From Damascus

I wish I could post some photos but the photo card reader at the internet cafe I am using won't read my card unfortunately.

It has been a busy week but the exhibition Sense of Place is installed and looks terrific. The Australian ambassador to Egypt and Syria opened the exhibition.There was quite a lot of space as the gallery is twice the size compared to last time I saw it, so we ended up hanging quite a lot of my quilts which I had with me for the retrospective at Sophie Gelfi's Gallery in la Bourboule in France. ( and i still have two quilts to finish with hand stitching). I was delighted to find that they had used one of my quilts for the invite as well as the cover of the catalogue ( they did not know it was mine as the person to whom I had sent the cd and the document containing artists names had not married the two things together)

Since then I have spent a lot of time with Ynez wandering around the souq and old city trying not to spend money and just enjoying the ambience of the old city. We met with a German textile artist Monica Spahl ( and doctor) in one of the old textile shops in the souq- she has a daughter the same age as Ynez- so Ynez has gone to her school for the day. It was such coincidence meeting another textile practitioner ( well maybe it wasn't as it was an antique textile shop) . Anyway Monica came to the opening and brought another textile artist Mirja Wark whose work I hope to see in the coming weeks ( she is a weaver) and knows many of the crafts people still practising in the souq. So I hope to see some of their favourite textile haunts around the city in the coming weeks.

ok off to find some nint tea and put some time into my paper journal!

In My Dreams

In my dreams I would have completed 10 quilts by now, done the taxes made a new small bag to put my docs and wallet in and would be packed or half way so and dyed fabric for a shop I have to deliver to on Monday on the way to the airport.

The reality is that I will be lucky to get the six quilts done ( two need more hand stitching - but that's ok- gives me something to do at night in the hotel in Syria). The photo is of Gilgamesh's forest rug- I abandoned the piece with the foiled cedars- i wasn't sure about them, nor am I sure about this stitching, but I will keep going. I have to dye the fabric tomorrow- it is too hot today- i should have done it early this morning, but I didn't think it was going to be this hot......

Nothing is packed, though the list is done- and as long as I have a list things will happen.I did try and make chilli plum sauce but put too much vinegar in I think- I suppose I could add more plums to it to even it out- maybe tomorrow.

There is a lot of sewing planned for tomorrow- getting on the plane and not having to do anything will seem like a holiday.

Fourteen Pomegranates and an Eye Idol

I have been making more pomegranate cards to sell. They are priced at $30US inclusive of postage and measure 5" x 7" (12 x 18 cm) The pomegranates have been printed using the African Painting technique. The cards are numbered 1-15 from top left to bottom right. I can take payment via Paypal. Numbers 1,8,9 and 11 are sold! And Number 4 is sold!

I have to baste another quilt- I found two tifaifai tops which I had almost forgotten existed ( this is rather a bonus as they only have to be quilted) I tossed them aside after I returned from England in 2005 and then they got tucked on the bottom of a shelf. I found them the other day- so another two quilts to add to the number I need for my exhibition in France!

The Sense of Place exhibition will be at le Palaiseau from late March until 9 April, Smaranda Bourgery had put the information on her blog- the information for the exhibition and the course I am teaching in french are as follows:
6° Exposition de Internationale de Patchwork à Palaiseau
L’Atelier « Patchwork-Art Textile »de la MJC- Maison pour tous de Palaiseau (91),organise du 24 mars au 9 avril 2007,salle Guy Vinet (place Salvador Allende),sa 6° exposition internationaleautour de l’Australie, pays invité d’honneur .Une dizaine d’artistes y seront regroupées autour de Dijanne Cevaal : Jenny Bowker, Gloria Loughman…Fionna Wright, Sue Dennis,Olga Walters…Plusieurs invitées européennes de renom se joindront également à cette manifestation : AM.Bertrand, les Bosna Quilts, P.Burbidge, A.Huet, P.M.Inderbitzin, B.Vold Klausen, C.Lyet, V.Matter, N.Richard, R.Tschudy ( les koraks)... et moi-même avec un quilt que j'ai fait spécialement pour cette exposition.Cette exposition attire plusieurs milliers de visiteurs autour de ses nombreuses œuvres.Ouverture tous les jours de 10h à 19h ; nocturne le vendredi jusqu’à 21h.Entrée libre.Dijanne Cevaal animera trois cours durant cette exposition, ainsi qu’une conférence avec photos sur l’inspiration des artistes de son pays et leur travail sur le thème de l’exposition « Sense of Place »(vendredi 30 mars 007 à 19h30, salle G.Vinet : (gratuit)Renseignements, programme et inscriptions :contact@mjcpalaiseau.orgou par téléphone : 01.60.14.02.87
Voici les cours de DIJANNE CEVAAL :COURS 1/ IMPRIMER SES TISSUS :(6h) Mardi 27 Mars 2007Quelques techniques faciles pour créer un tissu en fonction de ses désirs et réaliser ensuite, ces impressions, chez soi, sans grandes dépenses. Les tissus peuvent être unis ou déjà imprimés ;On se servira de feuillages, de pétales , de graines, de cailloux, de tout ce qui a un relief, et on apprendra à réaliser un tampon, un stencil…etc.Des encres spéciales et des tampons seront fournis en cours, et inclus dans le tarif..L’inscription sera définitive au reçu du chèque correspondant à l’ordre de la MJC/PalaiseauLa liste des autres fournitures sera remise à réception de l’inscription.Coût: 70 € + adhésion 12,5€°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°COURS 2/ IMPRESSION-TRANSFERT REBRODEE :(6h) Samedi 31 Mars 2007 : COMPLET !!!Dijanne fera ce cours également lejeudi 29 mars 2007Consiste à imprimer de façon permanente sur des tissus synthétiques (polyester, organza).Ce procédé permet de 3 à 4 impressions en série. On explorera les tissus ainsi réalisés avec des broderies en piqué libre et l’on pourra jouer des transparences, des épaisseurs et des variétés de tissus. On expérimentera aussi les tissus « fondus » par chaleur.Encres spéciales et tissus transferts fournis en cours, et compris dans le tarif.Coût: 70 € , plus adhésion 12,50€°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
COURS 3/ BRODER EN QUILTANT : (6h) Mardi 3 Avril 2007Pour aller plus loin dans le piqué libre, et découvrir en jouant que le quilting est bien plus qu’un simple matelassage , mais plutôt une véritable broderie qui ajoute un plus à la structure de votre travail. Vous pouvez apporter un patch ou plusieurs pour trouver des idées et les réaliser !Autre fournitures éventuelles précisées après réception de l’inscription.L’inscription sera définitive au reçu du chèque correspondant à l’ordre de la MJC/PalaiseauPied pour piqué libre indispensable et mode d’emploi de votre machine. Coût :60€ +adhésion 12.50€°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°Inscriptions /renseignements Par mail : MJC : contact@mjcpalaiseau.orgou christinemoulin@wanadoo.frPar téléphone :N.Astier : 01.60.14.02.87°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°BULLETIN D’INSCRIPTIONNom prénom :…………………………………………………………………………………
Adresse……………………………………………………………………………………….....Adresse mail…………………………………………………Tel :..............................Cours demandé……………………………………………………………………………....Règlement .............................................................................................

