Sailing Through Suez - and a story

Sailing Through Suez

In 1962 my parents and I emigrated to New Zealand on the

Chandris Line ship "Brittany". We sailed by way of Piraeus, the port for Athens, on to Suez

and through the Canal, into the Red Sea to Aden and across the Indian Ocean to

Perth, Melbourne and Sydney before arriving in New Zealand.

This journey made a tremendous impression on a 15 year old girl!

I loved every minute of it.

To say the temperature around the Canal, and especially in the Red Sea, was hot is an

unimaginable understatement.

There was a constant red hot glowing ball way up in the sky draining

the colour out of everything along the Canal Zone and through the Red Sea.

Then you hit Aden.

I do wish I had a photograph to show you, we weren't allowed to land

as there was rioting at that time, but from the deck the sight of those

huge dark jagged peaks seemingly going on forever left me speechless.

I have a book written by Pamela Mountbatten with a paragraph in which she

describes her journey along a similar route and her arrival at Aden, I quote:

"towering dark grey volcanic rocks splitting the horizon with their peaks as we came into 

harbour one morning". You will see now how those flying geese came into the quilt.

After that you head into the beautiful Indian Ocean - the sea incredibly green and the

sunsets and sky like velvet at night equally spectacular. 

Hence - Sailing Through Suez to remind me

 of that amazing journey which still has the power to move me to tears with the

memories.

A close up of the quilting - rolling waves in variegated thread. Widely spaced waves

didn't work for me so I went to town and did heaps and heaps!

This red hot fabric for the backing seemed quite appropriate.

This piece would certainly not be in existence without Sujata and

Cultural Fusion Quilts and this blog.

My intention now is to carry on and create

in cloth my memories of other special moments on that journey 

undertaken 53 years ago, also the return through

Panama a year later. Another series will give me the chance to live again

special childhood memories, part of what makes me who I am today.

Thank you Sujata.