Saturday 29 March 2014

 
 
QuArKe Challenge
 
 
While on our quilting retreat Charu set a challenge. We each began with a 17'' x 24'' piece of fabric and a bag containing 10 instructions that we had to pick out, one by one at random, and follow- no cheating! I found it immensely liberating because when I make a quilt I usually have the finished piece in my mind and work towards it. This time I had no idea what I would create! I was very pleased with the result and then I picked instruction No 9- CUT IT INTO HALF!!! Well worth finishing I think....
 
 
 

Friday 28 March 2014

 
Manyika Retreat
 
 
I have just returned from a 3 day retreat with members of my 'Quilt Artists of Kenya' group. We went to 'Manyika' a 90 year old  house situated in a coffee plantation just outside Thika.


 

The house is full of character and has beautiful gardens with a magnificent view of Mount Kenya from the front door! It proved to be a wonderful environment for creativity and we were able to achieve a great deal. Watch this space for examples of my work.
 

Monday 24 March 2014


A couple of weeks ago I participated in a class given by Ragbhir  using a wedge shaped ruler to make a curved table runner. It was a challenge as Ragbhir had never taught before but she did a wonderful job and the result of my efforts produced something I am proud of. My fabric selection worked so well and I was also able to practice my machine quilting!



Wednesday 5 March 2014

Another year is underway and I feel I must be more diligent in my up keep of this blog! 'Earth' is this years theme for my Voyage Art Textile group. I am working on a piece based on a photograph of rock art taken by my nephew in the Kimberly mountains of Australia. Watch this space!


Last week I experimented with 'Ice Dyeing' which was very exciting. I loved the big reveal when the ice finally melted and I rinsed off the fabric.



 
 
 
 
 
 
Last weekend Peter and I took a trip to Amboseli, a game park at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. Famous for it's elephants we saw huge families of up to 70 feeding on the lush vegetation in the swamps. We were very fortunate to see lions and, our favourites, hyenas. The mountain showed her glory to us each day. All very inspiring.