tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102980142024-03-13T21:04:41.418+11:00Postcards from CairoThis is the diary of an Australian quiltmaker living in Cairo with her Australian diplomat husband.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.comBlogger298125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-52481549419770072862011-10-27T12:03:00.002+11:002011-10-27T12:06:49.405+11:00We are coming to Durham, EnglandFor those who saw the stunning exhibition of needle turned appliqué made by Egyptian men in Birmingham at the Festival of Quilts - and for those who didn't - please note!<br /><br />I am bringing an exhibition of Egyptian Tentmaker work to Durham in the north of England. <br /><br />The address of the Egyptian Tentmakers' Exhibition is: Kenworthy Hall, St Mary's College, is: St Mary's College, Elvet Hill Road, DURHAM, DH1 3EQ<br />Reception: 0191-334-5719<br /><br />The Exhibition in Kenworthy Hall would be open to the Public:<br /><br />Friday November 11th from 10 am to 4 pm<br />Saturday 12 November from 10 am to 6 pm<br />Sunday 13 November from 10 am to 6 pm <br />Monday 14th November from 10 am to 6 pm<br /><br />I am giving a talk - I think on Monday night if you want to come to that.<br /><br />We have so many enquiries that I suspect we might sell out quickly - so come early if you can.<br /><br />And please - tell your friends or networks!Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-4605803176185023622011-10-19T22:30:00.002+11:002011-10-19T22:34:53.281+11:00I have a brand new shiny website!I am so thrilled with it.<br /><br />I have been asked to put a calendar of my teaching year on it - but I am sorry - I am not going to do that. I found last time I did it that many people tried to book they saw as 'free time' which was time allocated for family functions, or just for making quilts. Because they were often annoyed when I refused I have decided that I simply will not do a calendar - but I am very good about answering contacts if you want to ask me when I am in your area, or when I am teaching a particular class.<br /><br />Let me know if you like it please.<br /><br />You can read my blog from the new website.<br /><br />the link is <a href="http://www.jennybowker.com">here </a>- just open the site and if you want to check the blog - click on Postcards.<br /><br />Thank you Kate Andrews.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jennybowker.com"></a>Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-91131285274391832502011-09-06T09:10:00.004+10:002011-09-06T09:58:50.034+10:00Talisman - off to HoustonI have just finished a new piece of work. <br /><br />The making process has had to squeeze into a ridiculously limited number of days at home since early April. My good friend Lisa Walton won the Jewel Pearce Patterson Scholarship at Houston last year. She had contacted a group of us when the news was released and set up class times for us to learn some of the new skills she acquired and to make a quilt for her to take back to Houston for an exhibition this year.<br /><br />I have really been remiss in my blogging. I tried some time back and simply could not work out how to put a photo exactly where I wanted it in the text - and my Flickr site had changed the way the 'share' system worked. I have just worked it out.<br /><br />These photos are tiny. I am posting 'as-I-did-it' images from my mobile phone - done before I went to Europe. <br /><br />I have been fascinated for a long time by small objects carried as protections or for good luck. Superstition is such a strong part of most people - especially when things are going wrong or when someone you love is ill. Growing up in New Guinea we often saw an image of a hand printed onto a wall or sign or rock. It meant Tabu - do not pass. There it was not a protection but in the Middle East - and I have lived a lot in the Middle East - it is the hand of Fatima, a powerful ward against the jealous eye. It tends to be most used there when things are going well. If you are newly married and happy, get a wonderful job, and then find out that your wife is having a baby and it is a boy - then you start to wear a hamza. A lot of Arab jewellery is based on amulets and talismen.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6083749695/" title="IMG_0260.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6199/6083749695_221044f1d1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0260.JPG"></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6083748709/" title="IMG_0257.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6196/6083748709_27d9798747.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0257.JPG"></a><br /><br />Prints from a great silkscreen Lisa made for me from my drawings!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6084294822/" title="IMG_0261.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6207/6084294822_3b027abf01.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_0261.JPG"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6084293182/" title="IMG_0259.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6089/6084293182_996654a103.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0259.JPG"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6083753571/" title="IMG_0266.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6090/6083753571_a1cfcb1314.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_0266.JPG"></a><br /><br />Some attempts at free motion embroidery.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6083752967/" title="IMG_0264.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6193/6083752967_d1c6fdc251.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0264.JPG"></a><br /><br />This was serious fun - emulating handprints on a wall without the actual blood.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6084301196/" title="IMG_0270.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6191/6084301196_7a8fee6fe5.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0270.JPG"></a><br /><br />Putting it together<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6084303424/" title="IMG_0274.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6082/6084303424_4354506f75.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_0274.JPG"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6118480284/" title="IMG_4030.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6087/6118480284_779620b129.jpg" width="500" height="380" alt="IMG_4030.JPG"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6118467140/" title="IMG_4033.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6072/6118467140_4223086632.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_4033.JPG"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6118480148/" title="IMG_4019.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6196/6118480148_d1c51bd4d2.jpg" width="343" height="500" alt="IMG_4019.JPG"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6117922437/" title="IMG_4023.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6190/6117922437_999c29690a.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_4023.JPG"></a><br /><br />Simple quilting.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6117880877/" title="IMG_4052.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6191/6117880877_e0f9b5920a.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_4052.JPG"></a><br /><br />I was not happy with the large light area on the right side with the stitched hands on it. Even though I wanted it to look rather haphazardly put together I felt that it seemed to be falling off the edge. I was also worried that the 'grubby wall' part with the large handprints (mine) was too pristine. I liked the quote from Sheila Payne's book, and had used it like a reference and in rough handwriting like a scribbled note, but I felt it was too dominant so I wanted to grey it down a bit. I brought out acrylics and a square sponge wedge brush and wiped paint over parts that bothered me. It looks charcoal but has ultramarine and silver mixed in for glint and an edge of colour. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6118424620/" title="IMG_4051.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6066/6118424620_ea724edf63.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_4051.JPG"></a><br /><br />I am happy with it now. I added the strong text at the bottom in my own writing, and painted it over, then spent the last two days facing and finishing it and adding a label.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6117871245/" title="IMG_4043.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6192/6117871245_4e3be9fbcf.jpg" width="500" height="464" alt="IMG_4043.JPG"></a>Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-90828582332105432392011-08-27T09:08:00.004+10:002011-08-27T10:04:21.522+10:00A Trip to the DesertI have new work that I can put up since it has been well and truly launched.
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<br />The group I work with - tACTile - makes a new exhibition every two years. This year it is called Elements and was devised by Beth Miller and Helen Gray.
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<br />Each artist was to take one or more of the elements - earth, air, fire and water, and make a body of work to fill a four metre wall in any way we chose. Our collaborative this time was intended to be a sketchbook entry. A perspex piece at the top was to sandwich images we had used as inspiration, and below it we would hang sample pieces in fabrics as we played with ideas.
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<br />Frankly - the collaborative did not work. The 'jigsaws' were intended to slot together as a single piece with separate parts hanging below. Not only was the jigsaw reluctant to fit now that the perspex had sandwiched boards and images between them, but the images really did not work together. Strong ones killed the others and dominated and we could not change the order of the pieces because that had been decided from the beginning with the allocation of a unique jigsaw headpiece. We decided to hang each beside the main body of that artist's work. In retrospect it was a good decision and most people at our ANCA Gallery exhibition spent more time looking at the small ones than they did at the big ones.
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<br />Mine is based on an extraordinary trip that I have now done twice a drive to Gilf Kebir and Jebel Uweinat in the far south west of Egypt, just nudging into Sudan and Libya.
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6084186336/" title="IMG_3893.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6085/6084186336_eda9d549ae.jpg" width="500" height="212" alt="IMG_3893.JPG"></a>
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<br />This is the blurb I wrote for the exhibition press releases, somewhat expanded.
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<br />Earth, Air and a Memory of Water
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<br />For the theme of Elements I decided to work with a recent trip across the Great Western Desert – the Sahara. We drove from the oasis of Bahariya in the Western Desert of Egypt to the Gilf Kebir – a plateau the size of Belgium at the junction of Libya, Sudan and Egypt. The trip took sixteen days, five 4 wheel drive vehicles, and we had to carry all petrol, water, and food on the cars. We saw no other car driving in the desert in that time, and the only people were desert police in one distant post. The desert almost became a living thing, the main player on the trip and the element of earth seemed to dominate.
