Lantern city

Hoi An is lantern city. The bamboo frames are covered with colourful silks and look particularly appealing when lit at night with electric power.

Shapes and sizes.

This is the large one on the riverside and is a favourite spot to pose for a photo. The lotus decorates it beautifully.

Batik and indigo

Interesting to see the process of waxing the design onto the cotton fabric before the indigo dyeing. Unfortunately just missed a photo of the woman who was doing this by hand with a small 'tjanting' tool.

Before and after.

Other designs. There are many opportunities to buy indigo lengths around the Sapa area. These examples come from a walk in the Cat Cat Village tourist area. You pay to enter this area and can see a cultural performance in a hall at the waterfall. The batik waxing was also here.

 Many colourful blankets on the path down to the waterfall.

No, I didn't buy one, but did succumb to another wall hanging, featuring a collar or jacket patch, similar to the one below.

 

Flower Hmong

We went to Bac Ha market day to see the Flower Hmong who are noted for their colourful dress and we were not disappointed. The collar and attached yoke above are heavily embroidered with very narrow coloured strips, lace and braid and a beaded fringe finishes it off. This is waiting for a blouse to be attached to.

This did not have the beads and has a different collar style.

The handicraft section of the market had so many items that it was overwhelming. Many things seemed to be made in Thailand from what I could judge, but perhaps I will see these items later in Vietnam, as locally made.

Bags in the flower Hmong style.

 
And later at a Flower Hmong village these colourful skirts were hung out to dry.

 

Village trek

Our party of four adventurers set out on a village trek to Lao Chai and Ta Van. It was a hot day and we quickly found ourselves surrounded by "friends" who had umbrellas to shield us from the sun.

Having friends comes with responsibilities and once we had bought an item we were free to walk on unhindered.

In Lao Chai we found this grandmother weaving natural hemp fibres on her loom. The cloth is narrow in width but metres long.

The hemp hangs outside to dry after it has been processed into yarn. It is quite coarse and gives a rough, stiff texture to the woven cloth.

This photo shows the process of polishing the indigo dyed cloth to give it a high shine. The flat stone is rubbed over the cloth to achieve the sheen.

A coat and sleeveless vest featuring the embroidered collar and should patches common in this area. Many Hmong women wear this daily.

 

The Joy of being Green

The Joy of being Green is my latest quilt from the Viewpoints 9 monochromatic challenge set by Kate Themel. The reveal from all the artists is happening now so hop over to the V9 blog [link above] to see the wonderful quilts.

 

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.

 

Why is it?

Why is it that the piece of fabric dyed with the left over dye is always quite stunning? Unplanned, relaxed, not a care in the world style of dyeing!

 

Auditioning fabrics

How do you go about auditioning fabrics for a design? I get out every fabric I have that may work and spread them out on my tiled floor. Taking a photo allows me to see if my choices are working. Then a process of elimination begins. Remembering to use dark, medium and light values brings the design to life.

Colour matching

In my stash I've found a few fabrics in the colours I need but I'm not 100% happy with these choices. I will be dyeing more fabric this week! The beautiful silk jewellery sitting on the fabrics are the colour inspiration points for a new design reflecting my time in Beijing last October at the international invitational quilt show. My thoughts and options are swirling round. Too many choices!

Indigo quilts finished

I really love how the indigo pieces finished up with the white printing, hand stitching and machine quilting. I have not been very inventive in naming them and they are Indigo #1, 2 & 3! Above is #1 for the SAQA 2016 auction.

A detail shot. I tried to add some extra bits of fabric but decided simplicity was the best. I used red stitching in all three.

Detail of Indigo #3.

Rubbings

A few bits of frottage on paper left by the little Christmas visitors.

Looks like they had fun creating them at the Queensland Art Gallery.

 

Finished workshop pieces

Thanks Jullie for sharing your pieces from the October, Sense of Place workshop in Brisbane. I love the bags you have made with the pieces you dyed and printed.

 

Beautiful silks

The Mongolian Quilt Centre is where I'm spending most of my time, playing with the beautiful silks that are being stitched into new designs. Many pieces are offcuts from deel [National dress] manufacture. New products with the Mongolian touch are being created for the upcoming Christmas Fairs in UB and I hope there are lots of happy customers.

Osko L and Soso R have finished these silk wall hangings beautifully. I can't decide which is my favourite colour combination out of the three selections.

Most of the patchwork you see in the photos is stitched on these Chinese Butterfly [ r Bird Fly here] hand wheel sewing machines. I haven't tried one but can't imagine I would be as accurate!

Doing my best to spread Down Under Quilts magazine around the world!

Ger is the Mongolian word for yurt, the round, felted transportable home used throughout the country.