Early Days of Summer

The month of June has been full of a number of marvellous thing. Most recently, I was pleased to be able to visit FibreArts in Madeira Park (on the Sunshine Coast), for the opening of the exhibit Architextiles. The yurts gallery was the ideal venue in which to exhibit five pieces from each of six artists. The interpretations of the theme varied widely, from inukshuks to cod fish to gargoyles, but each grouping formed a cohesive whole - each was an example of "working in a series". I had never been to the yurts before, but it was well worth the two ferry rides and very long day to do so. I would highly

 recommend it to anyone venturing up the Sunshine Coast this summer. Most of the month of June has been spent over on Hornby Island, though, where I have gathered images, both in my mind and in photographs. I'm not sure where they might crop up in my work, but am certain that observing keenly and just be-ing time is just as important to the creative process as making art. It's as though in so doing, I am training myself to really see. Sometimes I chose to put the camera away, and just be in the moment - watching a pod of killer whales swimming close in beside the ferry on our way to Powell River

on Saturday, or drinking in the scarlet and magenta of the sun setting that night, hearing the birdsong of at least 6 different birds early in the morning, gathering rocks with my grand-daughter on the shore, and later, watching her sturdy little naked body going running across the hard packed sand and into the water at Tribune Bay. All of it is part of living a creative life, and I love it. I wish each of you a summer full of great adventures and small wonders.

Incomparable Buttons - from South Africa

I have been carrying buttons made by the Incomparable Button Company of South Africa almost since I started Kitambaa Designs seven years ago. These are handmade buttons, and hand-painted too. They're all made of clay, fired at a very high temperature, which means they can withstand washing in a washing machine. If you drop them on a cement floor they will break, but otherwise they stand up very well indeed. I have just put the collection I carry up on my website - www.kitambaa.com - so you can access them easily year round, and not just at quilt shows. The uses for these buttons are endless. The knitters amongst you may see them as buttons on a cardigan, while embellishers will see them as ways to add an extra something to your quilts. Someone sent me a photo earlier this year of these buttons used to decorate the top of wooden boxes, and many people have used them on greeting cards. You may well have seen the wall-quilts I've made incorporating these buttons - the most recent one became one of my "Limited Edition Kits" - "A Gathering of Guinea Fowl" - and sold out almost immediately. There are more designs in the works at the moment, and I'll be sure to post them here as soon as they're ready. In the meantime, I thought you'd be interested in seeing a photo of the women who make these buttons, all dressed here in traditional costumes. If I ever make it back to Johannesburg again, I hope very much to be able to visit them. In the meantime, I am

 delighted to be able to carry their products. Perhaps they might challenge you to create a quilt using one or more cards of buttons? Until next time, Happy Quilting!

What Else Have I Been Doing?

In the gaps between shows, and the tired moments sitting in my cosy spot on the couch at the end of the day, I have managed to work on a few smallish projects of my own over the last few weeks. The arrival of Molly Mae Shepherd at the end of April awakened a somewhat dormant desire to knit. And knitting little things is so much more do-able than big people sweaters. Molly's first Gabby-knitted sweater is being blocked as I write, and only needs one button sewn in place before I can present it to her. I've already given Nora her first knitting lesson, as you can see, and she was only too happy to get involved, winding the yarn around herself with great enthusiasm. So I've just started knitting a cardigan for her, to match Molly's.

Meanwhile I'm getting back to an African improvisational piece that's been on the go for some weeks. I've been using African textiles and crafts as my inspiration - making up the design after a few preliminary sketches. The plan is to make six more of these, then to hang them together, joined by brass beads from Ghana. Still a way to go. This project is collaborative. I do the piecing and quilting and then hand it over to my friend Joan Darling, who adds the beading.

And ever since my copy of Quilting Arts arrived on the doorstep about three months ago with a photo of one of Dijanne Cevaal's Travellers Blankets on the front cover, I have been seeing hand stitching everywhere, and am very drawn to it. While in Gibsons I started stitching some African indigo scraps in bright perle cottons. And I can't seem to stop. Someone asked me yesterday what it was going to be when it's finished, and I have no idea. I'm just enjoying the rhythm of sitting down and making up where I put the threads as I go. I put wool on the back of each piece to help keep it firm, and have loved needling through it. Now I wish I'd never taken the old family blankets to the Goodwill! I'll have to keep my eyes open for somebody elses castoffs.

