The Netherlands

Another journey almost over. I have done and seen a lot and am actually feeling quite tired , though I am looking forward to having my sewing machine within easy access and getting going on some projects which I want done before September and of course seeing my family.

The collage is of various views of Erve Brooks where Annelies Elburg, Laura Liebenberg and Hella Sluyters and I have had an exhibition this past week. We had lots of visitors which is great but few buyers of anything, including fabric and fabric prints- which is not so great. I did not cover the cost of this weeks portion of the airfare from Australia to the Netherlands( I portion my airfare off into weeks so that i can see what is viable and what isn't) and sadly this was a loss for me so I will not do this again. One reason I am telling you this is I did get lots of questions about how did I do this and that- people want information clearly , but somehow expect to get it for nothing. We received lots of compliments and also comments such as "I have seen some great ideas"- yes well, as Gertrude Stein said the problem with having a great idea is that someone always comes along and does it better . Right now I am in the mood for keeping my great ideas behind closed doors for awhile and pondering how to better sell my goods. And whilst we sat and answered questions we thought we should have a byline-" ideas cost time, energy and money!"

I know this is one aspect of the quilt world- this sharing, and I do share but sometimes it simply becomes ripping off- and when you spend a year creating and people do not buy a thing- not even a piece of fabric then i feel despondent.After all I have three kids at home who also need to be fed. This isn't just a social outing for me, it is a step in the process of earning an income.

Back to the Beginning of the Journey

I am back to the beginning of my journey and in the Village of Sant Feliu de Boada, in the Catalan part of Spain where I did some teaching nearby. I found this olive tree adorned with glass jars to hold tealights( i wish we would get such glass jars for our yoghurt in Australia- all we get is nasty plastic containers). The thought of tealights twinkling on a hot summers night sent me off into fields of imagination. Of course it was helped by the fact that i was reading Robert Dessaix's book twilight of Love:Travels with Turgenev and his exploration of romantic love.I thought, but didn't do it, of writing a counter to some of Dessaix's paragraphs( to practice writing )-his writing has such style and lyricism that I get really disappointed when i finish one of his books. I have now lent the book to someone else and am regretting it (even though I know I shallbe getting it back) as this olive tree straight away brought back moments from the book, and all I have is my unreliable memory to fill in the words.

Graffiti

I am fascinated by the human need to mark make and to inscribe ones name on just about anything that will bear or wear such inscription. These graffiti markings come from the Holy Sepulchre Church in the walled old city of Jerusalem. This is said to be Christianity's oldest church and is in a rather sorry state compared the the magnificent gothic and romasque structures of Europe. It is said to contain the last 5 stations of the cross so many pilgrims make the journey to this church. I say sorry state because it is rather dingy inside with no cohesion to the areas- this is apparently caused by the fact that 4 different christian churches have guardianship over the church but apparently do not get on- and have not done so for quite some time . I have shown the outside photo because if you look at the middle window you will notice there is a small ladder standing- it has apparently been there since 1860 or even earlier- in 1860 there is a painting of the church which shows the ladder in this position. It is still there because certain areas of the church are claimed by one of the four different churches who have guardianship of the space and they cannot agree as to whom will remove it or carry on the work which apparently the ladder was needed for.

The first photo is a piece of stone which was completely covered in graffiti complete with phone numbers should you be so inclined, and the second photos is of one of the pillars leading into the church.

Exhibition at Gelselaar

Finally!- some photos..... I took this photo yesterday of our exhibition at Gelselaar-the two centre works are by Annelies Elburg. The wooden uprights are the original oak uprights from the old farm shed which has been refurbished.


The second set of photos are of traditional palestinian embroidered dresses.The cross stitching on these dresses is very fine and often done freehand straight onto the background fabric. The photo of the little bundles are of amulets collected by Dr canaan- he collected these from patients sometimes receiving them as payment for his service. He carefull catalogued all his amulets and i found these especially intriguing as they were made from fabric and tied like little parcels. Griots also wore this kind of amulet- inscriptions, often koranic, wrapped into little cloth parcels to protect them.

