TANGLED UP IN BLUE. Quilt by Lucy D. Part 1.

Melbourne and Coragulac, June 2026.
Terang, March 2022.
Story by Vin M.

When the quilt arrived, a complete surprise, I guessed it was for our four-week-old grandson Ronan Griff. But it was much too big for a bassinet, let alone a cot.

When the quilt arrived I saw that it had been posted from a country town called Coragulac. About two hours west of Melbourne, it is the home of my cousin Lucy.

Some cousins, let’s be honest, are simply relatives, perched on their branch of the family tree. That’s okay. Other cousins, though, are very much kindred spirits. They sparkle, they smile, they laugh and friendships – born in childhood during school holidays, Sunday drives, overnight farm stays – survive the test of time. You may not see each other for years but the connection is always there. The blood runs deep.

When the quilt arrived Julie and I cleared the kitchen table of cups of tea and Milo, of the newspapers, of the bills. Unfolding the material we saw that the backing was thousands of small silver treble clefs.

Turning over the fabric we saw more musical motifs: the keys of a piano, a cello, an acoustic guitar, a saxophone, a trumpet. A tambourine.

What had Lucy made, we wondered. And why?

As well as the images of instruments there were bars of music and turntables and records.

And, especially curious, a few small strips of fabric that did not offer their meaning immediately.

The centrepiece – like a bridge between the instruments and the sheet music – was an album, the arm of a record player, and the label in the middle of the disk.

We had to lean over the quilt closely to read the name of the record. Black lettering against a red background, it made no attempt to copy the orange and yellow CBS label from 1974.

Blood On The Tracks.

Lucy has long known the Maskell family’s love of music and our enthusiasm for Bob Dylan.

But how did she know that, for me, this is THE Dylan album?

And did she know  that its opening song was, ever so briefly, a part of our little Stereo Stories concerts?

As we keep poring over the quilt – noting its stitching, its lines, its textures – we again wondered why Lucy had made such a wonderful gift, apart from, I guess, love and friendship. Family ties.

And there, in a corner amidst the treble clefs, was the answer:

Lucy has only been to one of our 30 or so shows; in the country town of Terang in March 2022. Back room of a pub. About 50 people. The set list included one Dylan song, ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You’ from Nashville Skyline. It was the soundtrack for a very humorous story about house-sharing by band member Stephen Andrew.

But, given my brother Peter was in the band then, and my partner Julie too, Lucy would have keenly felt the family pulse that can be part of our concerts. Seeing Julie plus two cousins on the little stage, one singing and playing guitar, the other narrating stories, sparked Lucy’s own creativity.

But why Blood On The Tracks in the middle of all the embroidery?

“Well,” Lucy said with a smile on the phone when I rang the next day, “I could still picture the album cover among the Maskells’ records in your family home. You know, that small front room with all the sunlight and the stereo and the posters.”

“What about these small strips of fabric, at the end of some of the bars of music? Different colours and patterns.”

“I was trying to remember the clothes that the musicians wore that night at Terang. Peter’s shirt, Julie’s dress. That sort of thing.”

After the phonecall there was only one album to play as I resumed gazing upon the needlework.

Early one morning/the sun was shining/I was laying in bed…

 TO BE CONTINUED

Stereo Story 900 Part 1.