Another Quilt Finished

I ended up putting in deep marooon free satin stitched lines for accent-it is another Gilgamesh Rug.It is also a reference to remnants from the past being nothing more than glimpses- so the first layer has been foiled with some random cuneiform marks and then overlaid with scrim and then with dots added as a sort of counting system- the idea is that this would read not only on a visual level but also on a touch level- and the story of Gilgamesh comes to us incomplete with sections missing from the broken tablets on which they found the story - we have to surmise what the missing sections are. The quilt measures 60 cm by 145 cm long and it is for sale ( $1,000 US).

Todays task is to make more pomegranate cards to take overseas with me and to start another long piece- not quite decided what - there are a few options but none is crying out loudly.

Anonymous asked how to contact me- I had not realised when I went to the new blogger my profile settings did not follow- as I used to have an email link in my profile. That is fixed now so you should be able to contact me through clicking on profile.

Ten More days

The launch of Sense of Place went really well. At the last moment the Syrian Ambassador could not come as he was delayed in Damascus, a pity, but we had a good night anyway. It would have been nice to have had a few more people, but those that came had an enjoyable time, and Bev Brock was a wonderful MC and really livened up the evening. We had a silent auction and an Art to Wear auction, and the raffle wrap- all went for around the price we had hoped, so I know at least I have the cost of accommodation in Syria covered.

The quilt pictured here has been slowly growing- it still needs something else, but I haven't decided what yet- I think it might be squiggle shapes in the areas where I have used the scrim, perhaps in black thread.

Thank you for all the nice comments about the scarf- I have been thinking of making these to sell but as always pricing is an issue.I am not sure what to charge as they are quite time consuming by the time you have painted the silk, printed it and then cut out the shapes and sewn it.

And this will be your last chance to Purchase Seventy Two Ways not to Stipple or Meander- Ideas for Free machine Quilting for the next couple of months, as I cannot send it out whilst I am away. The cost for the book is $25US ( i have had to increase the US rate by $2 due to exchange rate and the fact that the post office has scrapped it's economy air option), $ 25AUS and 12 pound sterling or 18 euros, all inclusive of postage ( the cd is cheaper) if interested please contact me, and I can be paid on Paypal.

Tomorrow is Launch Time!

The flowering gum is flowering in my garden- isn't it beautiful? I love the way on the top left, the stamens are popping out oftheir little cocoons and wearing a little hat!

The other photo is a not very good photo of a scarf I have made as one of the gifts to give to our speakers and special guests tomorrow night for the Sense of Place launch. I haven't made lace for a while so it was good to get back to one, pity I won't get back to any more until well into May. The motif is inspired by drochel and I really must do some more with this motif but as always it's time time time, mind you I seem to waste an awful amount of time as well. These last few months it has been almost impossible to work let alone work consistently, and I am starting to fret about my studio/shed ever being in a fir state, let alone me working in it.

I did manage to change a Qantas booking today without too much penalty - whatever you want to do with them always costs and one of the really stupid things about Qantas and Frequent flyers ( not only do you have to pay for their card ) you can only use your frequent flyer points for a return ticket or for a one way from Australia - you can't use it for a one way from Europe as i found out last year.Anyway it is sorted to my great relief. So I have a one way to Europe in September to teach at Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork again- yay! I will work out how to get back here later on.