Exhibition in Gelselaar

Today the exhibition I am having with my friends Annelies Elburg, Laura Liebenberg ,Elviera and Hella opens at Erve Brooks in gelselaar in gelderland. The exhibition consists of quilts, hand painted cloth and felt works and we have lots things for sale to inspire and experiment.

24 t/m 28 meiExpositie TextielkunstPannenkoekenboerderij 'Erve Brooks', Broekhuisdijk 5, Gelselaar(Gld.). Info: tel. 0573452911, annelies.elburg@worldmail.nlDe expositie 'Textielkunst' bestaat uit moderne quilts van Annelies Elburg en Dijanne Cevaal, een Australische textielkunstenares, schilderijen op textiel van Laura Liebenberg en viltkunst van Hella Sluyters. Er hangen ca. 25 quilts en ca. 5 schilderijenop textiel en 4 vilt-objecten. De tentoongestelde kunst is ook te koop.Open: woensdag t/m zondag 10.00-17.00 uur.

I have been trying to upload photos but am having all sorts of problems , as I wanted to show some of the amulets in the colelction of Berzeit university- as they were little fabric parcels.

I also want to answer anonymous from Israel. I did preface my comments on my Palestine post by saying that I met many good people on both sides and that in that I trusted .And in that I hope for a fair and negotiated settlement. However I do feel that what is reported in Australia is a skewed view that presents mostly the point of view of one side and that the view presented rarely gives the Palestinian view. As Omega so rightly observed lets not mince words about the fence- it is a ugly concrete wall that is at least 6 metres high built to contain and that has observation posts at regular intervals manned with soldiers with machine guns. I reported what i saw because I was shocked- I have never seen anything like it.Nor was I fully aware of the implications that Palestinians have no citizenship- that means they are in a trap- they cannot go anywhere else, because their id cards are not sufficient, without a great deal more , to travel to another country let alone another area in the physical space they find themselves- which now has a concrete wall around it. I also have a longstanding interest in international relations and international law left over from my university law years and my years as a solicitor and am a firm believer in negotiated settlements- however in order to negotiate the negotiators must come to the table with at least the hope of equal rights - and when you are denied the right of citizenship despite the fact that you were born in an area of land to which your ancestors also have claim then I think there are serious problems. And in this I hold the international community as much responsible as anyone else.

Where I have Been

I am afraid this is going to be a bit of a political rant- so if you are not so inclined please do not read and please note that this is my opinion based on what I saw.

Firstly I want to share with you a website created for Palestinian artists at the Birzeit University in Ramallah under the guidance of Vera Tamari an artist in her own right- http://virtualgallery.birzeit.edu. Please take some time to explore this site- it has a list with images of Palestinian artists and has many articles and other things of interest.I was lucky to attend an opeining of an exhibition of the work of Hassan Hourani- a book he had been making for children- Hassan Everywhere- and which he unfortunately did not finish as he drowned in the sea near Jaffa.

Ok so here goes. I went into Ramallah last week- I have read many things about the issues surrounding Israel and Palestine, I have watched many programs and I have friends on both sides of the fence( literally- I know there are many good people everywhere and in that I must trust for a solution). However what i saw was such a travesty of justice that I cannot stand by and say nothing. I went to Ramallah to set up the Across Australia exhibition at an arts centre in Ramallah.

