Westshore Quilters' Guild

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day with the Westshore Quilters' Guild. I was teaching my Blocks and Borders class, and look forward to seeing the samplers these quilters were working on. The scope for using different borders on quilts is limitless, and design sources can be found in the art coming from many different cultures. The Guild provided a super lunch, and snacks too, all of which helped everyone keep working with enthusiasm well into the afternoon. Thanks to all of you for a great day!

Batiks, Batiks and More Batiks

This afternoon we had a delightful visit from Vivian and Bob Christopher of Calgary. Since their retirement, they spend much of their time travelling abroad (they're just back from several months in Cambodia and Laos), or in Canada and the U.S. in their motor home. Vivian has not one but two sewing machines that travel with her in the latter, with storage under the big bed for all sorts of fabric. Vivian and Bob are interested in different countires and cultures, so when they discovered my website, they decided to pay us a visit to see some of the treasures we'd had found in Uganda. They had a quick look around, and then descended on the batiks we'd purchased from several different batik artists we'd connected with in Kampala. Each batik is an original, unlike any unlike anything we've sourced out before. With generous encouragement from Bob, Vivian purchased several of these along with several fabrics with which to border them. Before they left, they kindly agreed to pose for a photo with a few of their purchases. We'll be taking more of these batiks with us when we travel to Vernon next week, to spend time with the Vernon Silver Star Quilters and the Gathering of the Guilds on Saturday April 25th.

The Elements

Before I left for Uganda, I had begun to work on this piece for a FAN-sponsored show entitled "The Elements". I had completed the bottom portion of the design, with red-orange-yellow colours against the neutral beige of a piece of raw silk. Today I worked on the companion piece for it - yellows-greens and blues, once again set against the neutral beige of raw silk. This piece was inspired by the rock walls I saw during visits to New Brunswick and Newfoundland last year. They were built to last, these walls. They are solid, strong, and are testament to the vision our forefathers had for the new land they were settling. They speak of courage and of hope, of a tenacity of spirit in spite of the elements that conspired against them. They were built to withstand storms, and wars, and to outlast the people who built them. There is something ethereal in their worn shapes and rounded edges, something that reminds me of our elders, and their resilience and our resilence too. They will still be there long after I am gone, part of our cumulative history, part of my history.

Bufoka Orphans

Yesterday I received an email from Ivan, the organizer of the Bufoka Orphans Group on Lake Bunyonyi. The choir he teaches is composed of 70 orphans from just one region of the lake. They perform their songs and dances as a means to raise funds for their school fees. Ivan's email indicated that Sissy Kyampeire, an S-4 student at Lake Bunyonyi Secondary School, no longer has a sponsor, and he wondered if I might be able to help. I told him I would pass on the information in case there is anyone out there who would like to sponsor a secondary school student. The fees work out to about $300 a year, and can be made in 3 payments, $100 at the beginning of each of three school terms. If anyone is interested in supporting Cissy, please get in touch with my by email (pippa@mars.ark.com). Since we arrived back home, sponsors have been found for three more of the students we promised funds to, which is hugely encouraging, including Sarah (Dinah's niece), and Saphon (Anna's son).



Kitambaa has just returned from the Victoria Sewing Show, where I gave talks on the sewing project. For those of you who would be interested in this, I will be giving the same talk at the Abbotsford show the weekend after next, as well at several Guild meetings. If you would like me to come and talk to your group, please let me know, and I'll certainly try to find a way to fit it into my schedule. I will be continuing to sell squares for this year's Grandmothers' Quilt (photo at left)until they are all gone ($5 each), with the funds raised from this going towards next year's workshop with the Bitenge Designers. So have a look at my website to see where I'll be in the coming months. You can look for me at Quilt Saskatchewan, as well as various places in B.C.

What Next?

Many of you have asked or wondered, perhaps, where the Kitambaa Sewing and Quilting Project goes to next. I thought I'd take this opportunity to fill you in a little. What is very clear to us, is that our time with the Bitenge Designers in Uganda was a beginning, not a one-time event. There is huge potential for this project to grow, and we will be doing everything we can to facilitate this. We'd like to provide the women with ongoing training, to teach them new items to make, to add new members to the group when the time seems right, and to support Alice in her efforts at building a new school. To do this, we will be incorporating ongoing raising of funds along with other Kitambaa-related activities. Pictured here are the luggage tags we've been making. They sell for $6 each, with all of the proceeds going to the sewing project. We will continue to see our "African Stars", also for $6 each. Included with these is the pattern to make the small piece pictured here. So if, perhaps, any of you are members of a guild or group through which you could sell these, please let us know, and we would be happy to send them to you. Or if you would like to contribute to next year's sewing project (we plan to return in mid-January 2010), or to support of the secondary school students we are now sponsoring, or to the sewing machines we will require for new students, please get in touch with me, and I'd be happy to tell you how to go about that. And now I must run - Joan and I are on our way to the Nanaimo Quilters' Guild, where we will make our first presentation on the work that we were involved in, in Uganda, and also where we'll have the items made by the women for sale. Perhaps we'll see you there, or in Victoria, or Abbotsford, or Vancouver, or Vernon, where we'll be giving the same talk? And for those of you who are further afield, and are interested in the items for sale, I'll be sure to get them on this blog and on my website in the next few days.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Joan and I have been home for 2 1/2 days now, and are gradually getting over jetlag. Thoughts of the women of Bitenge Designers are still never very far from our thoughts.

En route to Canada, we stopped in the UK for a few days. The highlight of that time was a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum textile collection. What a treasure trove! In vertically organized "files", samples of textile art from as far back as the 11th century and from around the world are housed. They are part of the textile study area, and are intended to be brought out and examined and sketched. Only we hadn't brought pencils or sketchbooks with us! What a wealth of history in housed in this amazing place.

This shot gives you a view of the carefully catalogued collection. The glare of the framing glass makes them a little difficult to photograph, but is a small price to pay for access to these remarkable pieces. I left wondering if I still have time in my short life to undertake a more in-depth study of textile design. Who knows?

This piece is hand worked in silk thread against a heavily quilted geometric background. It gives new meaning to the words "hand made". There were beaded pieces and embroidery, lacework - virtually anything that could be described as textile art.

If any of you are contemplating a visit to London at any time in the future, I would recommend a visit to the V & A, for sure.

Homeward Bound

We have bought a few crafts along the way during the last five weeks, including baskets from this woman in the Mbarara market. But we hit the motherlode when we came to Kampala, and have had a fabulous time over the last two days, buying fabrics and jewellery, batiks and other treasures, many of which we will have for sale at our Kitambaa Designs booth at upcoming quilt and sewing shows. And now our bags our packed, and in the morning will fly to London, where we will spend a few days, before completing the last leg of our journey on March 10th. The sights and sounds of this country will be with us for a long time to come, as will memories of all the wonderful people we've met. Once we're home again, this blog will feature both this project and other Kitambaa-related news. I look forward to meeting many of you as we travel across the country in the coming months, and welcome any inquiries into how you can be involved in our work with the Bitenge Designers. Please stay in touch . . . Pippa and Joan