TIMMINS - When Julie Domenico heard poppy was the theme for an annual quilting challenge, she practically ran to her computer to order the fabric.
The poppy has always been important in her house.
Percy Dixon, her late father, was a Second World War veteran and the poppy campaign chair for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 88 in Timmins.
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Over hundreds of hours, Domenico designed and stitched together a 20-inch by 20-inch quilt for the Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics 2024 challenge.
"It took a few months before I could come up with an idea. I knew all along that I wanted to contrast what peace looks like and what war looks like," she said.
The final design portrays a peaceful, pastoral scene with two poppies. One is bright red and blooming, with the second withering in the shadow of a greyscale tombstone commemorating various conflicts and the respective number of casualties. Along the bottom is a fence that turns to barbed wire in front of the tombstone.
"It's not the prettiest quilt I've ever done, but I wasn't going for pretty. A lot of the poppy quilts I've seen the pictures of them hanging now, they're absolutely gorgeous and beautiful. But that one was crafted more for the contrast of the beauty," she said.
"It was done for the message, as opposed to the beauty."
The finished piece is now part of a travelling exhibit featuring 225 other entries in the United States.
Domenico has been quilting for about 25 years.
"My grandmother was a quilter, but she passed away when I was quite young, so there was a missed opportunity, but it was always in the back of my head. And when I was on a maternity leave, the City of Timmins offered a beginner's quilting course, and that was where I started getting hooked. It’s an addictive hobby,” she said.
Seventeen years ago she started a blog called Concept Quilts.
“From the most humble to the most difficult of quilts, they all have a story. And so I like to tell the stories about each quilt, or how I came about it, or different things that happened during the quilting process,” she said.
'They were very stoic'
Hope, the name of the poppy quilt, is her 152nd finished piece.
This one is for her dad.
Dixon was in his late 20s when he enlisted for Second World War in May of 1941.
He was discharged in November 1945, two months after the conflict ended.
Dixon died when Domenico was 21; she never got to know him as an adult or ask about his war experiences.
“His generation, they were very stoic, they said very little about their experiences in the war. And I think if they did talk about it, probably was only with other vets. I knew a few basics that he'd been in the Navy and he'd been a motor mechanic and that, but almost nothing,” she said.
About 15 years ago, she sent away for his war records.
“So what I know about his experiences in the war aren't really his personal experiences. There are things I've learned since then,” she said.
The documents give an "extremely detailed" account of his time overseas.
"Their papers, when they signed up and when they were dismissed are included, plus all the places that they were all during those war years. Those records show every base that he served on and trained at, and every ship he served on, and what his rank or duties would have been in each place. It kind of gives you a little bit of a feeling for what he experienced,” she said.
The comments made by his peers reinforced all the things she already knew and loved about her dad.
“I was very impressed by they give remarks when they're discharged ... The remarks were very complimentary. And I thought, Oh, that's so nice to know that they've gone through all of these difficult experiences, and yet he maintained his same personality of being the kind of person you could count on, and that was reliable,” she said.
In the Royal Canadian Navy, Dixon was a diesel mechanic. After being discharged, he worked as a mechanic.
"Maybe that was a plus that came out of the war. He had a lot of training that allowed him to move forward with the was a great job for the remainder of his life,” she said.
Details on how to request Second World War service records are available here. Records for people who were killed in action, died as a result of an accident or illness while serving, or died of injuries related to service are available online here.
All of the First World War records are publicly available for free here.