Firstly the fence- it has been ruled illegal by the international court of justice, but still it continues to be built. But it is not only a wall dividing Palestinians from Israelies- it effectively encloses Palestinians in towns and villages- so the wall is built around, often with only one gate in and out around towns where Palestinians live- effectively cutting Palestinians off from their land- land that they have cultivated and where they have been tending olive trees for hundreds of years. I remember the elation when the Berlin wall came down- and now nearly twenty years on I find people yet again building such an ugly monstrosity

Secondly America, the EU and Australia- effectively the West- have stopped all money going into Palestinian areas because they do not approve of the democratically elected government because they view it as terrorist- - remember it was a democratic election supervised by the UN- imagine if we did that to any western country if we did not approve of whom the people voted for- well for a start we would not have to deal with a number of smirkyfaced liers. What does this mean- no money is going into Palestinian areas , not even aid that some of the Arab states tried to send nor legitimately earned palestinian customs income so over 160,000 public sector workers which include doctors, nurses, teachers, council workers , policemen have not been paid for two months- these people have as an average 5-6 dependants- so you are looking at more than a million people who have not received a single cent since the elections- they have to live, pay taxes, pay for their housing and believe it or not they also need to eat.......
Gaza has been locked down completely - no one can leave- they have not had an flour, rice or milk going in for two months- there are many children in Gaza.......

An act which the IDF ( Israeli defence Force) constantly indulge in is the chopping down of olive trees- which has become the symbol of Palestinian identity- these trees have in the past provided a livelihood for the people. They are chopped down and dragged out of the ground by tanks. One story I was told was that as the wall was being built across the property of an old mans farm- the farm had been in the family for hundreds of years and the olive trees on the farm had come from Rumania 200 years previously. Well of course one can't build a wall on another man's land with olive trees in the road- so the trees were chopped down and destroyed. The old man went to look and had a heart attack.

Palestinians do not have passports- you can only have a passport if you belong to a nation- the israelies do not accept they are part of Israel- so the Palestinians have identity cards . So for example you have a west bank Id card , or a Jersualem id card or a Gaza id card. There are more than 3.5 million Palestinians who live in what is called Israel- there are a further 6.5 million living in other parts of the world. If you have a west bank id or a gaza id you cannot travel outside of your area- so for example you may live in Ramallah but were born in Hebron- and area on the westbank physically separated from Ramallah- you have to travel across Israeli land to get to Hebron- you can't even if your father and mother live in Hebron and your sisters and brothers because people with Westbank ramallah id cannot travel outside of their area.

And these are just some of the things I encountered.I cannot believe, but must because I have seen, that these millions of people who have lived in that part of the world for hundreds of years are denied the rights of citizenship- where are they supposed to go??? I cannot believe that the West can deny access to money that belongs to the Palestinian people because they do not approve of whom they democratically elected. The result of the election might have been different had some concessions been made.

And lastly but not leastly- I encountered many delightful people on my trip- people like you and I who want to live peacefully, raise their children and educate them ( education is of paramount importance to palestinian people because even if the body can't be free the mind can be free) who want to be citizens of the land where they were born and where their fathers and mothers were born, who want to tend their crops and just be a part of the world.

I am Still Here

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I did teach near Girona which was a lot of fun. The village where I stayed was just gorgeous and perfect for early morning walks. I will post pictures as soon as I have access to somewhere where I can post photos. And the food was very good too- I love what the Catalan do with toasted bread- you slice a tomato in half and mush the inners onto your toast rubbing really hard ( if you are a garlic head you can rub some garlic in before you rub the tomato) and then you dribble it with olive oil and then sprinkly with salt and pepper- it is seriously good! And the students were a lot of fun as well.

My husband has gone for a job interview- for drafting homes for a company not so far away from where we live- keep your fingers crossed for me. It means I won't travel so much- maybe once a year but regular income will be a nice change.

And at the moment I am in Israel- the opening of Across Australia is tonight in Tel Aviv- this all happened suddenly and at the last minute.The quilts look fabulous int he space art Shalom Towers. The exhibition will then move onto Ramallah, although I will be staying in Jerusalem- where I will also go and then onto Nazareth- but by then I shall be back in Europe at Salleles d'Aude.

Right now have to finish hand quilting a piece I started last year- but kept on putting off the hand quilting part- I want it finished by tonight when I am giving a lecture.

