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!

These pictures are of my wonderful students in BA – the one with the sewing machine in front is the advanced class, the others are the ‘beginners’.   Apart from mine, the classes offered at the festival were very traditional and I think were wiselychosen taking into account the relative short involvement of patchwork and quilting in latin america.   

I taught a beginner and advanced class on freehand cutting and piecing, suggesting that going into the advanced class the student should have done some of this before (I have taught a number of times over here in Uruguay, once to several argentines who came over for a class)  or, if they hadn’t, that a worksheet on absolute basic principles available to practice at home before class, but only a couple asked for it.  Interestingly, there were more outstanding results from the beginner class than in the advanced – probably partly a scheduling issue that made it more convenient for some to take a class with me on one day than the other – and partly because I think some saw themselves as ‘advanced’ which maybe they were in terms of traditional piecing.  From making traditional patchwork with its focus on precise measurement and exact 1/4″ seam allowances,  it’s a huge step from there to cut and sew as you go without templates, and decide what seam allowance you feel OK with, and understand that ‘this is not at all important’.

Whatever class I teach, there is never just the one project everyone is doing, so everyone is holding up something different.  Students make choices, taking options to follow one of several directions, all the while learning what I am teaching.  These classes were technique based –  freehand rotary cutting and piecing (which produces irregular shapes – no pattern, sew as you go) and part of the class includes devising some simple repeat blocks which I prefer to call ‘units’ since in some cases they really aren’t ‘blocks’ per se.  Some students came up with their own plan, others chose from several options available.   I was impressed with them all, they worked hard and were a lot of fun.

Yesterday’s class for beginners in the world of freehand cutting and piecing had an element of additional brain activity for all of us  – three languages were being spoken in class – there were several of the brasilians in class most of whom spoke a little spanish but no english, I speak spanish enough to manage, but not very elegantly imho, and understand a bit of portuguese if it is spoken slowly and clearly, and fortunately one student could clear any roadblocks ( which I am proud to say were rare) with enough ability in all three.  There was meant to be an interpreter around, like pin boards and enough table space … but we managed, as quilters always do.  One of the sponsoring sewing machine companies provided machines for the class, plus a techie who was in the room most of the day – so someone dropping a pin into the mechanism of one, and another just not working well, did not present me with any worries at all.

The morning session included demos, some sample making, then deciding which aspect of these techniques the quilter was going to put into a small wallhanging.   As we proceeded I was a bit concerned that a couple were just not getting the freehand bit, couldn’t handle the freedom actually! which I did understand, they were all from the traditional quiltmaking world with its necessary attention to precise measurement and careful cutting.  But in the afternoon these two in particular really ‘got it’ , which pleased me to see.

At the end of the day, as class wqas starting to pack up, one student asked me would I mind if she taught classes on this.  I immediately thought  ‘You have to be joking surely, you are not any kind of expert dear! ‘  but of course, I said that since it is just a technique, and if she makes all her own samples and images – with absolutely no permission to use any of my quilt images, of course, she could.   I discussed this response with another teacher later, who agreed.  It’s technique, and  I am very glad I have long had the teaching policy of never giving out copious class notes – there is the one page basic instruction sheet which is (c) I pointed out – but free to anyone who asks – and the half page list of points (c) covered in class in the order of the sample sets I demo-ed.  Another student asked if I had a book …. answer = no – for the same reason.  I teach, and the student has to learn what I am teaching in this class, making note of anything they need to remember – which is the point of making samples and having a pen and notebook.   They all have my email, and I welcome any follow up inquiries to my classes.