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<br />I thought of this body of work as a series on earth – with the changing landscape and colours as we drove across it. Then I realised that the sky was a continual backdrop, so I thought of the series as Earth and Sky. Then I realised each item I used in the lowest panel has a memory of water.
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<br />I roughed out a plan for each piece on a scrap of fabric and used that as my first scrapbook piece.
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6084237394/" title="IMG_3894.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6083/6084237394_37ff55d7b0.jpg" width="500" height="265" alt="IMG_3894.JPG"></a>
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<br />Each piece has:
<br />1. The sky as the top panel.
<br />2. A charcoal drawing of the desert below, showing the colours on the day that we drove across it. I wanted this and the sky to have a sense of a Victorian-style heroic vista.
<br />3. A grid of crosses to relate to the maps we followed and the way that we continually compared what we saw to what we knew – contextualising what we saw to fit a western construct. Also - I like to include an element of traditional patchwork in my work.
<br />4. A low section which represents the earth we walked on and the things we found on it. The marks of previous peoples were on rock walls or on the ground. I wanted viewers to have to bend to see what was there – as we did.
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6083663419/" title="IMG_3905.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6206/6083663419_9beb0e17e7.jpg" width="244" height="500" alt="IMG_3905.JPG"></a>
<br />I. The Water Mountain. The codes used by ancient Egyptians for water caches the horizontal zigzag is carved into rock walls with pharaonic symbols. The ground is littered with pieces of ochre - the reason that the ancient Egyptians ventured so far into a hostile environment. There are also pieces of ostrich eggs for the making of egg tempura. 76.5 cm x 163.5 cm
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6084202544/" title="IMG_3901.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6078/6084202544_7fd8694e56.jpg" width="244" height="500" alt="IMG_3901.JPG"></a>
<br />II. Ammonite Fields - fossil ammonites, sponges and coral – remnants of a great sea, long retreated. We drove over ammonites for a whole day while clouds changed the light continually and there were even a few drops of rain. 77 cm x 160 cm
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6083671763/" title="IMG_3899.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6206/6083671763_25259c4f5b.jpg" width="237" height="500" alt="IMG_3899.JPG"></a>
<br />III. Abu Bellas - two water vessels, part of another water cache left by Pharaonic Egypt to enable them push further into the desert in search of ochres for painting. Beautiful fine carvings on rock walls nearby looked almost African with their big-skirted bottoms and breasts. We were the first to find these - they have not been recorded by other expeditions.
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/6083655713/" title="IMG_3896.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6202/6083655713_85fee5b070.jpg" width="245" height="500" alt="IMG_3896.JPG"></a>
<br />IV. Acheulean Hand Axes - an Achulean hand axe from a site where there were many in a concentrated tool scatter – proof that in the days when they were abandoned thousands of years before the coming of the pharaohs - there was enough water to sustain life. 77 cm x 161.5
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<br />I have recently returned from Birmingham with the fabulous Egyptian Tentmakers - and I am writing up a report of that. Watch this space.
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<br />Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-13844885527339273382011-03-14T06:40:00.002+11:002011-03-14T06:49:26.196+11:00Wednesday morning - SilverOn Wednesday I loaded myself with the gifts I had brought with me for little Jenny, my friend Mohamed’s daughter from Tentmaker’s Street. I have a delightful granddaughter named after me with the slightly more modern Jenna instead of Jennifer. The only other baby I know was named after me is this one – a little girl born just after I left Egypt so I have only seen her on return visits. She is now almost three so I packed things like a fairy dress with Velcro wings to attach, and lots of pink summer clothes, and a pile of things for her new little brother Yasin. Wings are not easy to carry in a suitcase.<br /><br />Then I realised that I wanted to see my other good friend – also Mohamed – who makes silver in the Khan El Khalili. His name is Mohamed Khalil and he used to be a designer for Azza Fahmy – a very well known Egyptian designer who makes beautiful but extremely expensive jewellery with old Bedouin style. They parted ways, but he still makes the most gorgeous pieces – clean lines, interesting ideas, lots of talisman pieces and a lot of beautiful Arabic text, and he mixes gold and silver and I have always loved that.<br /><br />He has a shop in a rather elegant renovated building in the centre of the Khan el Khalili but absolutely no-one goes there. The business that has grown and become one of the great secrets of Cairo is up two flights of stairs in a building that looks like a crack house. The stairs are dark and filthy, and there may not actually be rats but it looks as if there should be. I am always reluctant to put my hand on the stair rails, but the stairs are long and steep so usually by the last half flight I have a hand on a very greasy rail and arrive slightly short of breathe. Cats often sleek and slink their way up with me winding around my feet – there is always a ginger or tabby spotted cat that seems to think you might be carrying food – and they are no cleaner than the stairs.<br /><br />I did not take photos on this visit – but this is Mohamed and his assistant Heba on a previous trip, and a piece that I bought from him last time. <br /><br />When you emerge from the stairwell you are looking straight into the main workshop. It is a small space with perhaps 8 men working on wooden tables. I once emerged on the landing to find Mohamed holding a glowing crucible in tongs and carefully pouring molten gold into moulds. You could see nothing of the gold except the incredibly red hot heat of it as it poured from the equally red hot crucible and it trailed red and oranges as it went into the mould. He was wearing thongs.<br /><br />Just around the corner is where the real action takes place. It is a tiny office space with room for two desks, a filing cabinet and chest of drawers and a few chairs. The definition of happiness for me is to be able to rummage in these – plastic boxes like the ones I use for storing food are stuffed tightly with treasures. Each time I come the selections are different. This time I selected a beautiful chain with discs of silver and amethysts, long and distinctive. He had made another King Farouk piece – I bought one previously. This is a ceremonial piece he copied from an old photograph of King Farouk who wore it pinned and draped across a suit. Mohamed made it easier to wear by putting the three chains and their discs on another chain. I still find it one of my most special pieces. <br /><br />I added more to my pile. A clenched hand holding a selection of talisman items which can be worn as a pendant, a bracelet with three parallel chains held together with a key, a padlock, and a disc with Arabic, a simple pendant with a deep red carnelian in a Bedouin setting, and another bracelet, gold and silver, with a long graceful pendant drop with gold Arabic on silver, and a small collection of talisman pieces. I realise that I love bracelets as you can see them when you are wearing them. These dangly ones make me feel pretty – but they are not easy to wear when using a sewing machine or computer.<br /><br />I have to work out again how to share photos from Flickr - they have changed their systems and I find the new one almost incomprehensible. When I work out how to do it I will add images for you.<br /><br />I had enjoyed the cup of sweet tea with mint with Mohamed in relative peace as several ladies came and went – but then a group of three very noisy ladies arrived and stated picking up pieces I had selected. Mohamed whisked them out of the way, and rather than finish in a hurry I asked him to put them aside for me and I would call back. He is always quiet around 6.30 in the evening.<br /><br />Then I headed across the Khan El Khalili, over the road, and threaded my way through a very crowded Al Ghouria and into the Tentmakers’ Street.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-38050050086702937352011-03-09T09:50:00.006+11:002011-03-09T17:41:08.438+11:00Afternoon - the Tentmaker's StreetI checked into the Grand Hyatt. I have never actually stayed in this hotel though it has been the scene of some of my higher points in Cairo. I met Richard Gere here and went with him and fourteen others on a Nile dinner cruise and that is still the bar against which all other great experiences are measured.<br /><br />My dear friend, Tarek Mousa of Egypt and Beyond, had accepted that I was not charging a fee for my services on the Textile Tour as I knew that he was running it at a loss because of my cancellation of the Egypt section. I had asked him to book an inexpensive hotel on Zamalek - I usually do the cheap and clean version of hotels as I rarely do more than sleep there. He had - as a thank you - put me into a seriously swish room looking right up the Nile to Zamalek.<br /><br />I think I was one of about half a dozen people in the hotel. Certainly I was outnumbered by staff.<br /><br />I checked in, changed, and headed out again.<br /><br />I had let Ibrahim go - that was stupid in retrospect as I now had to face the line of cabs skulking just above the security check area with its beautiful long haired explosives-trained German Shepherd and slightly long haired, dark eyed, sleek, tall, uniformed in 'deep v-necked black with boots' handler - equally beautiful.<br /><br />I asked the first cab how much it would cost me to get to Bab Al Qalk - which is the most likely place a cabbie would know and almost at the Tentmaker's Street. It should be about 15 - 20 pounds Egyptian. Admittedly this is next to nothing - about $4 - and I have sometimes realised to my shame that I argue about the extra dollar many try to add in. The first one tried for 60 pounds and I almost recoiled n shock. I tried the second - difficult with the first one shouting as he chased me down the hill, "OK, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO PAY? I DO IT FOR $45? I DO IT FOR $30!!! BY METER? OK?" <br /><br />The second cabbie seeing the absolute failure of the first to attract my custom, agreed to just use his meter.<br /><br />He swept onto the Corniche. Immediately I realised that there was going to be a problem as he 'accidentally' missed the exit which is straight ahead from the Grand Hyatt's drive and this meant a very long detour - which would nicely jack up the meter. It did. For those who know Cairo - we even - with me protesting - shot past the aqueduct and were halfway to Ma'adi before we found somewhere to turn. He kept muttering 'Mamnour' for 'forbidden',though I saw plenty of others making the forbidden turns.<br /><br />We had wondered if Cairo cabs would find a way to cheat on the meters and now I had my answer - they did!