Little bits of everything....

In 2002, I was approached by one of our Guild members, Jacqui Hattingh (a librarian in the city) to assist with making a quilt which would be displayed at all the libraries in Port Elizabeth on a rotational basis.    The libraries in Port Elizabeth received a grant from the Carnegie Institute in New York to be used for an upgrade and the quilt would be made to commemorate this.   
Jacqui had a good idea of what she wanted to do, but was feeling a bit overwhelmed to initiate the project and she needed somebody to hold her hand....    I designed the basic layout for the quilt and we decided to make 4 blocks depicting the different roles of libraries in the communities with the International logo as the focal point in the centre of the quilt.   As it was a South African quilt, I designed geometric borders in the colours of our National flag to give it a distinctive South African flavour.     Jacqui organized some volunteers to help sew and we started work.    I stitched the logo and the others started on the 4 panels - in the end Jacqui did the bulk of the work......    It was really lovely to see the quilt finished and displayed in the historical main library in the city centre for the first showing..... 

 
I was also fortunate to teach some workshops at the Outeniqua Quilters' Guild in George towards the end of 2002 which was really a lovely experience.    I taught Protea Workshop #2 to a small, but very dedicated group of quilters.     Sadly, I have since stopped teaching Protea workshops as it is too intense....    

Protea Workshop #2 in George 2002

From left to right:  Nancy Swanepoel, Jenny Hurter, Fiona Barnwell, Diana Bezuidenhout, Annette Zondagh, me holding the workshop sample and Margaret Horn in front of Cape Peninsula - Floral Kingdom

This was an extremely busy period for me as I had lots of administrative duties as SAQG President, teaching trips and the Kariega Project.    I had very little time to do experimental work....    I was asked by the Threads magazine to design a cushion to launch A Rose is a Rose competition.     The Rose Trellis cushion, made of my handpainted brush rags fabrics, was the result of this.   I subsequently turned the idea into a workshop which I also taught in Hermanus and East London.....    

Rose Trellis Cushion designed for Threads magazine

Although it seemed that I did a lot of work, it was a bit frustrating as I felt that I did not really have enough time to experiment and play.......