it extra special, I imagine, bring it all together. Have your duties gotten more exciting since the changeover? Mine haven't, or at least not yet, for all that now it's the Weyrleader's wing I'm in."

Hana murmurs, "Having stuck it out this long, I do have hopes. Just.. a work in progress." Very much a work in progress, to turn a place into a home. There is a nod and a hmm in agreement before she looks up. "I am actually debating on the theme - I have a couple of finished ones - but I'm not sure I want to keep the same idea for /all/ of it, or have it be a part of the whole." At the mention of more work, there is a chuckle, "Well, that is part of what makes it handy getting up early - going down to the kitchens, and such, I get a head start on when people might be seeking her out - and arrange for snacks and the like."

"Ahh," and for all this is one syllable too, Telavi voices it with not just understanding but something like satisfaction. Letting the name go, "A theme. Are they destined for the same room? There's a lot to be said for variety," but Tela's dimple flashes there, just for a moment. "Some people seem to enjoy sewing on the same sorts of pieces over and over again, though. But you have no argument from me about the value of snacks. They do seem to put people in better moods, don't they?"

"Fingerlings, and a proper pot of tea can do wonders for a mood," Hana agrees, before hmming. "Well, this set will be of a piece - the finished section I have - blues and greens, have dragons and firelizards stitched - not complete ones, more of a suggestion - I was considering tall trees and mountain ridges for the yellow through red hues."

"I agree," Tela says, reaching forward to dabble her fingers in the lake and then flick that cool water over her bare shoulders, careful not to get Hana or work mussed. "I like that, the suggestion. Invite someone to look at it a little closer, you know? Since this isn't a rug for people to tromp over. It seems like they would play off each other, make those cool colors feel like sky." She reaches over as though to finger the scrap, but pauses to see whether that's all right with the other woman.

Hana isn't picky, it seems - at least, not with this project. Not long does she allow the 'rider to touch - she goes so far as to tuck the needle in where it won't bite, and hands the whole thing over. "Exactly!" There is a bright smile for the understanding, then a look down at the water, now that her hands are free. "That looks cold."

There's a distinct sparkle in Tela's eye for that, teasing, "Brave woman." Handing it over. As she looks the piece over, unabashedly noting not only the fabric but Hana's stitching, even the kind of floss, "I like to call it 'cool.' Because if you don't, what do you call winter water? Frigid, I suppose, or 'really really cold,' or 'really really really cold.' Have you tried the shallows? It's warmer there, the sun gets it better."

Hana chucklels, "I'm not much one for swimming - dipping my toes in is about as far as I go." She pauses there for a moment, then admits, "It is both easier and harder to use old fabric. Generally, it is softer, and won't be affected by washing so much, but you have to match more carefully - and the weave isn't as set."

"Isn't as set? How's that?" Telavi, curious all over again, and she gently flattens a thumbnail against the weave of these squares, the better to look without disrupting it. "I've worked with scraps for little things, but mostly they had me working with things that weren't pieced."

Hana hms. "Well, take an old beloved shirt. After time, it conforms to you - the fabric itself is no longer as it was. Now, try taking a piece of that, and matching it to another, from a different shirt. You don't want it to sag, or bunch," Hana explains, before shrugging. "Usually, the easier outweighs the harder."

"Oh, I see," though Telavi's glance checks with Hana to make sure, right before she offers Hana's work back over: does she? "Even reusing the same garment, the knee fabric will tend to be more stretched, like that? In addition to wear and tear, of course. Do you often stitch it onto a ground cloth for support, or is that not an option?"

"Actually, quilting isn't something I have done much of. Mending, yes - embroidery, whenever I can. The idea of a rag-quilt is... well, I am playing with it - and where it trips me up.. that is a good idea though." One she'll have to try next time.

"Oh! Are you doing the embroidery and piecing on this, then, and handing it to someone else to assemble? Or is this going to be a stretch for you?" Tela wonders.

Hana shakes her head, "I am going to try to do it all - the sewing can't be /that/ different, in the end," doom, doom, and so much doom, "but it is also a busy-work project. If I cannot get to it, I cannot get to it. Just a way of... stretching the fingers out. When it comes to the underside, and layering it, I'm going to have to get help - but from what I can tell, the top part is just sewn together squares and whatever embroidary. So.... ah.. if you never see anything of it again, you know why!"

Telavi dimples at Hana for that. "Don't worry. I won't hold you to it. I won't even say that I'll remind you, for fear that you'll get up even earlier than me each morning and requisition all the good stuff before I get there. It's nice to keep the hands busy, and probably safer for everyone else, don't you think? Although... it's a little different, going back to it more, after so much time away."

Hana tilts her head, "You sew then? As a crafter, or... general duties sort of thing?" she asks after a moment, before admitting, "It was sewing, or something in the kitchens, and that way lies new dresses on a sevenday basis!"

"Oh, didn't I say? I thought another time..." but Telavi has a light little shrug for that, unworried about so much as her own memory, much less Hana's. "I was a seamstress, before. Mostly clothing, and mostly not mending anymore, which was wonderful, but right now it's mostly taking care of my own things and the odd trades. I wouldn't have liked working in the kitchen either, let me tell you!"

"I seem to recall something... but I didn't want to assume," Hana admits, before nodding. "Far too dangerous, and I've no talent for it." There is a glance up at the sky, then a sigh. "... I should actually get back; I promised to do a dormmate's hair this evening. I wonder if she'll let me experiment..."

"Of course," Tela murmurs in a 'don't worry about it' sort of way, at least about that particular assumption if not the time. But then she looks slightly shocked: "Dormmate? Haven't you gotten a room, yet? Though... don't let me keep you, Hana, for all that I'd like to see those experiments too, sometime!"

Hana shakes her head, "Last I checked, hairtwisting wasn't a reason for a seperate room," she offers with a bit of a laugh as she gets to her feet. "Well, I'll show you something - just not sure when or what. Enjoy the sunshine!" she adds, gathering up her things, and then off she goes.

"Hairtwisting isn't all you do," says Telavi with a not-so-enigmatic smile, adding, "Good luck with the experimenting!" before turning back to the water with a happy, happy sigh.