The Rug is Done!

I did not mean to leave such a brief entry yesterday but life got in the way. I finished quilting Persephone's Rug for the Underworld just now- it measures 42 inches by 65 inches ( 100cm x 165 cm) and took a lot of quilting. The background fabric is damask tabelcloth which I dyed and I really like the texture that appeared- it is much more textured than with the normal cotton I use. The downside of this was, that it did stretch a little because of the coarser weave so my hands are sore from trying to stretch the fabric so I did not get bad puckers. The quilting took longer as a result.

And thank you for the feedback on teaching notes- I like the idea of leaving gaps so people can make their own notes. And yes the washing line is colourful at times. Before we had the washing line we had a fence across the middle of the block and I used to hang the cloth on that- peoople could see it from the road as they drove by somepeople used to slow down to look to see what all that colour was. I called it my mini Christo fence in multicolour. I also dyed the small dam we have at the front of the block red once. I accidentally poured a bucket with dye that had not been used into the sand filter I use to filter the dyewater through. And no the frogs didn't turn red and it didn't seem to affect them either even though the dam was bright red for a couple of days.

MY washing line today

 

Autumn Days

I notice lots of bloggers in the northern hemisphere are posting pictures of the signs of spring in their gardens- daffodils, blossoming cherries- but here in the southern hemisphere it is the inexorable decline into winter- the days are shortening, the weather is changeable, cold and wet and the garden is starting to put on its winter coat. Maybe that is why I am also thinking of pomegranates as it was Persephone's tasting of the fruit that sealed her fate as having to live part of her life in the underworld. And thank you Debra for the information in your comment.

Today i did some dyeing in between showers of rain, did more quilting on the Underworld rug and generally started to get into panic mode. It is not long until I go. Then I was looking around the internet and saw somebody was teaching the same class as I taught last year and the description was almost word for word the same. It is one of the irritating facts of life as a teacher that the minute you teach there is always going to be someone picking up what you teach and then teach it themselves. Most times I don't worry about it too much but occasionally it really bugs me, especially when they don't even change the wording of your description- you spend a lot of time developing things and money and the cost of travelling to Europe is high and then to have the work taken out from under your feet is a little annoying. People say you have to keep on coming up with new things and moving on but sometimes the thought enters my mind ;" why I should be the bunny who is always looking to move forward and build on my work?"


Have to make a couple more lasagna's to put in the freezer- to keep the kids moderately happy whilst I am gone, make sure that i have organised all bills to be paid, paid all the kids camp fees ( there is three going on camp this year ) and write some new notes for a class I teach where the notes I have been using are alarmingly old.
And here is a question- do you expect to get notes when you attend a class? I have had some discussions with teachers in the past and some say they don't hand out notes any more, but encourage students to take notes of things done and said in class. And do people like to get bibliographies of inspiring books? I must admit I rarely buy quilt books anymore, but do buy textile books, especially ones dealing with textile history. I buy very few technique books as I like to work things out for myself and if I can't tend to ask on internet groups.
 

Stitching

After deciding that I liked a row of pomegranates along the side of the fabric I wondered what if I cut them out- and took away the sharp edge? I ended up cutting them all out and then placing them onto the piece. I like the lutradur for this for you can see it, but it is not as sharp a contrast as fabric would be and it still allows the background fabric to play in the whole, so it is much more subtle and it doesn't take away from the richness of the fabric. What you can't see here is the thread really gives that sparkle and richness to the surface, because I am running two threads through my needle adding to the depth of colour- almost like a real pomegranate.

I feel as if I have hit on pomegramate lode here- for a start I have always loved the fruit and have been known to knock on a perfect strangers' door to ask if I can pick the fruit, it is the symbol for my favourite classical tale of Demeter , and I saw lots of it when I travelled through Egypt and Syria- in some of the old Roman tiles which were being restored, in other motifs, and it occurs frequently in early printed textiles, suggesting that in the sixtenth century it may have held a much more symbolic meaning than now. I wonder what it was that we have lost? 