And lastly, I've been doing some more screen-printing. I had some African fabric with guinea fowl on it last year, but ran out. These drawings are my own rendering of that fabric, and intended to be used with fusible web on the back, and then cut out and added as detail to a composition. I think I might try it next time on some brighter gold fabric, but there doesn't seem to be any of that in stock right now. I guess I'll have to put it aside and get to work on my piece for the La Conner show - "Abstracted". It's due at the end of this month, so no more procrastinating! So that's what I'm up to, and I plan to blog about the process for my abstracted piece, so stay tuned. And Happy Quilting until next time!

Nanaimo Quilt Show - and a Few of my Favourites

May is a busy month, by any standards. For the quilt show enthusiast, it is full of so many possibilities that one must pick and choose what events to take in. For me this meant attending the Sunshine Coast Quilt Show and the Nanaimo Quilt Show. And there was so much to see at both - such a variety of quilts - something to please everyone. I've selected photos of just a few of the quilts from Nanaimo - those with an African theme - because I just can't show you everything. The first quilt is Avril Valentine's. It began as a Kitambaa kitted wall-hanging, but wow, what she's done to expand it is fabulous! Avril was so excited to show it to me, as well she should be. The second quilt, made by Bev Cottrell, has a wonderful story to it. She attended my African Collage class just shortly after the death of her husband of 60 years. A friend had persuaded her to go, and she really felt as though she was drowning in class. In fact I think she wanted to crawl into a little hole in the ground when we did the walkabout at the end of the workshop. But she took her beginnings

home and laid all the pieces out on the floor. She rearranged what she had made and she took some bits apart and she made other new elements, the whole design process taking her weeks. But it all came together in the most beautiful way, and when she looked up, and it was done, she had also come through the worst of her grieving for her husband. Thank you, Bev, for sharing your story. You are a strong and courageous woman, and your story is a gift to us. Lillian Charron made the third piece, and I just love the simplicity of it - the implied story and the sense of space and possibility. Kathy Calder's African Collage comes next, and I am wowed by the

 colours and the movement in it, and the balance between all the elements. When Kathy was in class, she kept apologizing for doing something quite different from everyone else. I thought it was terrific at the time, and still do.  And lastly are two pieces from the grannies exhibit in aid of the Stephen Lewis Foundation - the first by Pat Cruzcor and the second by Noreen Duncan. There were many powerful pieces in this exhibit, but these were two of those that touched me most. The entire exhibit is still to be seen at many locations in BC, and you can go online to Royal City Gogos to see where it will be in the future. As for me, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the quilts on exhibit, but am happy to be home again, getting the website in a bit better shape, and making new work. Thank you to all of you who visited my booth and supported me at both shows, and to the show organizers too, who helped things run as smoothly as possible. By the way, I heard a rumour somewhere that I was going out of business. Well I want to reassure you that it just isn't true! I have narrowed my focus considerably, and am now sticking with all things African and quilt related, at least from the Kitambaa point of view. But I'm still very much alive and well as is Kitambaa. I hope each of you out there in blogland is enjoying your own creative life. Good to catch up with you, and I hope to share more of my journey more regularly with you over the coming months. Until next time, Happy Quilting!

Encouragement for the Kitambaa Sewing Project

This month has been one of encouragement for the Kitambaa Sewing Project and the Bitengye Designers on several fronts. Five new sponsored students have been chosen to attend Alice's Sewing School. Two of the sponsorships were given by the Blue Mountain Quilters' Guild in Port Coquitlam, and also include treadle sewing machines to be donated to these young women upon graduation. Langley Quilters' Guild has undertaken to raise funds for another sewing machine, and just this morning I received a request for the greeting cards we've made up with photos of various aspects of the sewing project, to be used to this end. Donations both large and small are coming in, and will go toward this year's workshop with the women. Our flights are now booked and all being well, we'll depart on October 21st. Back on the home front, I've started to make "Kitambaa Cozies" - bean bags to use heated or iced for comfort of aching shoulders and backs. The pattern was generously shared with me by someone who used to make these as part of the outreach program of the

