My African Wall Hanging is Finished!

Just want to share a newly finished project with all of you.  This started off as a handpainted wall hanging that was given to me by a very dear friend when I left South Africa.  It has been sitting in the "gotta do something wonderful with this"  pile since 1994.  Well, I have finally trimmed down the wall hanging, added borders and gotten it quilted.  It will hang in either our dining room or master bedroom, not sure which yet.

The birds are guinea fowl,and they are one of my favorite African animals (along with zebras and giraffes). The original wall hanging was 32" X 48" , and continued 4 " on each side of the present thin black border. But this area did not contain any design element, so it was cut off. The remaining original fabric is now the center of the quilt, and it is 24" X 40".  The total piece is 36" X52" with the addition of the 3 batik borders.

One of the hardest decisions was trying to figure out how to quilt this. My daughter looked at it and said, "Mom, they are African animals - that should be clue."  Brilliant!  The overall background quilting of the center is a meandering back and forth stripe - just like zebra stripes!  Among the guinea fowl and zebra stripes I also added a free motion elephant, and giraffe, and a rondavel - a traditional African hut. I am enclosing additional photos that show close -up images of these last 3 items. The first photo shows the elephant, the second shows the giraffe, and the last shows the rondavel.  You can click on any of the photos for a larger view.

As for the borders, the striped batik is quilted with a traditional African motif - triangles.  Geometric shapes are found in many African art forms, a good example is the art of the Ndebele people.  Their clothing and housing are all decorated in straight lined, geometric shapes.  You can see more of their work by clicking here and here.  I am especially enamored of the Ndebele style - I am fortunate to have brought back a beaded Ndebele apron and a beaded Ndebele doll from my time in South Africa.

The final border is quilted with straight lines, to mimic the shape of a frame around a piece of art.  Can't wait to get this hung.  And, I am happy to say, this has gotten me back to thinking about South Africa and my quilting friends there - it is time to reach out and contact them once again.  If you are interested in seeing some other quilts done by South African quilters , you can click here or else you can always mosey over to the links on the right side of this page and click on the link for the Quadrille Quilters under Other Blogs That I Read and Love For Inspiration.

Tree Farm - Another Quilt From This Last Year

Here is another photo of a project that was finished this last year. This was a quick and fun quilt - quick because it was a kit and fun because it is came from Country Threads in Garner, Iowa.  The pattern is called Tree Farm, and can be found in the Country Threads book "We Made it Through the Winter". When I say quick I mean that the whole quilt took me 7 days from starting to cut and piece to completing the machine quilting and binding.  Like most projects, it just took me a while to get around to actually getting started.

I fell in love with the Country Threads "look" when I found the first Country Threads book (from the Quilt Shop Series) just before I left South Africa . After 4 years of African quilt overload, it reminded me of everything I loved about American quilts - the symmetry of traditional patterns, the subdued colors (well, subdued compared to African colors), and the appropriateness of the quilts for placing on a bed.  African quilts by comparison were more contemporary and "artsy", with free-form designs and use of lots of bright colors. They were not quilts that I would place on a bed, but that is probably my "quilt prejudice" creeping in.

During the remainder of the 1990s, my job afforded me lots of opportunities to travel.  Imagine my excitement to travel to see a vendor in Orange City, Iowa, knowing I was so danged close to Country Threads in Garner.  Orange City is in western Iowa, and Garner is way over there on the other side of the state.  No matter, it was a "short" 4 hour drive along perfectly flat countryside and lots of corn fields to cross the state, and I knew I could always fly home out of Mason City, which was another 30 minutes away. Parking next to the Country Threads barn was almost a religious experience, and I felt that I was trodding hallowed ground as I walked amongst the chickens, goats and dogs to the shop. I bought patterns, and kits, and yardage; I met Connie and Mary, the infamous proprietors.  And when I went back to my car with my treasures an hour later, I just KNEW that my suitcase was going to be over the weight restrictions.  But I was deleriously happy, and spent the night caressing the fabrics that were actually purchased at Country Threads, and they were ALL MINE!

The next morning I gladly paid the $10 for for overweight baggage (yep, it was only $10 back then) and flew home.  And I was able to visit Country Threads 3 more times, and each visit was just as wonderful as the first. I finally quit flying for business, and have not been back to Garner, Iowa since July, 1997. It is easy to remember this, not just because July in Iowa is miserably hot and humid, but because it was the day that Gianni Versace was killed.  Isn't it amazing what we remember?  Anyway, whether or not I ever get back there, Country Threads will always hold a special place in my heart as the first quilt shop that I truly fell in love with.

Edited to add:
Someone has asked me about the size of this quilt.  Thaks so much for taking the time to ask - because of this I will be adding relevant information for this and all future quilt postings.
Tree Farm is composed of 8" squares, so it is 72 1/2" X 56 1/2", including the binding.  It was machine quilted with a straight line pattern on my trusty Bernina, using Warm and Natural Batting.

Out of Africa, A Small Scrapbook

I want to share one of my favorite small scrapbooks with you today, one that features photos from a trip we made to the Kruger Park when we returned to South Africa to visit family and friends in 1997. This album is made from a 5 X 5 chipboard album from Stampin' Up!(R), and all pages have been altered. The cover includes a scrap of Sentimental Journey Designer Series Paper, twill tape and HodgePodge Hardware (all from Stampin' Up!), some photos from our trip and a small compass. Using the new SU Spiral Punch on the cover paper and photos means that they perfectily around the binding coils and cover all of the chipboard cover, fit right up to the edge.

To alter the pages, I dis-assembled the album and applied Summer Sun and Close to Cocoa Classic Inks (also SU) directly onto each page using a make up sponge. I love the fact that it gave the pages a more rustic look and feel, adding visual texture and deleting "white space" - which drives me crazy in small books. I also think that the inked pages look more like the South African dirt found in Kruger Park. The whole album only took 2 days, with 3/4 of the time devoted to inking all of the pages.

This album contains twenty 2-sided pages, and I can't possibly put all of them on here. So I am just going to give you a taste of a South African photo safari - most of the photos here were taken from inside our car as we drove through the Park. This is an experience not to be missed, make sure you go if you ever get the chance. Click on the images to see a larger view.

This first layout shows information about our camp. A map is always a good thing to put into a scrapbook about a trip The pocket on the right side holds a small tag book that contains 6 photos of our bungalow. This is an easy way to add more photos to a small scrapbook.

The game viewing truck on the left goes out at sunrise and sunset to view the animals that are going to the watering holes or preparing to hunt. Every truck has armed trackers to protect against hungry lions. On a lighter note, we did get to meet Timon and Pumba up close and personal. Meerkats and wart hogs are everywhere in the Park.

All wildlife has the right of way in Kruger Park, especially the elephants. Elephants are known to charge cars and trucks, so all we could do was stop our car and wait wait for them to move along.

This big guy decided that he was unhappy with the tree that was in his path, so he tore it out- roots and all! This is when the trip gets scary,

There is nothing more wondrous than watching the sun set and listening to the sounds of the animals, all the time knowing that you are safe behind the fence of your camp.