This week, I followed up on a very interesting parcel that arrived, quite unexpectedly, in the mail. It contained three gorgeous fat quarters of hand-printed Ghanian batiks, and the pattern for a table runner which used them along with plain black fabric. The package came from Adele, from Grande Prairie - someone I'd never met before. She had lived in Ghana for some months a couple of years ago, and spent a good bit of time working with Emma (pictured in the top photo), a young Ghanaian woman who makes batik fabrics. She brought some of the fabrics back to Canada with her, and has had some success in
selling them locally. She was writing to me to ask if I might be interested in selling her fabrics through my business. The fabrics themselves are of superior quality - with a lovely "hand" to them, and with the wax well removed (not an easy job). Adele and I talked this weekend, and to make a long story short, I am going to start carrying kits which include her fabrics right away - I'll have them in time for Quilt Canada - and have also ordered samples from which to order more fabric. I'm thrilled that this connection has come about - all because Adele came across my website and realized that we shared the same interest in supporting African women in business. The curved table mat and the indigo and white bed quilt were both made by Adele, and are great examples of ways to use this beautiful fabric. The photos beneath the samples give you some idea how rich they are. One of the lovely things is that the motifs have been scaled down so that they're more appropriate for quilting. I hope that if you're in Halifax for Quilt Canada, that you'll stop by the Kitambaa booth to see these for yourself firsthand. There's nothing like smoothing your own hand over the cotton to get a sense of what it would feel like in a quilt!
This week, I followed up on a very interesting parcel that arrived, quite unexpectedly, in the mail. It contained three gorgeous fat quarters of hand-printed Ghanian batiks, and the pattern for a table runner which used them along with plain black fabric. The package came from Adele, from Grande Prairie - someone I'd never met before. She had lived in Ghana for some months a couple of years ago, and spent a good bit of time working with Emma (pictured in the top photo), a young Ghanaian woman who makes batik fabrics. She brought some of the fabrics back to Canada with her, and has had some success in
selling them locally. She was writing to me to ask if I might be interested in selling her fabrics through my business. The fabrics themselves are of superior quality - with a lovely "hand" to them, and with the wax well removed (not an easy job). Adele and I talked this weekend, and to make a long story short, I am going to start carrying kits which include her fabrics right away - I'll have them in time for Quilt Canada - and have also ordered samples from which to order more fabric. I'm thrilled that this connection has come about - all because Adele came across my website and realized that we shared the same interest in supporting African women in business. The curved table mat and the indigo and white bed quilt were both made by Adele, and are great examples of ways to use this beautiful fabric. The photos beneath the samples give you some idea how rich they are. One of the lovely things is that the motifs have been scaled down so that they're more appropriate for quilting. I hope that if you're in Halifax for Quilt Canada, that you'll stop by the Kitambaa booth to see these for yourself firsthand. There's nothing like smoothing your own hand over the cotton to get a sense of what it would feel like in a quilt!
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