<br /><br />Finally I was dropped off near the Tentmaker's Street and walked up to Bab Zuweilah. I have worried so much about my friends there that I almost had a lump in my throat to be going back. Rather than walk straight in so they would see me coming if they were peering down the street as they often are I walked around a small detour that would drop me into the street about a quarter of the way in so I had a chance of surprising them. No-one knew that I was actually coming. The only person I had told other than Tarek who made the bookings was Ibrahim as he was meeting me at the airport.<br /><br />I was recently brought face to face with the fact that I really love Egypt. Someone commented that 'they' (meaning Egyptians) 'could all have been blown up for all he cared,' and I was absolutely rocked with hurt as I have so many very much loved friends there. To my terrible embarrassment I was in tears in the middle of a conversation where I was dong my best to be professional. I realised that when an Egyptian makes you his friend - or her friend - all the walls come straight down. You know that no matter how poor they are, if you were ever in trouble they would do absolutely anything for you. Friendships in other places never capitulate in the same way - there is always something held back. Egyptians give friendship at a level that really involves a lot of love.<br /><br />As I rounded the corner towards the Street I saw at the junction ahead of me, Tarek Fattoh. I have no idea why he was there - no-one just stands in this corner - but his face absolutely lit up as he recognised me. Next minute I was being hugged and kissed - that is unusual for a male Egyptian but flattering. We walked together to see Hossam El Farouk and Tarek held my arm as if I were a tender flower. I could never be called that. <br /><br />Both Tarek and Hossam are coming to Birmingham to the Festival of Quilts with an exhibition of their work so I made the trip in order to make sure they understood what I needed them to do.<br /><br />As we walked we met other old friends - it was a slow process through the first third of the street.<br /><br />Hossam immediately ordered kakedeh - hibiscus tea - for me as he knows how much I like it. On my final farewell call into the street he had produced a giant bag of dried kakedeh flowers for me to take home and I had to tell him that I would not be able to get it through Australian Customs. It arrived, hot and slightly spicy, tasting like a rich strong plum juice, sweetened a little and with a dash of cinnamon and cloves. It is one of the tastes of Egypt for me. The two men sat with huge smiles on their faces as we talked - and it was a delight just to be there with them, with dust stirring from the street and people walking past, an occasional skinny cat curling around our ankles, sunlight dappling the ground in thin shafts coming through the old roofing over the Khan, the background lilt of Arabic from others in shops around us and even (turned right down) a very long and strange speech from Gaddafi on a flickering television right in the shop.<br /><br />I moved on and talked to lots of other friends - Hani, Hossam Hashem, Rug Mohamed, Ayman who came to Australia. I drank a lot more tea, and kakedeh and a coffee just for a change. I had decided not to leave too late as nights are not as safe as they used to be - and walked down the street to find a cab at 6.00pm in the growing dark.<br /><br />I found a cab, and told the driver we would use the meter but I would pay extra for a direct drive home without extra distance and even more if I was not frightened. He laughed - but it was a good drive and cost considerably less, even with a double tip, than the cab did this morning. My always pitiful Arabic is coming back - I even impressed myself.<br /><br />Back at the hotel I washed the grime of Cairo off. I am always amazed that even after a thorough soap and water wash there is still more black grime to come off on white hotel towels. I flipped through the book of possible restaurants in the hotel and decided on Indian. Then I realised that I wanted to ring friends who just happened to be the British Ambassador and his wife.<br /><br />I rang, talked to my friend, and was immediately asked to dinner. They inherited our wonderful and charming chef, Ahmed. They suggested I bring my passport and they would warn the gate that I was coming.<br /><br />The house was just down the road - behind a high concrete wall is one of the truly stunning old mansions of the colonial period which used to hover over the Nile but lost some of its grounds when the Corniche road was pushed through. I walked down the Corniche, cut through the lane beside the Kempinski Hotel, and realised that there might be a problem. There was a road block, boom gate and many soldiers backed up by four tanks. This section also controlled several streets that led into the area and many people - well, four or five - were moving into those streets and obviously permitted to go through.<br /><br />I talked to the officers, and told them I needed to get through as I was calling on a friend for dinner, and they permitted me into the next section. As I approached the house part though it got harder. There were another four tanks lined up beside their wall and another large and very strong concreted-in barrier across the road. A very small gap at one end had a soldier and machine gun and I went to talk to him.<br /><br />I said I wanted to go to dinner.<br /><br />He said "Ah, Tabouli?" He was not asking about the menu, but whether I was heading for a nearby well known restaurant. He indicated that I had to go back the way I had come, further along the corniche, and then up the next lane - and all with very expressive whirling of a machine gun muzzle.<br /><br />I said, "No, at the British Ambassador's house." The shock that hit his face was almost comical. No elegant car, not driver, a nylon jacket over day clothes, no written invitation card, and obviously no warning from the gate - so no way was I going to get through.<br /><br />"Mamnour," he said - forbidden. He had shot to attention and obviously really REALLY meant it. I stepped back a few paces and rang my friend. Thank goodness for a mobile phone.<br /><br />Five minutes later he was full of apologies as I was beckoned to the gate and all was well. It did not worry my one iota. He was just doing his job and protecting my friends.<br /><br />My friend had warned Ahmed that there was one extra for dinner and had told him that it was Jenny. He laughed politely, used to her teasing, and said "No Ma'am, Jenny is in Australia. She would not come at this time." She tried to insist that it was me and he just laughed.<br /><br />As I was being served my gin and tonic by their butler I asked him to tell Ahmed in the kitchen that Jenny said hello. A few minutes later I saw Ahmed's curious face peering around the corner and then he lit up. I was hugged, kissed on both cheeks and his delight was absolutely heart warming.<br /><br />We had a lovely and interesting meal - from a wonderful prawn curry from Kerala which was funny when I had decided on the Indian restaurant in the hotel - and then I walked back past eight tanks to the hotel. On the way on the Corniche I was handed a brochure for a new waterside night club and they tried to get me to promise to come next day with all the guests in the hotel.<br /><br />I am not sure that the few guests in the hotel would have been enough to fill one table in a new nightclub!Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-75842912037640922982011-03-07T16:15:00.009+11:002011-03-08T11:16:28.130+11:00Back to the Middle East - Tanks in Tahrir SquareI have just returned from a marvelous trip to Syria, Jordan and Egypt.<br /><br />I had a textile tour planned and had to cancel the Egypt part of it. I was so sad about that as I knew that many of those coming really wanted to meet my friends the Tentmakers in Cairo. We changed the trip to start as planned in Syria, and then to go on to Jordan instead of Egypt. I left my bookings as they were - flying into Damascus and out of Cairo three days after the tour, and just before we left, when Egypt was looking calm, I booked another flight - from Amman to Cairo.<br /><br />We had been watching the news as Egypt erupted weeks earlier and seemed wild and frightening for a few days. Police were firing at and killing fellow Egyptians and the mosques seemed full of wounded. Foreigners were being regarded with suspicion. The Embassy was very busy moving people out. Then the police simply disappeared. <br /><br />Many major gaols in the city had been breeched and all the prisoners escaped - or were they released? As one interviewee said,"Six gaols in one day? It is not logic." With no police presence people were warned that the thousands of released prisoners would be robbing houses to find money and food. Militias formed in every street in Cairo and many friends of mine bought guns. Every person I could contact by phone in this time - from middle class to somewhat lower - was just frightened - and tired after night after night of standing guard and barricading their streets. There were good sides too as many neighbours had time to chat in the long night watches and drank tea together.<br /><br />Tanks trundled around the city and set up large army bases. The army seemed to simply sit and watch. Then the army announced that it would not fire at Egyptians.<br /><br />At this point the demonstrations seemed to steady. There was almost a sigh of relief. Fridays remained high points with masses gathering after the mosque. Counter groups formed that were pro-Mubarak. <br /><br />I decided not to take the group when I saw camels and horses with their riders in Tahrir Square. That was just weird. There is no way that the riders were from the pyramids as the announcers claimed. In the days that followed this was confirmed by others who worked in tourism and had never seen these riders before. They were a mounted 'rent-a-crowd', and the oddness of this after the mass gaol releases and the disappearance of the police was enough to make me cancel - regardless of how things might change.<br /><br />They did change of course - and the 'Do Not Travel' travel advisory should have been enough to make me cancel anyway. There would be something infinitely tactless about an ex-Ambassador's wife deciding to lead a tour into a country against the advice of the embassy.<br /><br />I want to jump the events of my tour in Syria and Jordan - though I will get to it in the next few days. I am still buzzing over seeing my friends in Egypt most recently.<br /><br />I had to go to talk to the Tentmakers. I have been able to set up two exhibitions for them later in the year. One is at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in England - and it is huge and brilliant and one of my favourite shows. The other will be at the University of Durham which has a large Middle East Politics section. <br /><br />My funding for Birmingham might fall short and I needed to talk to the men about this and find out if there was any way they could raise some funds if necessary. I can talk to them easily face to face. Their English is just not good enough to manage with a phone and Skype is not an option for people without laptops and easy internet access. I was in the area and travel to Cairo meant a ticket that cost about $300. If I had to come from Australia again when things were totally stable it might have been eight times that.<br /><br />I had decided that if things were still bad I would simply book into an airport hotel and let the tentmakers come to me during the day.