A time to stitch
The snowflake- like doyly is in stark contrast to the dark blue sarong underneath it, while intricately crocheted swans sit upright making the centrepiece all the more arresting. “I call it Swan Lake,” Dr. Carmeline Fernando chuckles. Several interesting looking bags sit on the settees of her friend Dr. Pushpa Perera’s sitting room, leaving one curious as to what other pieces they contain. Together the two long -time friends and 
colleagues have set aside their white coats for a while and taken up lace and spools of thread in preparation for their second crotchet exhibition and sale next Saturday.
“My mother doesn’t know anything about sewing,” Dr. Carmeline says easily, explaining that her introduction to the craft was somewhat unusual, not having learnt it in school, nor watched her mother stitching away at home. A voracious reader, who would grow up to write as well, the 11-year old Carmeline first learnt about crocheting while flipping through the newspaper. Her interest grew as she taught herself, collecting paper clippings and books on the subject. A student of Holy Family Convent, Kalutara and Kalutara Balika Vidyalaya she took her hobby with her to the University of Peradeniya where she studied medicine. Her career as a Consultant Anaesthetist kept her working till late, but she would immerse herself in her sewing early in the morning.
Having recently retired, she now finds herself with the luxury of being able to sew at her own pace. The intricate doylys, centrepieces and even the 
sarees with crocheted work stand testimony to the painstaking detail and time that goes into every stitch. Looking at the bedspreads and other pieces it’s hard to believe that she has never been formally instructed in the subject, save for the books she has referred to. 
But Dr. Carmeline’s independent streak and zest for self- learning isn’t limited to sewing alone; travel being another favourite activity. “It’s harder these days,” she admits, a crutch leans next to where she is seated. Diagnosed with polio at the age of three may have posed a disability to Dr. Carmeline but it’s clear that the handicap did little to impede her life and her ambition. Though she needs the help of a crutch now, “I could manage without help,” she says matter of factly. The difficulty did arise; she tells us when she was a student at Peradeniya in 1973. “At that time the hospital was in Kandy, away from the campus,” she explains. Getting about by bus and around the vast campus with its steep and hilly pathways saw her continually coming home with wounds and bruises. “That was the
Dr. Pushpa Perera
point where I wanted to give up,” she says, quite candid about the hardest parts of her life.
It was the support of her roommates and friends, who helped her get about that kept her morale strong. “And thereafter it was my sister Charmaine,” whom she shares a home with along with their mother in Kandy. Always open to new experiences, she pursued her post graduate studies in England where she purchased her first car; hand controlled which till quite recently saw her whizzing along the Colombo- Kandy Road. Having recently travelled to Cambodia, Dr. Carmeline’s wanderlust has taken her to most parts of Europe but England was her favourite, she says.
The idea to have an exhibition came from her friend and collaborator Dr. Pushpa Perera. The two first met through a good friend of Dr. Carmeline’s, another doctor who happened to be Pushpa’s husband. The two discovered their
Dr. Carmeline Fernando
mutual love for needlework while working together in Kalutara and exchanged ideas, books and kept up their shared passion although they were busy with their careers, families and constantly moving from place to place. Having learnt to crotchet from her mother Pushpa continued to pick up techniques wherever her family and profession took her. While in Scotland with her family she found herself as part of a ladies’ patchwork circle and learnt painting from a dental surgeon’s wife while her husband was stationed in Nawalapitiya.
What started as a mere hobby has grown into a colourful collection of shawls, crocheted skirts and blouses which she hopes to showcase at the exhibition. “I don’t think I could ever get bored with sewing,” she says.
Contributing to their sale is 23- year-old Chandrika Wijethileke, a patient who Dr. Carmeline encountered through a plastic surgeon.
The exhibition will be at the J.R. Jayawardene Centre in Colombo on December 13 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.