The Alexandria quilt

Russians and Moldovans are famous for having multiple "official" nicknames. By that I mean they have nicknames that people call them with such earnestness that it's hard to remember what they're really called. I have never read War and Peace, but have heard that the back and forth of nicknames is enough to drive the reader crazy. That's how we felt when we were first trying to sort out the names of our new Moldovan friends. A conversation with Ernst:

So Sura (Shura) says to me...
Who's Sura again?
You know, Galia's sister.
And Galia is which one?
You know, her real name is Galina.
OK, so who's Sura?
You know, Surica, Galia-Galina's sister.
I thought her name was Alexandria.
It is, but it's Sura for short.
So who's Surica?
That would be Sura's other name.
You mean Alexandria?
Yes, Sura and Surica and Alexandria. All the same person.
And her husband is Alex?
You mean Alexander?
Whatever.
Yeah, but everyone calls him Sasha.

We should have just run away at that point. I think the confusion with the names is just their way of warning you that Romanian grammar will drive you mad. We can't say we were not warned.

When Sura found out I made a Galina rag quilt, well, let's just say I had some explaining to do. So here it is - the official Alexandria quilt. I cut this out weeks and weeks ago and finally got it done. It contains some gorgeous blue and green florals from the thrift store, an incredible vintage damask, some fabric sample stripes, an upcycled white Bullock and Jones dress shirt and the very last of that awesome asparagus green corduroy that made its way into so many of my quilts. When I bought the very large amount of it at Goodwill, I thought I would never go through it. Unless it has changed its name and gone into hiding, the green is gone.

The Sura, um, Surica, well actually Alexandria quilt