<br /><br />Ibrahim picked me up at the airport.<br /><br />Within five minutes we had passed six tanks on the airport road. Ibrahim told me about the days of fear, the worry that they all have now. He talked about the fact that he was not sure that they would be better off. He said that Mubarak kept the country stable and calm and he had subsidised bread, petrol and other basics so poor people had a chance of surviving on their incomes. "Sometimes", he said, "you need a strong father who does what you need and not what you want and that is the problem with a democracy - that leaders are afraid to lose an election if they do what you need."<br /><br />We came past the City of the Dead and I asked after my friends there. Ibrahim pointed out that there were police on a lot of the entrances - "Because perhaps people were afraid that the convicts had gone there to hide."<br /><br />We came past the Khan and there were a couple of tanks on the road near the Muslim University. <br /><br />We hooked up over the flyover and I was able to look down on Medan Ataba. This is the main shopping area - a huge market that threads through many alleys and streets. It is always so packed that I used to say that you could lift both feet and keep moving. In the open area we could see from the flyover it is always a seething mass of people around small tables of underwear, socks, and shoes.<br /><br />It was empty. It was a real shock to see this - the stalls were there and were stacked with the usual goods, but there were no people at all. When I exclaimed Ibrahim pointed out that people were really afraid. There was not much money coming from anywhere, and if they had money they were afraid to spend it, and if they didn't have any they could not spend it. "You can always manage a few more weeks without new clothes," he said, and I was struck by the truth of this. Of all the things I saw in this first day it was Medan Ataba that was the thing that made it clear that everything was not yet normal.<br /><br />We threaded through the streets of downtown Cairo and Ibrahim announced that he wanted to show me what was happening in Tahrir Square. I had a moment of trepidation but I trust Ibrahim. Bob had asked me to use drivers I knew as much as possible as he also trusted Ibrahim and Mohamed.<br /><br />Imagine a huge open area the size of a large football stadium. It has at least six streets that lead into it. Most had tanks, a sultry greyed yellow, like desert sand, squatting like large toads in the corners. In each one soldier was visible standing in the opening often laughing and chatting to people. There is a grassed area in the centre with a low wall around it - like a very large centre of a roundabout. It was so full of people that I could not even see if there was still grass. It had tents and stalls - so many food stalls selling boiled chick peas, khoshary, toasted newspaper cones of the seeds that Egyptians love to eat, roasted sweet potato stalls with black sugary trails bubbling out of the tiny ovens, and whole sweet potatoes keeping hot on racks around the oven. I saw dozens of small children on their father's shoulders. <br /><br />Sellers moved through the traffic - weaving through tightly packed cars and offering flags, balloons, bubble blowers, long ribbons of Egyptian flags - anything you can imagine that looked festive and cheerful. All the kerbs were newly painted in crisp if somewhat blurry black and white. The square sparkled - another shock in a city that was never known for its civic pride or cleanliness.<br /><br />On one side road traffic was blocked off as a demonstration moved through chanting loudly - and the demonstrators looked about 14 and were almost all male. They were, according to Ibrahim, asking for better high schools.<br /><br />The museum is a rich reddish terracotta, a festive colour, and looked quite shocking with the building behind it working as a jet black backdrop - the multi storey headquarters of the leading party which was burnt in the first days of demonstrations. That was the elephant in the room - a stark reminder of violence.<br /><br />There were no police in an area that was always thick with police. Traffic was being controlled by demonstrators and civilians. Two had whistles on strips of ribbon in the colours of the flag. One was doing a good imitation of the style of an Italian policeman - with his arms twirling in the air. The crowd were joyful and noisy and though it took ages to get through the square it was so entertaining that I really did not mind. At one stage I passed out 5 pounds to a young man with the striped ribbons draped on his arm to buy one and got five instead of one ribbon plus change - I kept them knowing the family would enjoy them.<br /><br />Ibrahim delivered me to the hotel. It is hard to believe that the pages you have just waded through take me only to noon on my first day. I planned to visit my dear tentmakers in the afternoon so - more later!Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-81441356530241659792010-09-21T14:30:00.005+10:002010-09-21T15:45:16.470+10:00Do you want to come to Syria and Egypt with me?We have set dates and costed the Syria and Egypt tour for next year. It will start on the 18th February next year. This time we have given the 'on the ground' costing and you have to book separately to get there and back - but Nick and the lovely team at <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.impulsetravel.com.au/TextileTours/tabid/202/Default.aspx">Impulse</a></span> can organise that for you.<br /><br /><br />It does not include a Nile Cruise but people usually go on and add this option in - it is a lovely thing to do but there is not enough that is textile-related to justify me joining you on that (which would mean that you would be paying for me). Those who go are accompanied by a lovely Egyptian Guide.<br /><br />I love this trip. I lived for three and a half years in Syria and four and a half years in Egypt. You would not find many expert guides who know and love both countries so well.<br /><br />The big advantage of a textile tour is not so much that you see textiles - but that you move off the standard tourist routes. Of course we see the Krak de Chevaliers <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/2847069327/" title="IMG_3316.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2847069327_ef0071095a.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="IMG_3316.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/2847069521/" title="IMG_3327.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3200/2847069521_c32d4b394d.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_3327.JPG" /></a><br /><br />and Palmyra <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/465470638/" title="IMG_5919.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/465470638_304b1557f1.jpg" width="480" height="320" alt="IMG_5919.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/465470814/" title="IMG_5937.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/210/465470814_b6c304e201.jpg" width="480" height="320" alt="IMG_5937.JPG" /></a><br /><br />and the old city of Damascus in Syria, <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/307810069/" title="IMG_2071.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/105/307810069_ebb83ab79a.jpg" width="360" height="480" alt="IMG_2071.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/307807116/" title="IMG_2048.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/113/307807116_38dfedbcb3.jpg" width="360" height="480" alt="IMG_2048.JPG" /></a><br /><br />and the Pyramids (Saqqara as well as Giza)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/60773420/" title="RIMG0206 by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/31/60773420_1d229fb720.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="RIMG0206" /></a><br /><br /><br /> and the Egyptian Museum in Egypt - but we also move off into areas where locals live and work and we get to know the country better with the insight this gives us. <br /><br />You know that the group will all have something in common - most are not young and wanting to go to nightclubs in the evenings. Partners who come usually find that they love it - we have better opportunities for really wonderful photography than most tours offer.<br /><br />We might walk in mud on some days - but always stay in good hotels, so there is a relief in walking into something comfortable and familiar.<br /><br />I love to take people in to the best textile sites in the beautiful Old City of Damascus in Syria,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/13409617/" title="Damascus silk brocade by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/10/13409617_8a94b1c8df.jpg" width="480" height="360" alt="Damascus silk brocade" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/2846467989/" title="RIMG1935.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3142/2846467989_cb03102390.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="RIMG1935.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/2847324680/" title="RIMG1564.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2847324680_092abcd7e8.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="RIMG1564.JPG" /></a><br /><br /> and to the Tentmakers' Street<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5010984532/" title="RIMG4656.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/5010984532_6129441e50.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="RIMG4656.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/252225314/" title="tentmakers by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/117/252225314_f6e74ffed2.jpg" width="500" height="485" alt="tentmakers" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5010379105/" title="IMG_3829.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/5010379105_5050c61be7.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_3829.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />and the Dyers' Khan in old Cairo,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5010383545/" title="DSCN1082.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/5010383545_5237e06c60.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSCN1082.jpg" /></a><br /><br />and to Wissa Wassef - a truly stunning and joyful tapestry school - the best of all Egypt's long term projects.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/249932347/" title="Wissa Wassef by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/85/249932347_9e9e5bab9d.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Wissa Wassef" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5010999182/" title="DSCN1494.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4144/5010999182_97c12a0c04.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSCN1494.jpg" /></a><br /><br />If enough are interested we could add a few informal days earlier in the north of Syria to see Aleppo, the Dead Cities,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5011010124/" title="IMG_9614.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4153/5011010124_91483c7537.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_9614.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5010404905/" title="DSCN0680.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5010404905_90a6717c32.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSCN0680.jpg" /></a><br /><br /> the beehive houses,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5010407825/" title="IMG_9698.