As I sit here and stitch away, I have been thinking about how multi-skilled contemporary quiltmaking is really prompting us to be. personally I have never seen quiltmaking and my great love, interperpretative stitchery aka creative embroidery as being any more than two backwaters of the same needlearts pond.

So far this piece is really an embroidery with beginning bits done with the aid of bonding/applique – how quickly that enables colour to be laid down. Of course other skills allow that, too , such as painting, spraying, printing of all kinds, various hand dying technqiues and stencilling.

Since the “Tree of Life” quilt, (mid may archive ) I have been thinking about my own personal language via symbols. These received a boost today as I read the posting on Dijanne Cevaals’ blog of some wonderful and carved fabric printing stamps from dried gourds. In one of the comments a responder gave the source of the meanings of many of these , although Dijanne herself with her familiarity with Africa clearly knows and understands what she has acquired, and appropriately with her strong connection with Africa she will probably use them in some interpretive way, too.

As I stitch away, I am listening to Craig Unger’s House of Bush House of Saud which explores the incredible links between the two families which have so influenced American , Middle Eastern and World, politics and economies since the 1970’s. Fascinating even if only a quarter of it is true. Talk about global interconnectedness. Joseph O’connor’s Star of the Sea, set between Ireland, the Atlantic and New York 1847, was wonderfully read by John Kavanagh. Once I am propped up in bed for the night I am reading Che by John Lee Anderson, a large tome which if I read it lying down threatens to break my nose if I nod off. I am enjoying it immensely, having tracked down the book after enjoying the movie Motorcycle Diaries, covering just a couple of years’ travel around the southernpart of South America while Che was still a young man. In the movie it is clear several experiences impact on him deeply, and just suggest why he became such an icon of idealism in the latter C20th. The movie left me wanting to know more about his life.

We woke to a beautiful morning early in Carrasco, then the fog came in, but it seemed to hold promise of a lovely day so with a couple of things on the list to look out for, we headed off downtown to Av. Tristan Navaja, where every sunday rain hail or shine, a ferria, market, takes place. Now in addition to all the produce you can think of, and household goods, you can buy anything from a tap washer to a any kind of battery, pirated and genuine cds and videos, lots of interesing industrial waste/cast off stuff, some antiques, some vintage stuff and plenty of junk. Lots of clothing, shoes and accessories, new, used, and some very old, vintage stuff. Quite a few quite nice fur coats were on offer today…. Down the years we have bought a number of beautiful glasses in ‘sets’ of anything from 1 to5, and I think I have mentioned the several stalls I keep my eye on that stock old needleworked household linens. But there’s one thing I just have not come to yet, and that is selecting and purchasing my bras and knickers from one of the many street vendors…. only some of whom are women.

Our eyes locked onto this home-made Penny-Farthing 

….and certainly showing fine DIY ingenuity to keeping the tyre on… Penny- farthings usually had all-metal wheels anyway, so this has been adapted for additional comfort. 

Look carefully and you will realise this is a print of one of my quilts, “Afterglow” onto white fabric, which is then pinned to my cream pinboard. My dear son, bless him, has dreamed up yet another way to enhance my quilt designing and making career, and had this sample done… and despite any personal doubts on the wisdom, or indeed the marketability of this idea, I have so far have consulted two very leading art quilters, and found opposing views. I have yet to be convinced that anyone at all would be interested in buying a print of an art quilt to layer and quilt themselves, sort of like a contemporary art quilt cheater cloth…. Granted you could only do this for something you intended to keep in your own collection, right? … so what do YOU think?