Rug for the Underworld

I really need to get a wriggle on with quilting the two quilts I want to do before I leave again on 26 April. I liked the dyed cloth I made the other day but something was nagging at the back of my mind about needing something else. So yesterday and today I painted the papers to make some transfers onto lutradur of pomegranates , the symbol of Persephone. I think I like it much better now probably with my need to be literal at times.I also like that it has not got the same sort of hardline as applique but with stitching the definition will increase.
And several people have emailed to say the link I gave for Marion Barnett and my worksheet awhile ago( and it is a worksheet- the book with more full on information is coming later this year) was wrong so here is the correct one....lutradur@tiscali.co.uk.So to stitching tomorrow!

Ancient fabric

This is a photo I took of a small scrap of fabric that we found when we visited the Mere Ruka tomb and the adjacent dig. It could be anywhere from 2500-5000 years old and it is finely woven linen. There were many 'scraps' of fabric littered everywhere as all those buried were mummified and wrapped in linen. In fact I was amazed by how many graves they had found and the amount of fabric that poked out in places.It made me wonder how many spinners and weavers there must have been- were they men or women?

I want to somehow use the photos to create something which this fragment that has carried itself into the lens of my camera through eons and eons . How can i transform it into something that I can use now.

And today I am revisiting lace- it's been sometime- in a sense a new way forward with it in another format- maybe some results to show tomorrow
 

More dyeing

I woke last night after thinking about the sea coloured piece I had dyed last week ( and I haven't got back to work because I have been doing the books so they can go to the accountant- talk about uninspiring...) thinking I should really try it in fire colours- my favourites. This piece is the result and it is about 2 metres long and a metre wide.It reminds me of weeping somehow, the tears of Demeter as Persephone was swept away by Hades? I think it needs a tree with sinewy braches that fall like a womans hair to the ground, I think it needs to be stitched and not appliqued- but really heavily stitched maybe even hand stitched.  

Gellibrand Alive!

Yesterday was Gellibrand Alive, a once a year event that celebrates our local crafts people and community. We have a very active quilt group, Otway Quilters, who make more traditional work and a number of ceramacists and organic produce growers.The whole event takes place at the Gellibrand Store. Unfortunately not so many people came through, but all the stall holders know each other- so it is a good chance to catch up with people even if the sales aren't great.

I have put a lot of my newer work that is for sale on my Seriously Textile Blog. I have fixed the link now, but I haven't put any writing with the pieces as blogger won't let me publish the editing- argggh

Look What I just dyed....

A couple of years ago I made a stitched seascape which was a wholecloth quilt. I sold it much too early on, but that is life as an artist- perhaps I should have raised the price, but then it may not have sold, so I parted company with it. Anyway it has always been my intention to do another, not the same off course but again wholly stitched. So after the damask dyed so beautifully yesterday i thought hmmm- so this is what I just dyed-it's so exactly what I wanted. It is a biggish piece about 2 metres by 1.5 metres and I am not cutting a scrap off it- this one is much more like an aerial look into a coral pool, so I think that is what it will become and because it is big it can probably carry some appliqued shapes- I am thinking those brain corals....can't wait for it to dry! 

Finally a Little Work

I have finally gotten to the bottom of my room and now have a table set up to work on- the other table is still loaded full- the rest of the stuff is in the shed.