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/5010407825_15b53442fb.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_9698.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5011012876/" title="IMG_9696.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5011012876_6877a57cf2.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_9696.JPG" /></a><br /><br /> and Heike Webber's embroidery project - Anat <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5011013074/" title="IMG_9709.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/5011013074_172b10e81e.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_9709.JPG" /></a><br /><br />- but that will depend on interest. It would simply be with me and a hired car and driver and not part of the formal tour.<br /><br />Please contact Nick at Impulse - address right at the very top of this post. I wish I could remember how to put that link into Impulse tours!Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-11335782849851437052010-09-19T08:56:00.003+10:002010-09-19T09:13:53.781+10:00So many layouts....I am dithering over another sample for Houston. For quite a while I have added to these blocks from time to time. I always demonstrate the technique in these hot colours, and the blocks have built up.<br /><br />The class is called Shimmering Triangles, and you make very quick triangle sets, turn them into one of a dozen possible blocks that shimmer, and then place the blocks in the colour order you choose.<br /><br />Any block that emulates, even vaguely, a half square triangle, can be placed in any of the log cabin layouts. for days I have been turning and changing blocks downstairs and trying to work out how I might sew this piece together. I will not quilt it as tops are lighter to carry - but I would like to stitch it before I go.<br /><br />So here are the choices.<br /><br />The simple, all pointing the same way, option.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5000741242/" title="IMG_0847.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5000741242_de5e6e6ef2.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="IMG_0847.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I was turning alternate rows and while it is not my favourite, I thought the hooks looked quite interesting.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5000140227/" title="IMG_0845.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5000140227_5224e75f3d.jpg" width="500" height="337" alt="IMG_0845.JPG" /></a><br /><br />This is the log cabin layout usually called Barn Raising.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5000743146/" title="IMG_0850.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5000743146_16d39a771e.jpg" width="500" height="336" alt="IMG_0850.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Zigzags - I am leaning this way at the moment.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5000142361/" title="IMG_0853.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5000142361_df068dc1bc.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="IMG_0853.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Alternating light/dark squares on point. I have another sample in this setting, with a different block so do not think I will use it - but I do like this look.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5002131901/" title="IMG_0841.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5002131901_f86a576bc6.jpg" width="500" height="328" alt="IMG_0841.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Another possibility - Zigzags with an occasional square.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5000142491/" title="IMG_0860.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/5000142491_69301851d7.jpg" width="500" height="369" alt="IMG_0860.JPG" /></a><br /><br />There is one other option. I have not tried it yet but I will try the zigzags with some huge flower blocks tucked in here and there - they are also oranges and reds. You will have to wait for this one as I am off to teach a class!<br /><br />Please tell me if you have a favourite.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-12854733818627608532010-09-04T11:06:00.004+10:002010-09-05T13:16:46.522+10:00Houston ClassI have a class that I will teach at Houston called Free Motion Quilting with a Starter Scrap". It is a bit of a mouthful but it means what it says.<br /><br />I supply the 'scraps' in the class as a kit, and people bring cut pieces to go around it. They make a little quilt.<br /><br />We have a practice session with patterns that I demonstrate on small spare quilt sandwiches. Then - they work on their pieces, going around the main shapes in their centres, and finishing flowers (or other things) where they have been cut off.<br /><br />We extend the images by making more in other areas, and I teach simple ways to think through that, then pack in filler patterns (taught in the morning session) around them.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955212791/" title="IMG_0817.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/4955212791_5d63b6b151.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt="IMG_0817.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955212669/" title="IMG_0820.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/4955212669_67b8d083d0.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_0820.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I am posting images of the sort of piece this makes, and a few details. I have been greatly honoured to have been invited to be Bernina's artist of the year in Australia. That means that I demonstrate whatever I choose to do at shows all over Australia. I chose free motion quilting on the idea of a 'starter scrap' as many traditional quilters say that they cannot think where to start with free motion quilting - and most traditional quilts have little pieces of prints which have been cut.<br /><br />These are little ones that I have done as demonstrations in the shows, and Bernina has no problems with the idea of me selling them. I bring them to Houston for sale. I have no idea what I might charge for these as they are so far away from my usual work - but I have flights and accommodation to pay for so I am keen to sell them. I have about fifteen pieces, plus some small quilts in the same style. Any suggestions? Please?<br /><br />I have discovered that my very favourite thread is back - Mettler's Silk Finish (which is pure cotton) and there are so many stunning colours - so look at the little jewels I can make with these. It is lovely thread, soft and supple and it forms very firm stitches - and it does not coil off the reel like some cotton threads.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955212913/" title="IMG_0822.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/4955212913_82e05ed9ba.jpg" width="500" height="450" alt="IMG_0822.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955805922/" title="IMG_0814.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4955805922_e76b37d885.jpg" width="361" height="500" alt="IMG_0814.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955806226/" title="IMG_0807.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4955806226_9f3de35941.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="IMG_0807.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955213253/" title="IMG_0804.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/4955213253_b334631484.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="IMG_0804.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955806328/" title="IMG_0808.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/4955806328_7b9c0f0f8e.jpg" width="436" height="500" alt="IMG_0808.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955806436/" title="IMG_0810.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4955806436_bacd4c7d9f.jpg" width="395" height="500" alt="IMG_0810.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />This is one of the three little quilts - simple pieces of Kaffe Fasset fabrics with a frame, and then put together as strippy quilts. These are what I think of as Lucky Dip quilts - I plan only to finish where images are cut off - and the rest is up to what people in the shows ask me to demonstrate for them. I like the fact that the quilts can look good with minimal planning. I show only four or five main patterns, all easy to teach and people can make them without drawing in advance.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955844530/" title="SDC11419.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4955844530_d101f82d84.jpg" width="405" height="500" alt="SDC11419.JPG" /></a><br /><br />It is faced not bound - and I am starting to realise that I love the look of a facing - it is so clean and modern.<br /><br />Sorry about the horrible photographs. I have a good design wall but cannot get far enough away from it for good photographs without moving a very large table - so they look distorted. All are nicely square - I promise.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-74956509474400253602010-09-04T10:58:00.002+10:002010-09-04T11:06:10.331+10:00My Moo CardsOne little bit of extravagance that is a regular indulgence is a regular purchase of Moo cards. I love these business cards. They are delicious to handle - firm card with a matt plastic coating to give a soft satiny sheen. It looks very professional to have your own images of work on your cards and my quilts are often strongly coloured. I offer a fan of cards and suggest anyone who has asked for a card choose one. That offers just a bit of insight into the person who asked.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955809032/" title="IMG_0833.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4955809032_e3e0033a27.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_0833.JPG" /></a><br /><br />At different times I have used different types of images. For promoting my textile tours I have had cards printed with photographs from Egypt, Syria and India, and if I am doing a talk on textiles in Egypt - those are the cards I take to show off that tour.<br /><br />I sprawled a few on my Syrian table cloth. They could be better photographs - but you will get the idea!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4955809134/" title="IMG_0832.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4955809134_35dd781503.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_0832.JPG" /></a>Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-306689287280771492010-06-06T21:20:00.004+10:002010-09-21T21:10:25.695+10:00Playing with waste scrapsI have not blogged for so long that I am really embarrassed. The worst of it is that I have had a spectacular year with some truly amazing trips but have been so busy I have not blogged any of it. However - I have just had a bit of fun with fabric and thought it might be a good one to lead me back to blogging.<br /><br />The challenge for my local quilt show this year is Go Green.<br /><br />I know - they will probably get fifty green small quilts. Each has to be 50 cm x 70 cm. I know there are options on thinking about how to reduce waste, use of power - any environmental issue in fact. <br /><br />I had a day up my sleeve, and I felt like a bit of mindless playing.<br /><br />I decided to make use of a small bag of fabric pieces from dyed scraps - actually scraps from scraps. I have no idea why I did not throw these out years ago but they have been drifting around and now and again I consider chucking them - and do not quite do it. There were mostly very small pieces but a few positive/negative images left over from contemporary techniques class I used to run.