Trees, and Improvisational Quilting

Over the last year or so, I have been looking over the work I have done and thinking a lot about what works best for me. And the conclusion I've come to is that improvisational piecing is the technique that fits where I'm at right now, and what I want to develop further in the next couple of years. I have had the opportunity to be in so many wonderful classes, and been exposed to many possibilities in terms of my quilting. It's very tempting to sign up for yet one more class. But instead I am choosing to narrow my options and improve as much as I can, in working with in this one area.
You will also notice that I've decided to pursue my love of trees. Vancouver Island is such a marvelous place to be to study them. I've bought a little tent trailer so that I can get out and meet more of them in person, and to expand my collection of photos

from which to work. Douglas fir trees are what captivates me right now, and are the basis for both these recent pieces. The first is called "In the North Woods". These are near my home, and where I can be found most days walking my yellow lab, Charlie. The second is called "Windows on My World", and is a reflection on how important these trees are to me.
In coming weeks I will be working on several new pieces - the fabrics are already being gathered for two of these - and invite you to visit my blog, where I'll share how they develop. Basically improvisational piecing means making it up as you go along. When I start, I really have no idea where I'm going to end up. I just begin with sewing little strips together, and take it from there. But more of this in future blogs.
And in case you're wondering, I am still very much involved with the Bitengye Designers in Uganda, and will continue to use this blog for updates on them too.
Talk to you again soon.
Pippa

African Attire for Traditionally Built Women

Not long ago, I told you about the workshop that the Bitengye Designers had with Alice, learning how to make dresses as well as jackets, aprons and yoga mat bags. The shipment containing all these items arrived this week, and some friends offered to model some of them for you. The dresses are either a straight cut with short sleeves and rounded neck, or "butterfly design", in which the sleeves are fashioned from fabric at the side of the garment. Joyanne and Hennie (photos 1 and 2) model the straight cut design, while Anne (photo 3) models the "butterfly dress". Nerissa and Jessie are our models for the jackets, based on a Japanese "Happi coat" design. Lastly there is Anne, modeling one of the very popular aprons.
This weekend the Comox Valley Schoolhouse Quilt Guild is holding a Quilt Show in Cumberland, and yes, we have a booth there. In addition to dresses and jackets and aprons, we're selling many of the other items made by the Bitengye Designers. And this is our challenge. We need to find ways to get the amazing times they make out there where the public can see them (and buy

them). Business acumen and marketing are not my strengths, but I feel confident that the product these women now make is of a quality good enough to be of appeal to the general public. The challenge is how to reach them.
Another thing I'm not very good at is modern communications media. (I can barely manage to write a blog with any regularity!) But with a bit of perseverance and lots of determination (read, stubbornness and bloody mindedness), I hope to have items such as these up on Etsy before too long too.
If anyone out there knows of individuals who might be willing to offer their skills and their time to get this ball rolling, I would be most grateful to be put in touch with them. Just email me at pippamoorequilter@gmail.com.
What I would really like you to notice, is how striking and how universally appealing these garments are. Just the sort of thing to change into at the end of a long day taking in a Quilt Show. Cool and comfy - put your feet up, and sip on a glass of wine, while reviewing your impressions and your purchases. Doesn't get

 much better than that!

Alice's Sewing School Hosts a Workshop

Earlier this month, a two-week workshop for the Bitengye Designers was held at Alice's Sewing School in Rubingo. Recheal from Kikagati, Dinah from Mbarara, and Tumushabe from Lake Bunyoni joined the Rubingo women as they learned how to make garments and other items. The problem of how the women will earn sufficient income in the slow times between Kitambaa orders was one of the things we discussed last fall. The women felt that if they could make simple garments to sell to local customers, it would supplement what they earn through the sale of other Bitengye craft items. These wonderful photos of the event were sent to

me by Athens. Recheal and Tumushabe are modeling the aprons they've just learned to make, Rosette (a young woman from Kikagati sponsored by other Canadians) has learned how to make yoga mats, and all the women made dresses and jackets. You can't really tell from the photo, but these are the cool cotton dresses for "traditionally built women", made from high quality African wax fabrics. A shipment of these items is on its way to us, and they will soon be available for sale online.
Also newly arrived from Uganda is a new supply of luggage tags. Recheal has been working hard on these, and we are selling them for $5 each,

with 100% of the funds going to her clinic. If there are any readers who would like to purchase some of these to give or sell to your friends, please let me know, and I will waive postage in getting them to you. I'm also hoping to interest a few travel shops in carrying them. As someone who has pretty standard luggage, I've always been glad to see these tags come toward me on the carousel - totally unmistakable.
The funds for Recheal's Clinic are gradually growing, and of course one-time donations are always welcome. Soon to be available is a new product being made and sold to help her realize this dream. More of that to follow. But I will tell

you that we'll be selling these and other wonderful items at the Comox Valley Quilt Show being held right here at the end of May. "Slowly by slowly", as our Ugandan friends would say.

Recheal's Clinic and Shelter - An Update

This series of photos was taken when we visited Recheal in Kikagate last November. You may remember that Recheal is one of the Bitengye Designers, and that last year she was sponsored in obtaining her "nurse's training". She is also a leader in her community, having started the group "Living Positively with AIDS", which performs instructional dramas and songs to surrounding communities. This year she told us that the next thing she wants to do is to build a shelter for HIV positive orphans (she has 17 in her care at the moment), and a counseling centre and clinic for adults who are HIV positive. A huge dream, but she believes it will happen, and when she told us all about it, we committed

ourselves to helping her raise the money to make it happen. Just like Alice's school, which is now finished. At one time it too seemed an impossibility.
So . . . once again we have an "Opportunities to Own" quilt which for which we are selling tickets - just $5 each. We are selling as many of the luggage tags we make as possible - if you or your Guild would like to order some of these, please let me know and I'll mail some to you - and we're accepting donations to this end. They're also $5 each. It seems that our time in Uganda is not over yet, that we are connected with these women we've come to know in a deep way, and we cannot forget them now.