I worked on some lutradur today that I had painted before I went away- stitching the lozenge shapes. I melted back some of the lutradur with a wood burning tool I bought recently but it is so hot that I managed to burn through some of the fabric as well. I also dyed some fabric- I bought some old damask table cloths in England last year and the fire/forest piece is dyed on the damask- the colour came up just gorgeous. I am still thinking about whether I will leave it ful width- just under two meteres orcut it smaller. I also liked what happened when I collaged the fabric but unfortunately that would make it huge and I don't have enough fabric.

i have been sorting out my next trip away. I leave Australia on the 26th of April for France and then Spain. I am teaching at the following places;

29/30 April at Girona ( not far from Barcelona)- class is full

11/12 May at Centre du European Patchwork at Salleles d'Aude

15/18 May at the Stofmeid in Borger in Drente- the Netherlands also in conjunction with an exhibition of Australian quilts I have organised ( not Across Australia)- showing work of Alsion Schwabe, Wendy Lugg, Clare Smith, Robina Summers, Olga Walters, Sue Dennis, fiona Wright and beth and trevor reid and myself- lots of variety in technique and vision.

19/20 May at the Lapjesgaard at Amstelveen near Amsterdam ( there is still some spcae for these classes)

24-28 May I am having an exhibition with my friends Annelies Elburg, Laura Liebenberg and a felter whose name escapes me as well as demonstrations by Elvira from Dreamling at the Pannekoeke Boerderij Erve Brooks in Gelselaar , Gelderland in the Netherlands.

And I hope( I will- have to) to make 3 quilts before the 26th and I am thinking two of them will be large..... 

Cleaning Up

The clean up is progressing- i seem to have moved loads of stuff into the shed and I seem to have almost found the bottom of one work table so that maybe tomorrow I can work again. There is still some things to move, but I left them just in case I had second thoughts about them. One satisfying aspect has been burning a lot of paper- loads of it- photocopied stuff rom when I did my masters, and loads of toher things that I can live without. i can burn stuff because I live in the country and just love the yellowed pages and the fragile grey ash sheets that crumble when you touch. A lot of stuff is going into a garage sale on Saturday- lots of scraps of hand dyed fabric, magazines I can live without and books.

I also found some tifaifai cut outs I did years ago- hmm what to do with them....

Hopefully tomorrow some work- I am beginning to feel stuck...

No the Wheels Haven't Fallen Off

I haven't posted as i have been away- first of all to Mossvale to teach for four days , but as it was a days drive each way that took me out of action for six days, then home for a day and a half and then teaching in Gippsland and a visit to my mother, and another four days gone. Got home yesterday after lunch and have spent all today moving stuff out of my work room so that there will be space for my eldest daughter to partially move in there. The plan had been for the studio to be happening by now, but it isn't and she needs her own space even though I shall be using it during the day. The other two children are now in the large room with those high sleepers/bunks that have a space underneath- unfortunately we do not have the wherewithal to build an extra room so they will have to share but at least it is much better than the utter terrifying chaos that used to reign in their room. The room is now a pretty cornflower blue with lime trim - their choice. However th eamount of stuf f in my room is scary- what did I think I needed all that stuff for? and what do I do with it now? Arrrgh


Sandy can you email me?? I have mislaid your email addie somehow and I can't get there through your blog.

Ok so the picture is from our travels- hopefully by later this week I might actually get to make something.

No photos today- but a lutradur worksheet is available

I spent today taking the kids to their grandparents. We took the Queenscliff ferry and the day was gorgeous, sunny warm and calm- sensational really. But I left my camera at home so I can't share the gorgeousness of the day- the beautiful aquamarine colour of the sea, the cheeky seagull catching a ride on the ferry all the way ( it takes about an hour), the dolphins playing in the water alongside the ferry and just the pleasantness off the landscape still clad in its summer colour.

And tomorrow I drive to Mossvale about a ten hour drive or more to teach for four days.

But I said something new- some of you may already have it but Marion Barnett and I have worked on a lutradur work sheet and you can email for it by clicking on the link. We are also going to write a book- once my feet are a bit more on terra firma after the European trip, though I intend to do more work with the lutradur leading up to Europe.

