Farewell Mongolia

Thanks for the friendship, sharing and welcoming me to your community! I have had a wonderful time during the Winter months in Ulaanbaatar. I hope I can return, in the future, during Summer to enjoy Nadaam festivities. Happy stitching!

Crazy patchwork in silk

Ideas from paper into reality, with the creative energies of a team and stitching skills of experienced sewing women from the Mongolian Quilt Centre, made us all feel very happy.

 

Heading home

March has passed quickly with time spent in the lovely company of stitching friends at the Mongolian Quilt Centre in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Apart from teaching classes about the colour wheel and table runners, product development has been a very creative exercise.

The recycling of silk scraps via crazy patchwork piecing is a hallmark of the centre. Using these patched pieces in new ways is exciting.

Here we see a purse front made in silk. It is backed with cotton, lined and zipper stitched in.

Looking beautiful, useful and ready for the tourist season beginning in earnest in June.

 

Graduation day- Mongolia

 I love all the projects that the students have completed, learning a variety of hand and machine sewing skills.

 Everyone had their name in front of their work.

 Class with their certificates and teachers L of me Erka and to the R Oksana.

Prizes were given for the best 3 students on L second place, centre tutor  Oksana and R first place awardee.

Table runner class- Mongolia

 

The table runner is made of silk scraps. The Mongolian Quilt Centre is very good at recycling the off-cuts into beautiful new pieces of work, with crazy patchwork a favourite technique. Nothing goes to waste here! The silk is easier to handle with an iron-on interfacing. Carefully cut using centimetres for measurement, the square are then marked with the seam allowance.

Sewing is mostly done on these hand turned machines with the thread spool lying under the hand wheel.

 
Two different colour schemes from the two teams of stitchers working.

 
In progress photos of the team effort.

Unpicking and realignment to get the accuracy needed. We pressed the seams open as the fabric plus interfacing is quite thick.

 Erka, one of the local tutors holds the first completed runner, yet to be backed and bound.

 
 

Mongolian Quilt Centre

I have been busy at the quilt centre with 2 classes on the colour wheel. We use what is at hand, mainly the silk scraps to explain colour relationships. I was fortunate to be part of this class's graduation later in the week.

This group above is just beginning their 2 week patchwork and sewing instruction.
 

Life in the freezer- photos

Internet speed is very good in Istanbul where we are currently for a short time, so I am taking time to update the previous posts from the freezer like conditions of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

On my first weekend back, we went to the National Museum of Mongolia. Passing by the Parliament building we saw a changing of the guard. These soldiers had stood out in front of the building and then, in formation, marched back to their waiting bus, so we were not sure what it was all about!

There was a lot of snow still about and this carved deer stone outside the museum was deep in the white stuff.

I was rugged up for the weather!

Wonderful exhibits inside on the history of Mongolia, national costumes and artifacts from the stone, bronze and iron ages. The snuff bottle exhibit was a temporary one.




 

Life in the freezer- day 8

Have been enjoying meeting the babies of my friends and getting in a few cuddles. The cold outside temperatures mean children are very well wrapped up for trips outdoors and this was the case when my friend Selenge and I went to a snowy mountain park just a short distance from the outer suburbs of Ulaanbaatar. For a short time we left the pollution that settles in the valley over the town behind and breathed in the refreshing mountain air. Birds twittered about the still bare tree branches. The sunshine made the white snowy ground sparkle with a million bits of glitter.
Being a weekday, the area wasn't busy but we saw the tracks of toboggans cascading down the slopes. The walking track had been cut into a frozen waterfall, but we didn't risk walking on this slippery surface with our precious bundle, only her little nose visible from the wrappings. It was a very nice, brief interlude from the regular traffic and streets of Ulaanbaatar.
 

Life in the freezer- day 7

Ah, being back in Ulaanbaatar means slipping easily into life here in Mongolia. Enjoying the snowy landscape still in the grip of minus 25 to 14 degree Celsius temperatures. The calendar may say Spring, but she hasn't arrived just yet and we put on our many layers to venture outside.
Being back at the Mongolian Quilt Centre with friends is heart warming. The walls have had a face lift with green wallpaper and paint and a new quilt hanging system installed. Two groups of 18 women are completing intensive instruction and training in patchwork and sewing. I am volunteering my teaching skills and we explore the colour wheel.

