Monday, March 16, 2009
we will be moving...
...in the summer, not sure whether July or August, as there is still some horse trading going on over it, but anyway, we will be going to the States. My husband will be working at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and we will be living in St Robert. We are all looking forward to it very much, and my family in Florida are over the moon that I will be on the same continent as them for the first time in 25 years. So, any stitchers in MO, whether embroidery or quilting, please get in touch. I guess I will have to change the blog name, but not today.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
more C&G texture for Sian
I promised this last week, but my computer would not talk to my camera for some reason, so in frustration I separated them and made them sit on the naughty stair for a while. Hopefully they have now decided to cooperate...
these were all done on a sunny day out in the garden, and I made up a small pot of grout/plaster to see what I could do with it. honestly, I didn't really enjoy it, but there were a couple of good results.
this is plaster spread over scrunched up tissue paper - like this one.
this is plaster spread over a piece of card and then drawn into following the photo of the roofing in the ruined house.
a layer of plaster on a piece of calico, a second piece laid on top and then removed,
and that second piece of fabric.
plaster over bandage
plaster over netting over scrunched tissue paper.
I also had a go at weaving the roofing matting pattern, which is over 3, under 3, each row offset by one.
in paper first,
then in thread - sorry about the red, but I wasn't thinking.
then a rubbing of the weaving.
sorry about the pictures being the wrong way up, but I'm just glad they are on the screen, never mind right way up!! fortunately, as it's only texture, it is still easy to read. and I am going to finish now whilst I can still get out of here.
these were all done on a sunny day out in the garden, and I made up a small pot of grout/plaster to see what I could do with it. honestly, I didn't really enjoy it, but there were a couple of good results.
this is plaster spread over scrunched up tissue paper - like this one.
this is plaster spread over a piece of card and then drawn into following the photo of the roofing in the ruined house.
a layer of plaster on a piece of calico, a second piece laid on top and then removed,
and that second piece of fabric.
plaster over bandage
plaster over netting over scrunched tissue paper.
I also had a go at weaving the roofing matting pattern, which is over 3, under 3, each row offset by one.
in paper first,
then in thread - sorry about the red, but I wasn't thinking.
then a rubbing of the weaving.
sorry about the pictures being the wrong way up, but I'm just glad they are on the screen, never mind right way up!! fortunately, as it's only texture, it is still easy to read. and I am going to finish now whilst I can still get out of here.
FFAC Collage Mania 2009
I am making collages for this, one done and sent, more to follow, I hope. but this is from Virginia Speigel giving you all the details of how you can still join in the giving....
"...Where is March going?
But YOU still have time to submit your jpegs and be part of the final (and I
do hope GLORIOUS) Collage Mania, raising funds for the American Cancer
Society.
All the guidelines are here:
http://www.virginia spiegel.com/ CollageManiaCall 08.html
Art quilts and fiber postcards are accepted and encouraged; just remember
all artwork must be finished or mounted up to 8x10."
Karen Stiehl Osborn has MOST generously taken over the acceptance of the
jpegs, their prep and placement on the Collage Mania pages. I thank her
dedicating so much time to the job!
Our goal is $20,000 in three days (May 5 - 7) for the American Cancer
Society. All collages are offered for a minimum $80 donation the first day
and a minimum donation of $40 the remaining two days. Of course, if you can
donate a bit more for a favorite collage, we are all for that!
Any questions, please contact me directly.
Warm regards,
V.
So now you know, what are you all waiting for?
My collage, 'Fragment'. bought hand made papers, scrim, UTEE with glitter.
I hope to have time to make a couple more, and will add them to this post if I get them done.
"...Where is March going?
But YOU still have time to submit your jpegs and be part of the final (and I
do hope GLORIOUS) Collage Mania, raising funds for the American Cancer
Society.
All the guidelines are here:
http://www.virginia spiegel.com/ CollageManiaCall 08.html
Art quilts and fiber postcards are accepted and encouraged; just remember
all artwork must be finished or mounted up to 8x10."
Karen Stiehl Osborn has MOST generously taken over the acceptance of the
jpegs, their prep and placement on the Collage Mania pages. I thank her
dedicating so much time to the job!