Starting up

So I did turn on my sewing machine and did thread it and did sew- just lines and pebbles of colour- and whilst i was sitting and sewing I thought about all I had seen, and really how different it was to what the media would have us believe it is. Basically I think that we are lied to every single day. All of us are brought up to be truthful and to treat others with respect- I know the people I have as friends are such people-truthful, respectful, compassionate and caring, but but where is this in the people that seem to run the big things? They smirk and tell another lie, defraud and tell more lies- and frankly I am tired of being lied to- hence the writing on the stitched piece. Not only that, the lies result in people dieing- and that deeply bothers me. It leaves me feeling wretched with powerlessness- that it has got so, that there seems so little that any one person can do- so the wheels grinding in my head are saying that perhaps i can say more with my art.
I encountered a Syrian calligraphist and sculptor and artist, Sami Burhan when we were in Allepo. He lives in Italy most of the time but Allepo is still his home. He had created work for the United Nations, and all of his work involved the concept of peace and brotherhood- I can see the some artists, those in power and the 'me' generation laughing with superior smirks about such an outdated notion- but he believed in it firmly- he acted it in his dealings with people and students- he was generous with his time and thoughts and it was there in his huge sculpted art. He was using the beauty of his calligraphical heritage to make large statements, and i thought here is a voice in the wilderness- we need more of those.

Where did the good intention go?

The intention was to hit the deck running and be sewing on a quilt by now- but it hasn't happened. First of all children are on school holidays and there has been various catch-up running around to do and then well inspiration seems to be in the bottom of my toes- certainly not in the souls of my feet.

So i thought I would show some details of two embroidered capes/dresses I bought. The cross-stitched red and colours on black is a Palestinian dress- I love the density of the stitching. The second is a cape from turkestan (i think...) i can't remember, i was too excited and in textile heaven where I bought these things- it is on indigo cloth and embroidered with button hole stitch and has the pleasing patina of having been worn. I always wanted to create a series of interactive capes- that someone would put on in the exhibition space ( i know yes they would get grubby) but I love the idea of somehow recording how the cape/cloak would make the person feel when worn- would a person wear it? and if so would it alter the way one felt? I know when I went to this textile shop in Damascus it took my breath away( and we went there nearly every day)- the colours were so rich and wonderful that i didn't know where to begin- had I been my cat I would have been purring and dribbling in bliss at the same time, but as i was human I just feasted on the colour, the lusciousness of the textile, the attention to detail, the rhythm and pattern of the stitches- the sheer utter joy of something so beautiful.

Juxtapositions

I am back and finally a bit recovered from the homeward journey. Leaving Dubai at 2.45 am after earlier that day having flown from Kuwait and arriving in Melbourne at 1.45 am is not my idea of fun. The last two weeks have flown by and are full of juxtapositions- from the dust and dirt and charm of Bub Zwela and the tentmakers where we spent our last day in Cairo and where I purchased some cushion covers ( 6 to be exact) from Mohammed who does lovely fine designs to the new kitsch and glitz of Dubai where everything can only be said to be big- shopping centres are big and one even has a ski slope, where an island has been built in the gulf to accommodate the worlds only seven star hotel where all that glitters really is gold( however the building in which it is contained is very interesting and is indeed a landmark on the coastline).

When I started my blog I called it the musings of a textile itinerant and the last 7 weeks has indeed been the encapsulation of that- now i am home for five weeks and then I am off again to Europe to teach in Spain near Girona, and the South of France before heading up north and the Netherlands. There are some other possibilities floating around that need to be finalised in the next week or so plus I have to make a number of new quilts.

And then there is next year- I have been invited to bring another exhibition of Australian work to Syria and Damascus for a three week period March 2007, and Oman has been put on my wish list to see- I heard many wonderful reports about it. My daughter Celeste who came with me this time is thinking of ways to save money so that she can travel to this region again because we really had a fabulous time and there is so much to see, and well the jewellery and textiles are stunning- we have lost so much - for me fine craftmanship and a richness of decoration are surely one of the beautiful things you encounter in life's journey and a life devoid of it is all the poorer for it.