I have been preparing the fabrics for one of my Southern Lands pieces. I have had to create new fabrics because alas i don't have my stash here. I have also been working on making new lino-cuts, as I also left all my lino-cuts behind and am slowly building up a whole new series of lino-cuts. My quilts for southern lands are largely about rivers and trees- the two are very connected in my mind, so I wanted to make a very stylised tree but with a round shape at the same time ( which complements the other work I am doing- rounds shapes and circles is a recurring motif). The first images is of different lino-cuts I made for the round
shape. I tried various sizes and different designs. I made the middle one first , but it looked too much like an eye, then I made the bottom one but it looked like an orange segment of a flower so I ended up using the top one. I am still not 100% happy but can see with stitching it might be interesting. I then printed other 
fabrics with circles as well. The dark fabric is an African print that my friend had- you cannot see it from the photos but it has just the right colour of turquoise in it- as my tree shapes are printed in turquoise colour bright from Trapsuutjies.
And if you ar ein need of some adventure or a change of scene and pace- don't forget that Creative Arts Safaris is doing a tour of Syria from 15 to 28 May of this year. I will be one of the tour leaders- we almost have enough numbers but could do with one or two more. The idea is to be inspired and to create as well- we will be visiting lots of different textile inspired things as well as stitcihing with some refugee women.And we will creating your own versionj of a travellers blanket!