<br /><br />I always set a few personal rules on any project. I decided that I had to pick up a piece from the scrap box and sew it to something green.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4673956919/" title="IMG_0790.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4673956919_4840919d6f_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_0790.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Then I had to join those pieces together and keep doing so until I could cut a few little blocks from the piece.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4674577916/" title="IMG_0788.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4674577916_76f3809b6c_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_0788.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Some of the scraps had already been sewed together but I treated these as one. I used a range of different green hand dyed fabrics as my filler fabrics. I opted for straight line piecing and just cut the bits of green off with scissors at the machine.<br /><br />Because the first piece I took from the ironing board to the cutting mat divided neatly into four pieces that were 3 1/2 x 4" I decided that would do as my size. If I ever repeated this exercise I would cut the pieces square as then I could turn them around.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4673957389/" title="IMG_0794.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4673957389_07695749aa_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="IMG_0794.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4673957283/" title="IMG_0793.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/4673957283_2aed720511_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="IMG_0793.JPG" /></a><br /><br />If a piece was missing a corner I just sewed a bit on. If a bit was left over I sewed it to something green. If a colour was too strong and dominant I cut the block in half through that section and joined them to other bits.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4673960387/" title="IMG_0799.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4673960387_08175a15c6.jpg" width="500" height="338" alt="IMG_0799.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I found a couple of pieces that were like little trees, in pink and greens, and set them in too.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4673960081/" title="IMG_0796.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4673960081_976ec82d65.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_0796.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I have now finished and quilted it and here it is.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/5011555504/" title="116.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/5011555504_09e982aef0.jpg" width="366" height="500" alt="116.jpg" /></a><br /><br />It was enjoyable, no fuss, easy and very light hearted as an exercise - and you could use any colour as your fillers.<br /><br />Have fun.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-7520351645563241132009-12-16T22:50:00.005+11:002009-12-17T09:52:48.074+11:00Map for the Tentmakers of CairoFinally I can really show people how to find the Tentmakers of Old Cairo. Or how to locate Khan Khayamiya, or Kayamiya - as they are all the same thing.<br /><br />My son Sam made a wonderful <a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&fb=1&gl=au&hq=tentmakers+khan&hnear=cairo&ei=94UYS97PMtCgkQWBvZXUAw&ved=0CCAQtgMwAw&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=105870418736742869504.000479df6b67877749eb0">map </a>for those who wish to walk. Or for those who wish to get a taxi to Either Khan El Khalili, or from Bab El Khalk (or Bab el Qalk as the pronunciation is the same). Taxis know both of those locations.<br /><br />You will see Bab Zuweilah marked on the map and it looks like this.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4190224084/" title="IMG_3416.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2687/4190224084_49675820fe.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_3416.JPG" /></a><br /><br />This is the single most wonderful street to visit in Cairo to let visitors get the feel of the modern city, and of the incredible humour and kindness of Egyptians. You will not be pushed to buy and can visit, drink tea or kakadeh, and chat, and watch a wonderfully interesting world go by.<br /><br />They do not make tents so much nowadays - but the work that they make now is derived from from the colourful appliquéd linings of tents of the old days, when the tentmakers (or Khayamiya in Arabic) made brilliant linings, ceilings and covered screens for the streets. They are still used: <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3326855287/" title="DSCN0860.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3580/3326855287_824d61e850.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSCN0860.jpg" /></a><br /><br />as screens in the desert to provide essential windbreaks for cooking, eating and sleeping,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/753855951/" title="IMG_7348.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1108/753855951_df6d055243.jpg" width="320" height="480" alt="IMG_7348.JPG" /></a><br /><br />and at weddings and henna parties like this amazing one in a Cairo street. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/754707768/" title="IMG_7341.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1145/754707768_0251ed69a5.jpg" width="480" height="320" alt="IMG_7341.JPG" /></a><br /><br />And funerals like the one in the City of the Dead in Cairo,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4189463557/" title="IMG_7607.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/4189463557_fc0c002fa2_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="IMG_7607.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4190223874/" title="IMG_7604.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4190223874_944c82974c_m.jpg" width="240" height="152" alt="IMG_7604.JPG" /></a><br /><br /> and any celebration that needs to look like a celebration.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4189456933/" title="IMG_0325.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2533/4189456933_3663e72781.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_0325.JPG" /></a><br /><br />The street is beautiful. It was built in 1647 for shoemakers, but now is the domain of the men who make beautiful hand appliqué.<br /><br />These are a few pieces to get you inspired.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/973930659/" title="IMG_7940.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1410/973930659_d97606064f.jpg" width="500" height="498" alt="IMG_7940.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/975509808/" title="IMG_8081.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1382/975509808_92d998fec4.jpg" width="500" height="250" alt="IMG_8081.JPG" /></a><br />A piece of calligraphy, from the Koran to be hung on a wall.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/974782388/" title="IMG_8012.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1037/974782388_cdf3d556bd.jpg" width="497" height="500" alt="IMG_8012.JPG" /></a><br />This is a very traditional piece here, and with traditional colours.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/973893625/" title="IMG_7965.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1096/973893625_c92e8a850a_m.jpg" width="240" height="169" alt="IMG_7965.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/973885721/" title="IMG_7977.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1368/973885721_059784d47a_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7977.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/974844688/" title="IMG_8053.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1063/974844688_f854efde67.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="IMG_8053.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />You can see a Flickr <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/sets/72157601141392345/">photoset </a>of all of the images I took for one exhibition.<br /><br />If you really feel like browsing through a LOT of photos of all sorts of things and have a few hours to spare the link to all my organised sets is <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/sets/">here</a>. Syria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Italy and India - and lots more.<br /><br />But please remember - if you know someone visiting Cairo, print off the map for them, and tell them to take a cab to:<br /><br />either Khan El Khalili and start from the street opposite the green bridge on the OTHER side from the Khan,<br /><br />Or<br /><br />To take a cab to Bab El Khalk where you will walk up the road from the police station to Bab Zuweilah and the Tentmakers Street.<br /><br />The latter is my pick as there are wonderful things to see on this street. But that is another blog.<br /><br />Tell them to go without a guide. Guides demand a commission form the men for bringing tourists - and the price will go up a lot.<br /><br />Say hello from me.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-11692173084121902932009-12-05T15:24:00.006+11:002009-12-07T09:26:58.107+11:00India and the "Untouchable" VillageI do know that the term is not currently considered appropriate. I could say something, like "the people previously known as untouchables, or Dalits - or whatever. The mere fact that there is a new term for the same group still implies a social status.<br /><br />This village, near Udaipur, gave me the most joyous experience of my trip. I am being selfish in not giving its name as I would hate to see hundreds of tourists visiting there, and it would change the way the people relate to tourists. We were the first visitors since I was there in May. It is made of 'found' materials, except for some roofing tiles - stones and mud and mud brick and mud plaster.<br /><br />In May I took a lot of photographs. It was late afternoon and the light was almost silvery, even though it was Summer. We had a few sweets for children but we hardly got out of the car and most of my photographs were taken through the car window. However, we had met some of the people on the road and photographed them with their animals. I had a big pile of prints to hand back, and I had asked the group to keep shampoos and toiletries from hotels for the women of the village.<br /><br />It was cooler in November, and we made it our first stop of the day.<br /><br />I think it is easier to simply add photographs and let those tell the stories.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115299609/" title="IMG_7076.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2530/4115299609_5218f00435.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="IMG_7076.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116067574/" title="IMG_7078.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2529/4116067574_1b98089b28_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7078.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Mr Sheik from Thomas Cook was our guide and can be contacted through Thomas Cook Udaipur if readers wish.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116069522/" title="IMG_7081.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2605/4116069522_88bcc43b80_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7081.