P.S. Just a couple of notes about the photos - Recheal is in the brown skirt and brown top in the top photo, Joan is see holding Davita's hand - she's Recheal's youngest, and the grey-haired man with beard and baseball cap is my husband David. I don't think I have to tell you who the traditionally-built woman in the red dress is!

A Long Overdue Update

It has been far too long since I last updated you, both on what's happening with the Bitengye Designers and other widows in Uganda, and on my own work. I am going to blame it on major computer problems (I am now starting to get used to my new Mac) and getting well and truly sick in early January, and staying sick for weeks. But it really is inexcusable. Especially as so many of you have been so generous in donating to several of the women I've told you about, since my fall visit to Uganda.
So before telling you about anything else, I want to let you know that there was a terrific response to my story about the widows in Rubingo, who

didn't have savings enough to rent land on which to grow their food for the coming year. Many of you sent donations for this, and the result is that ALL of these women now have land for the coming year. Thank you so very much.
Another situation was that of Robin Zayanga. In the second photo, she is standing in front of her present house, made from banana leaves. But thanks to the generosity of a number of Canadians, construction is now underway on a new house for her. No more rain dripping on her

in bad weather.
And then there are the Bitengye women, six of them here at Alice's Sewing School, at which they are presently attending a two week workshop, led by Alice, on how to make garments. What they were finding was that in between orders for the other items they now make, they had no income. We talked over possible solutions, and came to the decision that if they knew how to make dresses for the local women, they could make these when there were no orders for crafts. Again, it is thanks to the generosity of so many Canadians that all of these things are happening. I promise to update you further, in the next blog post. I promise it won't be long before you hear from me again!

It Isn't All Sunshine . . .

I wonder if there's a song by that name? It seems to fit where I'm at right now. I felt so positive on January 1st, but I've come down with a wicked head and chest cold and cough, and have spent the last two days climbing in and out of bed, unable to do much besides blowing my nose and heating up my Kitambaa Cosie (my version of a "magic bag") along with drinking lots of fluids and using up lots of kleenex. I know, I know. This is a "first world problem", and yes, I'm the same person who has written to you very recently about widows in Uganda needing the money to rent land so that they're able to eat, and about Recheal starting her own shelter and clinic for those affected by HIV. But this is also part of my life. My best laid plans get swept aside by illness, family commitments, or just plain practical errands that can't be put off any longer. It occurs to me that sometimes we need to hear that other people share these woes and are similarly thwarted in their efforts to "live the creative life". Today I read the post from Robert Genn, author of the Painter's Keys who posts a newsletter on the web twice weekly. He's a man who is full of a world of wisdom, but today he was writing from the bed in his bedroom, as he learns to live with pancreatic cancer, and to realize that his life as an artist is going to end sooner than he might have hoped. But it's what he wrote about that really touched me. He described the view from his window in loving detail, and reflected on his life lived making art. So I have something to learn here. Instead of moaning and groaning, it might have been smarter for me to head to the local coffee shop, and then armed with a wonderful latte (and my kleenex), and then to have driven down to the beach to enjoy the sunrise. It came up in glorious colour at 8:30 a.m. today, but I was so busy feeling crummy that I missed the opportunity to see a part of that world described so eloquently by Robert Genn. But as I wrote on New Year's, the important thing is to pick myself up when I fall or when I miss these golden moments, and to carry on trying to do better tomorrow. So there are no photos today - just mumblings and ramblings as I share the shadow side of my creative life. I will talk to you all again soon.

Happy, Happy New Year!

January 1st of the New Year - a time to look forward and a time to look back. Last year - 2013 - was a wonderful year. And there is much to look forward to in the coming year, but when I tried to think of one word to focus on for 2014, "NOW" is the word that came to mind. As someone far more poetic than me once wrote (or words to this effect), yesterday is gone and tomorrow is but a dream, but today is the day we have to live in whatever manner we choose. Which doesn't mean we can't take the lessons from yesterday forward with us - things like learning the value of working in a series, or that time spent with family and friends is the richest of times, or that the important thing is not whether you succeed in your goals, but whether you have the courage and strength of character to pick yourself up when you fall down or change direction when it's shouting at you that change is needed. THIS is today and "now", and in this coming year, I want to put aside my multitude of excuses and "just do it", which means being open to whatever presents itself, whatever lies ahead. On

a more practical note, this means that I am slowly down-sizing Kitambaa Designs, so that I have more time to do my own work. And it means that my commitment to the Bitengye Designers is stronger than ever, and that I will do whatever I need to do to help their cooperative and business grow. It means that the time to become more active is "now", and the time to pay more attention to heating healthily is "now". It will see me blocking off chunks of time to work in the studio and making those times inviolate (unless, of course, there's some dire emergency). It's already meant shedding myself of so much stuff, in recognition that living in the "now" is so much more successful the simpler my life is, and the less clutter surrounds me. These are some of the things I'm pondering this New Year's Day. Thanks for listening. And thank you especially to those who have kept in touch via email of Facebook or by commenting on this blog over the past year. It has meant a great deal to me. To each of you a Happy, Happy New Year, full of adventure and quiet times, creative times and times of "moodling", full of friends and family and all there is to experience in this wonderful world in which we live!