I had never arranged or observed a chimney being swept before – I guess when we were kids Mum had it done while we kids were at school, for obvious reasons- there were three of us.  So although we had once or twice lived in a house with a chimney it was never long enough to need to have it done, but I could have been pushing our luck there, though.  Still, with the onset of winter here, I decided although I’d procrastinated last year, it really had to be done this year. A friend gave the number of someone she used, and quite late saturday afternoon last week along came Washington and Mario on their motor bike with a neat little trailer behind containing the brooms, extension poles and gear, including respiratory masks I was pleased to see.  A few years ago no one would have bothered with such safety gear in this country – it is heartening to see hard hats, steel toe boots, back supporting belts, safety goggles and so on provided and know that their use is mandatory and monitored. 

I had to move the clutter off the mantlepiece, cover the computer with dust cloth and provide some logs of wood to anchor the huge plastic sheet in place along the shelf.  The floor rug was moved back and newspaper put down – as you can see in the photo that moved around during the process! but at the end it was all bundled up into a large plastic bag and they swept the floor of what little powdery soot was still there.  Mario climbed right into the fireplace, and even if my spanish was brilliant there is no way I could have worked out what on earth he was saying, but clearly these two are a well practised team and even understand jokes delivered with  masks over mouths and noses and a wall of plastic between them.  They came with a variety of brooms some of which they used and others no, I guess they’re prepared for all sizes and shapes of chimneys.  As they swept and moved the brushes higher and higher in the chimney one by one additional steel extenders were screwed on and pushed up the chimney, soot raining down on the newspaper on the floor of the fireplace behind the plastic.  

The whole process was reversed when the brushes come back down.   The verdict was it wasn’t very sooty considering we hadn’t swept it in the 6 years we’ve been here ( I had been a bit nervous about how much stuff was up there – we have wood fires all winter long, and chimney fires are dangerous)    Prep time and cleanup took around an hour – they were very particular – and it all cost a fraction of what I imagine it would cost in Aus or US – 800 pesos or around $40.  It was all fascinating and I remembered to take a couple of pics – oh, and yes, remembered to touch Washington on the sleeve for good luck  🙂  – yes, I am a bit superstitious, and who, knows, it can’t hurt, right?

Shortly after sunrise this morning, at around 7am, the beach was beautiful.  The tide was way out and just turning as I walked eastwards into the early morning sun; there was  only a handful of people from one end to the other; and very little rubbish abandoned  by yesterday’s and last night’s visitors.

Jelly fish are ‘in season’ these past few days UL and LR, someone’s diggings UR were about to be inundated and wiped away;  something large lifted a large jellyfish LR to leave the print of its underside in the path of the incoming tide.  Very few tracks are permanent  – or is the opposite true?  Now that I’ve written that, I’m not sure it is …. but anyway the big gulls breakfasting on this fresh barracouta or similar fish LL waited patiently nearby for me to pass, and will have picked the bones clean by now if the incoming tide and other people walking along the beach didn’t defeat them!

I’m glad I had my camera.  The water was relatively calm and so clear, that as the tide turned  over the shallow sand their intersecting patterns could be clearly seen in the early morning sun.

Part of every/any p&q event is the exhibition – and true to form the BA Quilters organised a good show, with examples from traditional and some modern styles and trends on show.  Some were by BAQ members and participating students and others by participating teachers.  My own ‘La Cueva’ was there – but you don’t need to see it here – you’ll find it on my website in the Colour Memory series. (see drop down series menu above)   There must have been about 1oo quilts, but sadly, imho, very few large bed sized ones.  Quiltmaking is still young in Argentina, and growing in popularity, but it seemed to me people are focused on seeing how many different classes/techniques they can try out, and are thefore only willing to make small pieces for the sake of getting things finished off. 

Q: Where has the courage to tackle a large quilt gone?  

(Don’t look at me, I’m courageous!….since although I work in very modern style, I have in the past few years made 3 (huge) king sized quilts and several, 5 or 6, single bed sized quilts in addition to the wall hung works I make.  Of course, I don’t make massive ones on spec, only for immediate family, but would make more if commissioned and paid appropriatelyby a client) 

Of the quilts in the exhibition, these ones particularly inspired me. 

this is actually 4 works in a group, by quilt artist Graciela Ouillan. On the upper right hand one can be seen the award she received for that one, but the one I really liked most of all is the one in oranges and reds. The whole group speak of a maker who has an experimental attitude, and I hope to see more from this artist next ? time.

the use of just a few repeated fabrics in this variation of a traditional design by Estela Britos caught my eye for the lovely colour scheme, the sense of depth created, and, believe me, when you look closely, the high level of craftsmanship

Aires de Carnaval by Cecilia Koppman, one of the teachers who was also a student in my class. There were several other works by this quiltmaker that all show a love of colour and movement through the use of fabric and thread, exhuberant but more restrained than Graciela Ouillan's work.

These were all what I call smallish works –  Graciela Ouillan’s were 140cm x 80cm overall,  Estela Britos’  about 1.50cm x 1.25cm, and Cecilia Koppmann’s 1.5m x 1.5m – perhaps this one was ‘medium’ – it is the largest of the several she showed.  So, I repeat – Where has the courage to tackle a large quilt gone? 

There is a web album http://picasaweb.google.com/leal.teresita/IISALONINTERNACIONALDEQUILTSBSAS2010 where you can see most of the exhibited quilts.  Interestingly I now see a couple I didn’t register as having seen before…even though I went with my camera at a time on a day I wasn’t teaching and there were only a few people around!