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115304115/" title="IMG_7086.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2797/4115304115_80d1e6940a_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7086.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116075136/" title="IMG_7093.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2783/4116075136_ba545894d0_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7093.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115304885/" title="IMG_7090.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2568/4115304885_566e66af91_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7090.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116075078/" title="IMG_7097.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/4116075078_34a2f65200.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7097.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116075324/" title="IMG_7099.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2804/4116075324_1d1e82eabb.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7099.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116077948/" title="IMG_7107.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2606/4116077948_3f8d00420f_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7107.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115307331/" title="IMG_7101.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2682/4115307331_f74e8cab25_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7101.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115312673/" title="IMG_7113.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2678/4115312673_3fc7f1ae2c.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7113.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115316829/" title="IMG_7122.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2748/4115316829_61f687ae76_o.jpg" width="592" height="800" alt="IMG_7122.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115318463/" title="IMG_7127.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2515/4115318463_f5d5a5eff6.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7127.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116091514/" title="IMG_7137.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2541/4116091514_aaca8e9b1b.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7137.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116086356/" title="IMG_7128.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2613/4116086356_aa3def4122_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7128.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115322957/" title="IMG_7134.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2765/4115322957_8fa5f9042a_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="IMG_7134.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116091790/" title="IMG_7139.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2634/4116091790_74b64ba944.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7139.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116093302/" title="IMG_7141.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2796/4116093302_ecc08f2218.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="IMG_7141.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116093528/" title="IMG_7143.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2451/4116093528_e914d92455_m.jpg" width="180" height="240" alt="IMG_7143.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116097320/" title="IMG_7150.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2752/4116097320_9392dee47a_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7150.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115332129/" title="IMG_7158.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2651/4115332129_b3f8a7fe72_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7158.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116100526/" title="IMG_7161.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2721/4116100526_7b0862c269_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7161.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116100214/" title="IMG_7155.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2613/4116100214_ceca6aa649.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7155.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115334997/" title="IMG_7163.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2708/4115334997_55ba9827f0_m.jpg" width="165" height="240" alt="IMG_7163.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116103974/" title="IMG_7167.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2641/4116103974_aa4f157bfe_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7167.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115336845/" title="IMG_7174.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2510/4115336845_e9e8b83bd2.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7174.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116105218/" title="IMG_7177.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774/4116105218_afff49e1d2_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7177.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116106880/" title="IMG_7178.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2561/4116106880_93ed16e042_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7178.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4115341071/" title="IMG_7187.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2586/4115341071_2ca0496a0b_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7187.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116110698/" title="IMG_7192.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2693/4116110698_7ff61a8848_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_7192.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4116107158/" title="IMG_7183.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/4116107158_083b168c67.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="IMG_7183.JPG" /></a><br /><br />If you want to join me one day in India - you are very welcome.<br /><br />This was just one morning of a very rich and wonderful day.<br /><br />Check details on my website for the itinerary - though there may be changes from year to year. You can contact <a href="http://www.impulsetravel.com.au/SpecialInterest/tabid/57/Default.aspx">Stephanie or Nina at Impulse Travel</a> in Sydney, Australia, and we work with Namish Sharma at Thomas Cook (TCI) in Delhi, India. If we have enough people we run the tour!Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-54307483340849724742009-12-05T14:27:00.005+11:002009-12-14T08:57:40.883+11:00Anish Kapoor and Watching the WatchersI was lucky enough, courtesy of my lovely husband, to have a week in London recently - and I was not even working. He had a meeting, some points in his Frequent Flyer account, and a lovely hotel on the edge of Sloane Square.<br /><br />I used the time blissfully wandering London, and saw some wonderful exhibitions - the British museum, the V&A and its Maharajah exhibition, The National Gallery, and I went to see Anish Kapoor's huge solo exhibition in the Royal Academy.<br /><br />I am not going to try to write a review for Anish Kapoor as these things are done by people far more proficient than I am.<br /><br />I want to talk about just one element - ‘<a href="http://www.whitespace-brand.co.uk/blog/2009/10/06/anish-kapoor---royal-academy-london/">Svayambh</a>’ (meaning ‘auto-generated’). The language is Sanskrit - which is like using a Latin title as the language is a dead language even in India.<br /><br /><br />A huge block - 20 tons - of red wax moves slowly through three galleries on a straight track. It moves very slowly, but the movement is easily visible and it takes about two hours to move from one end of its track to the other. It is shaped like a large loaf of bread with a curved top, as this is the shape of the arched entrances that it pushes through.<br /><br />I watched it come through the final room at one end, over about twenty minutes as it reached the end, packing lumps of previously dropped wax against the end of the track and the wall, then reversing to start the slow slide back. Clumps stuck as it moved away, and seemed to creep after it, dropping off slowly to leave big lumps on the track. Small pools formed in the dips, wet and oily. A guard told me that the wax was mixed with Vaseline to make it softer and sticky.<br /><br />It was inexorable - the original irresistible object. As it dragged through the beautiful arches between different rooms it left thick traces dragged against the marble arches, and lumps sheered off on the fronts and backs of the arches. The object was shaped by the arches - and it moved like a huge and very slow paintbrush, dragging softly, wetly, against the entrances and leaving its colour and sludge behind.<br /><br />I went to the far room and just sat for about one and a half hours. It was still a long way away. People would walk in straight to the red track, with the detritus of previous visits piled against the wall and its small sludgy pools gleaming in the pure whiteness of that beautiful gallery. The ceiling's beautiful plasterwork is gilded and the floor is parquetry - the feeling of the space is pristine and the globs of oily sticky wax feel like a violation. <br /><br />People would step straight over the very insignificant white narrow wooden strip which paralleled the track and peer down the track to see how far away the monumental block of wax was, to estimate how long it might take to arrive.<br /><br />When I first walked in I had done the same. <br /><br />I sat to watch people, more that the work.<br /><br />Some stood for a while and talked. Older women often looked appalled at what they saw as a terrible mess.<br /><br />There was a woman leaning against the wall. Her arms were folded tightly against her body, and her mouth was turned down and sullen. She had long brown hair. She did not seem to be in uniform and it wasn't until she started growling at people for stepping over the white line that I realised she was a guard.<br /><br />I cannot believe that Anish Kapoor ever meant his audience to be harassed - but I watched in amazement as what might have been interesting and pleasant became very much otherwise for many of the audience that morning.<br /><br />British audiences are polite and usually moved instantly and apologised when growled at. Some did not actually realise at first that she was speaking to them and looked guilty as they jumped back. She almost verbally attacked a woman who took a call on her mobile - despite the fact that at that stage I was the only other person in the room. One woman asked a question about the art work and she snapped "I do not know because I am not an artist".<br /><br />Right on the hour the guard changed. The new guard was younger, polite, and tended to keep reiterating "Please keep behind the white line, Sir, please keep behind the white line." She was in uniform, her security tag was clear and visible (no folded arms and resentful body language here). It was a gentler harassment - like being on the platform as the train approaches on the Tube. It almost turned into insistent background noise and as more and more people came in she was often ignored.