Firstly I was on the teaching panel at the Quilt Camp in St Francis Bay organized by the ever efficient Antoinette Kriel of the Kouga Quilters Guild where I taught two different workshops. Once again teaching was such a rewarding experience and I also made new friends! For me the most satisfying experience as a teacher is to take the hand of an extremely anxious student, connect with her and at the end of the day, that same lady stitches with so much potential, totally at ease. And the smile of achievement you get goes straight into your soul... I love the interaction teaching provides, seeing those excited smiles....
And then Willem and I took another road trip which took me off the radar as it was "our" time. We were blessed with moderate weather and we traveled safely. We re-visited beautiful places, drove on well maintained highways and also the most horrific roads - to Gamkaskloof (The Hell off the Swartberg Pass) and Prince Alfred Pass between Avontuur and Knysna which was badly damaged during heavy rains earlier this year. All I can say, is that we survived the onslaught... It was two passes on my bucket list and I really never ever need to drive there again as one needs courage and skill to drive on those roads! But the most amazing was the scenery and the abundant flora, driving through fields of flowering proteas and other fynbos, too beautiful... And in between little buck, quite tame and patiently posing for photographs... So very special.
I have to mention the gift shops and galleries in both Hermanus and Prince Albert.... Food for the creative soul. I saw the most amazing art in Hermanus, I really needed ABS breaks to curb the spending... The most amazing ceramics I have seen to date - I could appreciate the patience, skill and creativity of each beautiful, finely crafted piece.... Seeing paintings of Pierneef, Coetzer, Bettie Cilliers Barnard etc at the Onrus Art Gallery, so very special. I felt like my soul was in heaven, what an experience! I left feeling my mind was filled with so much joy...
I came back with the thought that although our creative mediums are so different, for each artist the creative spirit within is so powerful. For productive artists, it is an inner necessity to create like Bettie Cilliers Barnard who painted each day almost to the end... What a blessing to be able to create to expose the world to beautiful art, to fill spaces with either functional or decorative objects of beauty...! I feel so inspired to be creative after this holiday, but have mounds of paperwork to slouch through before I can settle down and be busy in my studio....
I don't really have anything to show apart some cushions which I made at the end of last year as gifts. In March I was fortunate to visit the International Quilters Day exhibition display at the Kouga Quilters in Humansdorp and saw beautiful patchwork cushions... We always seem to regard cushions as inferior compared to quilts, but those cushions on display were really small quilts, so lovely. I kept on going back to where the cushions were displayed, it really appealed to me. So, I thought I would share these cushions with you as making them, does not require much time, but it is equally rewarding to make than a bigger project.
2 cushions I made in 2013 as gifts.
I often like to make small gifts like cushions as it satisfies my need to work in different colours. I have been collecting some Bali prints as well as silk fabric and love the combination as it works so well together. For both these projects I used a triangle shape, but the placing is different. Both were fused and stitched with the feathered decorative stitch on my sewing machine. I'm working on other projects, but cannot share it yet as it is for an exhibition... So in the meantime, be creative and enjoy it...
