Stash expansion

I hadn't intended to buy anything at the Australasian Quilt Convention, but those fabric pheromones seduced me. Fortunately the new scrappy reproduction quilt I've just started needs small amounts of many different fabrics - so I have an excuse to pick up the odd fat quarter.

I was congratulating myself for only picking up half a dozen fat quarters and a bundle of charm squares - until I unpacked my bag. As you can see from the photo those pheromones deceived me again.

On the way to board my Virgin flight home I was stopped by a female inspector for a random explosives check. After I had passed the bag check as well as the wand-over-the clothing test, I smiled and quipped that I had only been to a quilt show. Oh dear, she was not amused.

By comparison, the two policemen who were peering into the hall when I arrived in the morning, and who asked me what was happening, were astonished at the eyecatching quilts displayed by stallholders and the steady stream of excited quilters passing through the doors.

"So, is this quilting popular?" one of them asked me. I educated him.

A taste of the Tentmakers' work

"Quilt Like an Egyptian"

17 months ago I was here in the 900 year old covered Tentmakers' Souk in Cairo, gobsmacked by the intricately appliqueed quilts hanging from every inch of wallspace inside the tiny shops, being introduced by Jenny Bowker (http://jennybowker.blogspot.com/) to the men whose skilful hands create these intricate designs, men she has come to call her friends, and drinking cups of soothing mint tea.

Quilt after quilt was auditioned for me, until at last I decided on this burgundy-toned one, an elaborate symphony of lotus flowers, symbolising long life, which now hangs in my dining room, halfway across the world.

Inside, though, I felt wretched. Discharged from a Cairo private hospital only the night before, after spending 3 days in intensive care for a particularly nasty case of dysentery, I struggled with queasiness, and my body felt so weak that I could only walk a short distance before needing to rest.

So when I heard that Jenny was staging an exhibition of these spectacular quilts at the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne, and had brought out two of the quilters as well, I simply had to go. I just had to see them again, this time without the fog of nausea.

That is why, for the second time this week, I left the house this morning at a time when I would normally still have been well and truly in the land of Nod. I flew to Melbourne just for the day, on my own, and had a wonderful adventure!

The photo below shows Ahmed Nagib, one of only around 40 quilters who still keep this traditional craft alive. Just as he would have done back home in Cairo, he sat all day stitching and trimming his appliquee pieces as curious visitors to the AQC's "Quilt Like an Egyptian" exhibition craned forward for a closer peek at his work.

[Update: Thank you to Helen who has pointed the way for me to Pam Holland's blog. Pam has made a lively video of the AQC in general, and Ahmed in particular, and here is the link http://pamhollanddesigns.typepad.com/pam_h/files/ACQ5.m4v . You can click on the link to her blog too, on the sidebar above, and there you'll find more of Pam's videos. They really bring the experience alive!]

Hovering nearby ready to translate was his nephew, the moustachioed Ayman Ahmed, who warmly greeted me with "I remember you!". Was this mere Egyptian charm, I wondered, or are all Jenny's friends so deeply embedded in his memory? (Please don't disillusion me)

In days gone by these quilts would have been made to hang from the sides of tents on celebratory occasions or during Ramadan at the end of the day when the faithful were permitted to break their fast. Instead these days fabric printed with these patterns is rolled out by the metre for such decoration, and Egyptians no longer aspire to cover their walls with quilts from the Tentmakers' Souk.

[Update: Also from Pam Holland's always entertaining and informative blog is this link to an interesting article on the tentmakers. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198606/tentmakers.of.cairo.htm]

The quilts were wonderful, and on this first day of the AQC almost every one bore a red "sold" sticker, bringing their makers more income than they would generally have earnt in a whole year, as Jenny remarked in her lecture "Egypt: From the Tentmakers' Souk to the City of the Dead".

Making history

Early mornings and I enjoy but a nodding acquaintance. I'd vastly prefer to burn the midnight oil. So reach for your calendars, folks, mark them with Texta and celebrate this historic occasion. Let it be known that I threw off my quilt and rose from my comfortable bed at the uncivilised hour of 5.30am not once, but twice, this week!

Tuesday morning saw me striding down the road before 6am to our park by the water where I joined a couple of hundred neighbours in time to see the huge superstructure of the Queen Mary 2 looming out of the darkness, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of small craft with their navigation lights winking as they escorted her into Sydney Harbour.

She made such a slow and stately progress that by the time she had berthed at Garden Island the sun was well and truly up, shimmering off the city skyscrapers, and as I strolled back home for breakfast I found myself actually enjoying this early morning caper and wishing I could do it more often. Alas! the spirit is willing, but the body is just plain slothful.

The Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club at Point Piper (see photo below) was an excellent vantage point from which to watch The Queen Mary 2's little sister, the QE2, arrive later in the day.

Like many Sydneysiders we saw the visit of the two Queens as an excuse to get together with good friends and celebrate by the harbour on what was a quintessentially Sydney summer day - balmy and clear, but with a light zephyr blowing over the water.

However, unlike many who flocked in their thousands to the city to see the fireworks and gasp over these two reminders of a more elegant age, we were fortunate enough to make it home after our barbecue tea without becoming stuck in the gridlocked traffic that took much of the gloss off the experience (if talk-back radio is to be believed) and saw our Premier apologising the next day for being "caught by surprise".

The QE2 off Point Piper as she makes her progress towards Circular Quay.

Happy Birthday, Gail!

Gail is a special quilting buddy who picks me up every Monday morning and makes sure I arrive at Paddington Quilters on time. Sometimes we talk so much that we miss the turn off, so we just go via "the scenic route". Who cares!

She always looks glamorous, and especially so in this photo taken on her (Big "0") birthday.

Happy birthday, Gail!

Valentine's Day

This was the message stamped on the tablecloth at the restaurant - cute!

I spent today with two of my loves!

This afternoon I started a new quilt, in a class with a bunch of my dearest quilting buddies. Now, don't try to tell me I still have (at least) two unfinished projects because I simply won't listen. This quilt is gorgeous - a scrappy reproduction medallion quilt which will take as many varied pieces of fabric as I can collect. The photo below is my central medallion piece, from Julie Wallace's Saint Croix Collection for Yuwa Fabrics. I love its dusty pinks - and I'm even warming to the rusty browns.

The top photo is my first love, though - my darling husband, Boak. I snapped him while we were sitting in the garden sipping champagne and nibbling pate in the cool of the early evening, before he took me out to dinner at a little local eatery. A heavenly way to finish the day!

Feeling good!

Knowing where to find exquisite African Violets (see previous post) isn't my friend Jan's only skill. She also runs exercise classes for "mature" ladies, and I never fail to walk out of there on Tuesday mornings with a spring in my step, and feeling as if all those sluggish blood cells have been given a good move along. Life feels good, and I have a smile on my face. We all do!

Some mornings, though, the sun glinting off Sydney Harbour , and the serenity of the beachside scene, just adds to the feeling of well-being, and this morning was one of those days.