Our goal is $20,000 in three days (May 5 - 7) for the American Cancer
Society. All collages are offered for a minimum $80 donation the first day
and a minimum donation of $40 the remaining two days. Of course, if you can
donate a bit more for a favorite collage, we are all for that!
Any questions, please contact me directly.
Warm regards,
V.
So now you know, what are you all waiting for?
My collage, 'Fragment'. bought hand made papers, scrim, UTEE with glitter.
I hope to have time to make a couple more, and will add them to this post if I get them done.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Jane Callender comes to Kuwait
In January Jane Callender flew in to give us a talk about and run a workshop in her indigo dyeing and shibori work. WOW!! no WOW already!! this was fantastic. If you ever see one of her talks or workshops advertised, go. and if you run a group looking for a speaker or workshop leader, she is your lady.
She flew in on the BA red eye, so I took her home to sleep the morning away, and then vaguely refreshed, we jumped in the car and went out on a look/see and photography trip. In the end, we only drove up the Arabian Gulf Road for about 10 miles, but it took us over 2 hours, because she kept needing to stop and take pictures. Normally it takes 20 minutes, - 30 tops depending on how bad the traffic is.
The following day we went to Sadu House to put up her display for her talk. She had brought with her several pieces of her work, and they looked fabulous hung on the racking around the central courtyard. Then on to the home of Paramjeet Bawa, who had volunteered her basement to hold the workshop in to prepare the indigo vats. Poor Cally almost had heart failure when she arrived. all the paving around the house, the stairs down to, and the floor in the basement are all white marble tiles. Indigo, obviously, is blue, and stains. There were going to be 20 people dipping and dyeing over the next 2 days - it was not going to be pretty!
this large piece was facing everyone diagonally across the courtyard as they came in, it is called Kaleidoscope, and 150cm square.
The rest are in no particular order, but just give a flavour of her work.
flushed with the success of the evening, we went home and got everything ready for the workshop the next day.
still convinced that she would be facing hideous bills for replacing acres of marble irevocably dyed blue, Cally still managed to put a brave face on and get things going. A run through of different techniques and we were off to make a shibori sampler. The silence was a testament to the level of concentration - I mean, when have you ever known 20 women in the same room, who all know each other pretty well, be quiet? For ages? Eventually, a few nimble fingered souls had stitched and gathered and were ready to dip their monstrous creations. 4 dips of a minute with 20 minutes in between. Did we have that much patience? And each time that magical moment when the cloth comes out of the vat coloured green and turns blue in front of your eyes. I love it.
2 days of this, which was just heaven, we stitched, we wrapped, we scrunched, we bound, and my, the work the ladies produced. It will be interesting to see if any of them use any of their creations in quilts or finished pieces for our exhibition in May.
Cally ended up staying with me for a week. I hope she went home with a good flavour of living in Kuwait - I tried to give her a sample of lots of things, and we were both exhausted by the end of the week. She took home a gazillion photos, and several pounds of excess baggage which we managed to get through ok because the plane was not full, phew! We took her to the fabric souk - twice, the heritage souk for dinner, for a pedicure at a nailbar in a shopping centre where we had valet parking, to the Friday market, to a concert by a local singing group, The Ahmadi singers, and took photos everywhere. I know that it was a fabulous week for me, and for the KTAA, and the ladies are still talking about the workshop and how fantastic it was. I got lots of brownie points for organising that. So I repeat, if you get the chance to listen to her or go to her workshop, you will not regret taking it. Promise.
She flew in on the BA red eye, so I took her home to sleep the morning away, and then vaguely refreshed, we jumped in the car and went out on a look/see and photography trip. In the end, we only drove up the Arabian Gulf Road for about 10 miles, but it took us over 2 hours, because she kept needing to stop and take pictures. Normally it takes 20 minutes, - 30 tops depending on how bad the traffic is.
The following day we went to Sadu House to put up her display for her talk. She had brought with her several pieces of her work, and they looked fabulous hung on the racking around the central courtyard. Then on to the home of Paramjeet Bawa, who had volunteered her basement to hold the workshop in to prepare the indigo vats. Poor Cally almost had heart failure when she arrived. all the paving around the house, the stairs down to, and the floor in the basement are all white marble tiles. Indigo, obviously, is blue, and stains. There were going to be 20 people dipping and dyeing over the next 2 days - it was not going to be pretty!
this large piece was facing everyone diagonally across the courtyard as they came in, it is called Kaleidoscope, and 150cm square.