I am having difficulties with the internet system, so photos will need to wait until I have a better connection, sorry about that. However I am posting on Facebook in Sue Dennis Textiles and my regular page.

Life in the freezer- day 41

It is quite common to see the national costume, the Deel being worn on the streets of Ulaanbaatar by both men and women. It is made in many different fabric weights, silk or wool, with or without a warm lining. A leather belt or coloured scarf is tied around the waistline. The long sleeves with the shaped ends are great for the cold weather but also used to make secret bargaining deals.

Life in the freezer- day 40

The Mongolian Kazakh's are from the western part of Mongolia and this embroidery is part of their tradition, used now on many tourist items. Originally used in the gers as the wall coverings known as Tuuskeys, many old pieces are being cut-up and stitched into bags. We have 2 vintage pieces at home that we hang on our lounge room wall. Not sure if you can read the description above- fine on an i-pad screen I think. 

 

This is the tambour frame used for the chain stitch and the various steps in the design process are shown.

All these pieces were found at Mary and Martha Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar.

Newer ones are stitched on ultra suede or a similar material.

 

Life in the freezer- day 39

Cherry Bakery is a good drop-in spot for fresh pastry, cake, biscuits, savoury breads and pizza and is often packed. It is warm and cosy inside with the tables side by side.

The morning I stopped for coffee, a group of students were eating cheesy bread. I thought I had an apple pastry but it turned out to be cheesecake style- should have put my glasses on!

 

 

Life in the freezer- day 26 & 27

The problem was the diesel fuel, which was the summertime mix and began to freeze into a gel in the engine. We went ahead to a small soum to try to get a heated garage, while the Toyota that was still going towed the other slowly into the soum. Heated garages are hard to come by, so the pump was taken out and heated in an oven in this roadside café and small shop.

We all had a nice Mongolian goulash dinner here before heading off towards UB. This back section was warmer than the front area, perhaps because it was near the kitchen action.

Eventually got a photo of this very active little boy, son of the family running the eatery. Loved his Mongolian hat and his expressive face. I spent some time showing him photos and videos on the i-pad.  He kept running outside without a coat- it was about -27 degrees C but it didn't seem to bother him.

We headed off towards Lun, the next soum but then both diesel Toyotas broke down due to the fuel issue. Luckily petrol vehicles are not affected by severe cold. We passed many vehicles stopped with the same problem. Our vehicle then slowly towed each vehicle, individually into Lun. We drank coffee and waited in this very cold roadside café and watched Mongolian TV, happy just to be out of the cold. A rescue, petrol 4W vehicle arrived from UB and a heated garage was found for the 2, out of action vehicles. Once the fuel, now gel, is heated and drained out, Winter diesel fills the tank and then there is no problem!

This man was one of the drivers, sitting in the cold vehicle as it was towed. The temperature was now -33 degrees C! He had his wolf skin coat to keep warm. I was impressed by how beautifully the pelts were matched and stitched. He waited 4 years for the coat. We eventually got back to UB early Sunday morning and crawled into bed at 3 am.





 

Life in the freezer- day 26

Travelling back to Ulaanbaatar in convoy with 2 other vehicles, we had high hopes of making it back in one day, but were prepared to overnight if needed. Little did we know what the day held in store for us! Views of camel herds were numerous, this herd with a female herder on a blonde camel, on the right side.

A return to Bayunlij for fuel. Our vehicle was petrol, the other two Toyotas diesel. Bob checks his messages with reception in the small soum [town].

And time for a group photo of our hosts and travelling companions.

We travelled through amazingly narrow, rocky gorges and across flat plains.

Lunch was Mongolian style with noodles and mutton, but it was warm and prepared for us by the camp cooks. We ate it once we had gotten back to the bitumen road, which was now a sheet of ice and barely distinguishable from the snow covered countryside.

As the sun set and a rainbow showed it's colours, temperatures dropped even further and the trouble began.