First of all I had to get myself organized into cyberspace as the Committee members were all scattered around the country and most of the work was done via email. My time as SAQG President was very rewarding and I really enjoyed the work entrusted to me. I also made wonderful friends....
On the quilting side, I still had a few consignment quilts in stock at Wezandla Crafts. One of the owners phoned me one day in August 2002 with the news that she sold a wallhanging but the client wanted 14 more..... She gave the client my phone number to deal with me directly... Very soon the phone call came and I had to sit down.....
The lady on the other side of the phone was the wife of one of the co-owners of Kariega Game Reserve at Kenton-on-Sea, between Alexandria and Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. The chalets at the Reserve were due for an interior upgrade and she decided to use wallhangings in the lounges of the lodges instead of prints of paintings. I was gobsmacked as she chose my quilts to decorate the walls of this prestigious Game Reserve.....
When doing commissions, I always need to see the place where a piece will hang as part of my mental orientation, so I invited a friend to join me on a site inspection of the lodges at Kariega. The surprize was on me when we walked into a lodge during our visit as she had the wallhanging there which she bought at Wezandla - I was quite perplexed as it somehow looked different.... She calmly told me that it was a bit too brown to her liking, so she painted some of the sections an old gold colour, luckily with fabric paint...! I must admit, she had a very steady hand as there was no smudging on any of the black stitching (she told me that she had an art background), so I relaxed and started smiling....! She paid good money for the quilt, so it was hers to overpaint if she wanted to.....
Rose gave me diagrams which she wanted me to interpret as she had very specific ideas. The quilts had to be 125cm x 90cm, I was given a colour range of black, cream, orange, rust, browns, old gold and olive green and later on I twisted her arm to add some blues as well. I could relate to her knowing exactly what she wanted, so I decided to accept the commission.....
The quilt sold at Wezandla which changed colour in some places!
Diagram for designs received from the client.
I organized my life at home (I had 14 wallhangings to make) and started work on the first quilt on the 5th September 2002..... ...... I designed each quilt full scale on paper using her small diagrams as reference. The motifs were fused onto the background and I estimate that I used about 60metres of applique paper which is 90cm wide. Every section of the wallhangings were satin stitched with black thread, I used about 2 500m of thread per quilt and machine quilted in the ditch. I added more quilting on bigger sections to avoid puffing.
The first four quilts were delivered a month later! By the end of December, I had delivered 6 quilts and 6 of the smaller ones of the ladies..... Phase 1 of the project took me 9 months to complete..... I was exhausted!
The Kariega Project
Phase 1 - 14 geometric wallhangings made in 2002/2003
One of the 15 screenprinted cushion panels changed into small wallhangings.
Rose also gave me 15 screenprinted panels which she bought somewhere which I had to change into small wallhangings - each lodge had to get a geometric wallhanging as well as one of the smaller ones of the Xhosa ladies.
I added black borders and shashiko quilted geometric designs with cream thread and added buttons similar to the traditional clothing of the Xhosa ladies in the Eastern Cape.
When Rose and I initially discussed the project, she mentioned that the wallhangings would be phase 1 of the upgrade of the interiors. I had to keep record of the colour samples and designs of the wallhangings - it would be used for Phase 2 which would be for new curtains as she had this wonderful idea.....
I started work on Phase 2 in September 2004 and finished in March 2006. The interior walls, ceilings and floors of the lodges were of pine, the furniture cane and the curtain rods and fire places all in black. Very dramatic. On the walls of the living rooms were the wallhangings which I made with the black borders......! Rose chose cream fabric for the curtains to hang from the black rods, adding to the dramatic look..... I suggested that she stitch black braid in parallel lines at the bottom of the curtains, again complementing the traditional clothing of the Xhosa ladies.... My job was to make long quilted panels repeating the border designs of the wallhangings - the panels were buttoned onto the curtains with big black buttons ! I had to make 60 of these panels, 4 per lodge! Luckily, Rose stitched the buttons onto the panels.....
Interior of a lodge at Kariega Game Reserve with 02/02 mounted to the wall to the right in the picture with the matching quilted panels buttoned to the cream curtains towards the back.
Photo from http://www.kariega.co.za/
The overall look was absolutely stunning and I was very pleased to be part of such a wonderful upgrade. It still gives me a thrill if people tell me that they saw my quilts at Kariega....
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