The rest are in no particular order, but just give a flavour of her work.
flushed with the success of the evening, we went home and got everything ready for the workshop the next day.
still convinced that she would be facing hideous bills for replacing acres of marble irevocably dyed blue, Cally still managed to put a brave face on and get things going. A run through of different techniques and we were off to make a shibori sampler. The silence was a testament to the level of concentration - I mean, when have you ever known 20 women in the same room, who all know each other pretty well, be quiet? For ages? Eventually, a few nimble fingered souls had stitched and gathered and were ready to dip their monstrous creations. 4 dips of a minute with 20 minutes in between. Did we have that much patience? And each time that magical moment when the cloth comes out of the vat coloured green and turns blue in front of your eyes. I love it.
2 days of this, which was just heaven, we stitched, we wrapped, we scrunched, we bound, and my, the work the ladies produced. It will be interesting to see if any of them use any of their creations in quilts or finished pieces for our exhibition in May.
Cally ended up staying with me for a week. I hope she went home with a good flavour of living in Kuwait - I tried to give her a sample of lots of things, and we were both exhausted by the end of the week. She took home a gazillion photos, and several pounds of excess baggage which we managed to get through ok because the plane was not full, phew! We took her to the fabric souk - twice, the heritage souk for dinner, for a pedicure at a nailbar in a shopping centre where we had valet parking, to the Friday market, to a concert by a local singing group, The Ahmadi singers, and took photos everywhere. I know that it was a fabulous week for me, and for the KTAA, and the ladies are still talking about the workshop and how fantastic it was. I got lots of brownie points for organising that. So I repeat, if you get the chance to listen to her or go to her workshop, you will not regret taking it. Promise.
new year, new start part 2
If you are still with me, there's more....
these four are rubbings on black cartridge paper with white crayon over wire rubbing forms.
this is crepe bandage kuwaiti style.
torn paper strips woven in the pattern of the roofing mats.
expandaprint rubbed with metalic wax after heating, and the last one is embossing powder.
there are lots more, but I don't want Sian and you to lose the will to live! hopefully there will not be too many gaps to fill in before I can move on to shape and colour in the next few days.
these four are rubbings on black cartridge paper with white crayon over wire rubbing forms.
this is crepe bandage kuwaiti style.
torn paper strips woven in the pattern of the roofing mats.
expandaprint rubbed with metalic wax after heating, and the last one is embossing powder.
there are lots more, but I don't want Sian and you to lose the will to live! hopefully there will not be too many gaps to fill in before I can move on to shape and colour in the next few days.
new year, new start....
it went something like this. Jackie in Canada (I think) could not make contact with Sian, so in a spirit of friendship I forwarded her distress message from the C&G site to Sian, who of course remedied it. She then got straight on to me to set me a deadline! Was that cricket? probably not, but long overdue! Well, I did make a start, and then could not find my camera battery recharger for ages. that found and camera recharged I then reverted to normal operations and did...nothing!
Well, today is half term, DH has gone sailing and DD had joined the guides on a beach clean up as part of world thinking day, so I have the house to myself for 6 blissful hours. well except for the painter, but as he doesn't speak english I don't think there is going to be much time-wasting in the form of chat. I have photographed said work, and now need to remember how to transfer the pictures from camera to blogger. I could be some time!
So, diploma module 1, texture, in black and white only so as not to be distracted by the colour.
lace painted black and the tissue paper that was behind it.
kitchen towel rubbed with black wax crayon, tissue paper pva'd on top.
same but with loose woven florists ribbon between.
tissue over florist ribbon rubbed with black crayon, painted white and tissue under florist ribbon with twisted tissue over, painted white.
the tissue paper that I rubbed that florist ribbon over.
rubbing mat made with risoni stuck to card and a double layer of tissue paper rubbed with black on one, white on another.
I think that's enough for this post, I'll put some more in a second part.
Well, today is half term, DH has gone sailing and DD had joined the guides on a beach clean up as part of world thinking day, so I have the house to myself for 6 blissful hours. well except for the painter, but as he doesn't speak english I don't think there is going to be much time-wasting in the form of chat. I have photographed said work, and now need to remember how to transfer the pictures from camera to blogger. I could be some time!
