Anna Kerz
Ontario

The earliest stories I remember are the ones my mother told me. They were almost all tales from the Brothers Grimm that she told in German. Her versions were all pre-Disney so they included all the gruesome parts. In Cinderella, toes were lopped to make a foot fit a slipper as easily as you might remove a hangnail, and in Snow White the wicked queen had to dance in boots filled with hot coals. I used to wonder if her cries of pain didn't spoil Snow White's wedding, but my mother shook her head and said, "No, she had it coming."

As I recall there were always 'lessons' in my mother's stories. More than once she pointed out that it was the poor girl who was good, and kind, and generous, and worked without a word of complaint that ended up rich and married to a prince.

Anyway, one of the stories I liked the best was Briar Rose ... called Dornröschen in German. The only painful 'message' in that story came with the scullery boy who got a box on the ear for being lazy. The princess didn't have to do anything. She just went to sleep until the prince found his way to her door. And all the time there were roses filling the air with their fragrance. What could be better than that? So here it is. My quilt square, in memory of Briar Rose.

And just so you know, this was my very first and possibly my last attempt at appliqué. The square wouldn't have happened without the wise and generous help from my friends Sib Korulis and Sharon Holland who found the pattern and donated the fabric scraps, and my mother of course, who told stories while she taught me to sew.