organization for whom she worked as a counsellor. And several volunteers have come forward to help me with these. Meanwhile a fresh order of newly-made items has just arrived from Uganda and more jackets are on their way (photos of these will be posted as soon as they arrive). What's been most encouraging of all is  that Alice's school is now finished, with the sewing machines moved in and classes being held there regularly. I can't wait to see it in the fall! Lastly, I wanted to show you this photo of an African-inspired quilt made by Joanne Colleaux of Armstrong, BC. She is one of the featured quilt artists at the Shuswap Quilt Guild Show being held on June 7th and 8th at the Salmon Arm Recreation Centre. She'll have this quilt as part of her display, and is using it to raise more funds for the sewing project. I just love it - yet another way to use all these wild and wonderful African fabrics, and benefitting the Bitengye Designers at the same time. Wonderful!

The Importance of a Space of One's Own

Mark Rothko

Jackson Pollock

Lisa Congdon

For the last month I have been doing a fair bit of travelling. I've met old friends and made new ones in Victoria, Langley, Nanaimo and Vancouver. I've visited La Conner Quilt Museum for the first time, where I saw an amazing exhibit of Karen Franzen's, as well as a marvellous collection of antique quilts. And I was treated to a trip to the Schack Gallery in Everett, Washington, where fibre artists from Whidbey Island were exhibiting. While I was away, I have had my studio painted. We live in a 1970's house, and the studio is in the basement. It came complete with wood panelled walls and shag carpet. Now I love wood, but it made it very dark, and painting the walls has made all the difference in the world. Once I saw what a change it made, I was determined that instead of just putting everything back in place where it was, I would go through all my containers and collected papers and artifacts, and only hang onto those things that have significance for me. This process could be called purging, and it feels great. I still have the old carpet, but will get that lifted and replaced with new soon, and then last on the list is hiring an electrician to optimize my lighting. So, long story short, I haven't done a lot of work in the last month, but I am feeling very excited about the possibilities in my new work space. It's important to feel good where you go to create. Rarely will it be perfect, but we are powerfully influenced by our surroundings, so considering what works best for your own creative efforts is huge. I had been mulling over such matters, and then yesterday was introduced to an article that looked at 40 famous people and where they work. Fascinating stuff. Everything from white and pristine to absolute chaos (to me, the viewer, but clearly not to the artist). I've included just a few on this post, but if you're interested in seeing the whole article, this is the link:

David Hockney

Georgia O'Keefe

http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/40-inspiring-workspaces-of-the-famously-creative
I'd be really interested to hear what's important to you in your work space or studio? Happy creating, wherever it is, and whatever you're making!

"It Started With a Stitch"

1600 Inch Jelly Roll Challenge -Nancy McIntyre

I am just home from a weekend in Victoria, where Kitambaa Designs had a booth at the Westshore Quilters Guild. This is a fairly new guild, and their show was admirable, with a nice variety of quilts on display, as well as demos and a Merchant Mall. I was delighted to see all sorts of people I knew - people asking after the Bitengye Designers, people who have been in my classes, and people who are interested in African textiles and quilt designs. It was a terrific experience, and has persuaded me not to give up on going to shows altogether - something I had been contemplating, because the physical demands of a show are so high. What made a terrific difference this time, was that someone helped me load my totes into the van at home, and when I arrived at the show, helpers were ready and willing to help me unload my wares. To anyone helping organize a quilt show, let me tell you that this help earned five gold stars for the Westshore Guild, and I would highly recommend offering the same assistance at any show. It made this vendor very, very happy. I don't have to commend quilt shows to those of you who read this blog, but

Mini Block Sampler - Youngmi Kim

I was reminded again how invigorating it is to see other people's work, and be exposed to their amazing creativity. The quilts I have shown here are just a sampling, but give you an idea of why this show was such a feast for the eyes. I was saw quilts that I wouldn't attempt to make in a hundred years, but loved, and quilts that made me stop and examine why they worked so well, and to think about how I might use that knowledge in one of my own projects. If you're trying to decide what you might like to try next, or if you're trying to narrow down the options a little and decide what might be your own area of expertise, going to a quilt show goes a long way in helping in that process. So a big thank-you to the Westshore Guild for inviting me to this event and being so very helpful, and thank you to all my customers, who gave me the necessary nudge to get busy and create some more Africa-inspired designs. And happy quilting to all of you.

Quantum Shift - Diane Sanci

Coming Home - Linda McDonald

Eileen Neill and Joan Darling