So, diploma module 1, texture, in black and white only so as not to be distracted by the colour.
lace painted black and the tissue paper that was behind it.
kitchen towel rubbed with black wax crayon, tissue paper pva'd on top.
same but with loose woven florists ribbon between.
tissue over florist ribbon rubbed with black crayon, painted white and tissue under florist ribbon with twisted tissue over, painted white.
the tissue paper that I rubbed that florist ribbon over.
rubbing mat made with risoni stuck to card and a double layer of tissue paper rubbed with black on one, white on another.
I think that's enough for this post, I'll put some more in a second part.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
ktaa annual exhibition 08 or how things don't always follow the gameplan
Our annual exhibition was scheduled for May 14th - 17th, two weeks earlier than last year as I was travelling to the States for 2 family weddings. everything was organised; VIPs invited, including to open the show, judges recruited, over 170 items entered and hung, opening night catering sorted, newspapers and tv primed and ready to go, charity representatives booked for presentation.
and then I got a telephone call.
The father emir, a much loved and respected member of the ruling al Sabah family, had just died. everything had to stop, out of respect and for the official mourning. I spent the next several hours on the phone, like 24, and with the help of my amazing committee, and the support of the Rajab family whose halls we were using for the exhibition, we rescheduled it for the following Monday, tuesday and wednesday. It meant we had to telescope the final meeting and agm into the tuesday evening after the exhibition closed for the day, and we also managed to make the charity presentation that evening too, and then I set off for the States on the wednesday, leaving the team behind to pack everything away at the end of the last day.
talk about stress! it was probably only the stress that was holding me together actually, but I was so proud of the way everyone rallied round to support their group, and pleased that despite everything, our VIPs turned up, our members turned up, huge numbers of visitors turned up, everyone thought it was fantastic and we raised about 900KD in raffle ticket sales for a quiltmade by our quilt group ladies. We donated this money to our 2008 charity, KACCH, which supports children in hospital and will be building the largest hospice in the middle east over the next couple of years.
The judged categories this year were 'quilting emotion' and 'quilting in motion'. The two winners were:
Call to Prayer, call to peace by Kathi Ewen.
and Ghobar by Janet Vigeant.
this is the best in show, Suleyman Mosque, made by Q8quilters member Diana Hill from a photo she took on holiday. She made the quilt in a class she took with Paramjeet Bawa, whose own quilt Duststorm did so well last year at Birmingham, Houston and Dubai.
this was the visitors choice, Handbags, made by Debra Norton, a very popular winning choice. And this last was the children's choice, Waqanqi and the butterfly by Shyamala Rao.
and then I got a telephone call.
The father emir, a much loved and respected member of the ruling al Sabah family, had just died. everything had to stop, out of respect and for the official mourning. I spent the next several hours on the phone, like 24, and with the help of my amazing committee, and the support of the Rajab family whose halls we were using for the exhibition, we rescheduled it for the following Monday, tuesday and wednesday. It meant we had to telescope the final meeting and agm into the tuesday evening after the exhibition closed for the day, and we also managed to make the charity presentation that evening too, and then I set off for the States on the wednesday, leaving the team behind to pack everything away at the end of the last day.
talk about stress! it was probably only the stress that was holding me together actually, but I was so proud of the way everyone rallied round to support their group, and pleased that despite everything, our VIPs turned up, our members turned up, huge numbers of visitors turned up, everyone thought it was fantastic and we raised about 900KD in raffle ticket sales for a quiltmade by our quilt group ladies. We donated this money to our 2008 charity, KACCH, which supports children in hospital and will be building the largest hospice in the middle east over the next couple of years.
The judged categories this year were 'quilting emotion' and 'quilting in motion'. The two winners were:
Call to Prayer, call to peace by Kathi Ewen.
and Ghobar by Janet Vigeant.
this is the best in show, Suleyman Mosque, made by Q8quilters member Diana Hill from a photo she took on holiday. She made the quilt in a class she took with Paramjeet Bawa, whose own quilt Duststorm did so well last year at Birmingham, Houston and Dubai.
this was the visitors choice, Handbags, made by Debra Norton, a very popular winning choice. And this last was the children's choice, Waqanqi and the butterfly by Shyamala Rao.
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