<br /><br />On the next hour the guard was a young man. The wax was now in the next room so it was clearly closer to arriving, and more and more people were walking in to check on it. He was young, and positioned himself in the space between the white line and the track, leaning against the end wall so he could sight straight down the forbidden space. He seemed not to be worried by people stepping in to look. I talked to him and he told me about the Vaseline in the wax to make it malleable, about the latex they had used to protect the white paint and arches and which would peel away later, and that he had no real problem with people looking as long as he felt there was no immediate danger. If people looked as if they would touch the wax he would stop them - usually on grounds that it was sticky and hard to remove.<br /><br />People asked about the work and he answered and asked them questions to elicit what they thought about it. He pulled people in, made them interested and involved, and he used the paintbrush analogy.<br /><br />I realised that I had seen three very different experiences, just because of the guard. I wondered briefly if that was actually an intention of the work - but I am sure it was not. I think it was just different interpretation of a gallery's need to keep its clientele safe from twenty tons of moving wax.<br /><br />Other exhibits forced us to weave through a crowding of work, taking quite careful movements to prevent physical contact.<br /><br />I am sure Anish Kapoor would have preferred the third guard.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-71357249706124185472009-11-08T00:02:00.002+11:002009-11-08T00:13:59.573+11:00IndiaI am in India again. All around us the rhythms of the country lilt and rock, in a gentle swinging rhythm that is soft and sweet, like rolling in honey.<br /><br />There is an amazing sense of contrasts - hot and spicy, rich and earthy foods and smooth and delicate sugary and densely milky desserts. The dryness and earth colours of Rajasthan with the odd butterfly brightness of the women in fantastic saris – raspberry and fuchsia and cyclamen and saffron and chartreuse and ochre and orange – all wrapped and edged with gold. Desert and thorn trees, and a moving dusty cloud which shifts to reveal herds of creamy horned cattle, tall lean men in white dhotis and tunics and deep crimson turbans as herds are moved south in a desperate attempt to dodge the drought.<br /><br />We visited a tiny village near Udaipur where people who used to be called untouchables have built their houses in found stone and thatching. Their lives are probably poor and bleak, dependent on what they can grow but we were greeted with glee and a sense of welcome. I had taken photographs in May and delivered them to those who recognized themselves. The contrast between that tiny village in the beautiful hilly area where they nestled with the rich and extraordinarily beautiful lake city of Udaipur with its three white palaces and three man made lakes was humbling. <br /><br />We have watched block printing with long padded tables lined with cotton which goes through three processes before it is even put on the table. We watched block printing, resist printing with mud and straw, dye dipping in natural colours and indigo vats with their oily green slick on the surface. Some fabrics went through eight processes and still sold for less per metre than a cappuccino in Canberra. <br /><br />We visited a home where the family was tying tiny rhythmic points into silks to dye it – and we tried popping those tiny knots off the dyed fabric to reveal little white squares with colour in the centres. The fabrics made this way were beautiful and incredibly time-enriched, and they held the rippling shapes of the tying so they hug shoulders and curve over bodies.<br /><br />We visited the tiny walled town of Patan to see Patong weaving – double ikat, mind-bogglingly complicated. On the way we went across a bridge over a long and dry river bed – to see a river of people pouring downstream, climbing over the edges of the bridge and down the banks to join a huge and brightly coloured crowd in the far distance. It was a cattle market and explained the large herds of lean and bony cattle we had been seeing all morning, steadily plodding towards the same destination. <br /><br />We are now in Chennai and have arrived with the second monsoon – which is devastating for me as we have booked beautiful resorts for the next four days. I had imagined quiet relaxing hours on beaches after sightseeing. I had planned to visit dyeing workshops –which will not be dyeing in the torrential rain. I had hoped that they would see the French colony of Pondicherry in sunshine with the sea washing against the city walls, and the ashram full of flowers and their sun-warm scent.<br /><br />Instead every road is a river, brown and fast flowing- to somewhere else. People are staying home, and those on the streets look dark and somber in heavy wet-weather plastics. Men move around with trousers rolled to their knees, or just give up and wade calf-deep in the water. Cars move slowly with a wake like a battle ship which rocks the water heavily against the tiny shops that edge Pondicherry Market – which – oddly enough – is in Chennai. <br /><br />I looked to BBC weather for reassurance and hope – but it predicts heavy rain for the next five days. Our plans may have to change - but it looks as if we might have time to go to tailors to have fabrics turned to clothes, and to post offices to relieve impossibly heavy suitcases. It is a country used to resilience and change, and we can take our cues from the Indians. <br /><br />All will be well as India is never ever boring.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-38251577097048279002009-08-17T23:09:00.009+10:002010-09-09T12:22:44.397+10:00Sand Storm over the White DesertI would hate everyone to think that a lack of posts means inertia. What it means is that life is just too busy for writing of any sort.<br /><br />I have been making a big quilt. I thought I would take you a little through my making process to show you how badly I veer off course in case it helps others who do the same.<br /><br />One of my absolute favourite places in Egypt was the Western Desert - and especially the White Desert. It was relatively easy to get to - five hours drive from Cairo to the oasis of Bahariya, then we piled into the car of our guide who drove us another hour and a half to the desert. It was also pretty easy to organise for visitors. A phone call or email to Peter Wirth, the owner of the International Hot Springs Hotel, and a car would be sent to Cairo to collect anyone and bring them down. This meant I did not actually have to own a car to get there.<br /><br />I probably went about thirty times over our four years. We would drive though the Black Desert to get there - passing huge black basalt lumps nestled into ochre sand. It was an extraordinary sense of distance and peace to swirl through sand, crawl over gibbers, and bump over rock, and all in an open four wheel drive with a large Bedouin at the wheel.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting/471622456/" title="IMG_4181.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/229/471622456_7f1d683a55.jpg" alt="IMG_4181.JPG" width="480" height="360" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/471639011/" title="IMG_4180.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/227/471639011_75a8936a5b.jpg" alt="IMG_4180.JPG" width="480" height="360" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3327643942/" title="IMG_4301.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3318/3327643942_649bf8858f.jpg" alt="IMG_4301.JPG" width="375" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><br />Our favourite guide was Magdy Badrmany. He became a good friend. His English was good so anyone could be sent with him, he was a quiet and careful driver, he could cook a feast over a gas jet or a small tended fire, and he would take you on a tour of the night sky - unbelievable littered with constellations and strewn with stars. Many nights I chose to sleep out of the tent so I could watch falling stars arcing overhead and fading into the edges of the sky.<br /><br /><br />Once in the desert you enter a soft white world.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3830190166/" title="IMG_3552.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/3830190166_16ff34bf18.jpg" alt="IMG_3552.JPG" width="500" height="333" /></a><br /><br />There is a silvery light at dawn that touches and paints the edges of the amazing calcium carbonate formations with hints of mauve and pink, and long long shadows that reach across the sand like stretching fingers. It was the bottom of an old sea, and here and there are fossil evidence, fragile curled shells emerging from the chalk.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3326849427/" title="RIMG0079.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/3326849427_25a0e3649f.jpg" alt="RIMG0079.JPG" width="375" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><br />As it was rich in iron and crystallised iron pyrite, like smoothly polished jet, emerges also, in long fingers, or curled around fossils, or as desert flowers, perfect crystals in matte black that nestle with short spikes into your hands. In our first year I picked up many. At the end of our posting I brought back most, full of shame as I had seen areas denuded of treasures, many of which were abandoned by their collectors at service stations in Bahariya.<br /><br />By lunch time the light is stark and hard, the pure white dazzles and the shadows of the stones are inky and blue and pool tightly below each formation. Our guides would tuck in tight in the meagre shade, while their particular tourists, like mad dogs and Englishmen, would roam for photos.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3326843729/" title="RIMG0022.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3319/3326843729_3fd7529783.jpg" alt="RIMG0022.JPG" width="500" height="375" /></a><br /><br /><br />A sand storm meant that I would wrap my camera tightly and not use it so I do not have those photos. At first it is an equal lifting of gold sand and white fine dust. As soon as the wind has moved on the sand settles, but in the white desert the dust stays in the air for days, so fine and light that it is like a thin fog.<br /><br />In this light the sun is softened and you start to see the soft cramy bieges that tint the chalk, warming the formations. The sand can seem peach, the hint of coral even spreading into greyer areas where the iron stones gather.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3830190272/" title="IMG_3601.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/3830190272_5044dac582.jpg" alt="IMG_3601.JPG" width="500" height="333" /></a><br /><br />Night tints the horizon with soft pinks, until it blazes into a vast and unsettling sunset, and leaves even the whitest shapes as dark and forbidding silhouettes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3326850223/" title="DSCN0829.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3326850223_babdfcffec.jpg" alt="DSCN0829.jpg" width="500" height="375" /></a><br /><br /><br />For the White Desert Quilt I planned to make I had thought of making a series of quilts. I wanted a sense of its vastness, the huge wrap-around horizon, ridged and beautiful with far distant forms, like bent old men talking. I thought of starting the first with dawn light, then through the day with the changes of light until the final pieces was the deep blues of the lit-by-starlight desert. It would have been a total of about eight metres - at least. I also wanted it to feel vast and overpowering, and to include Magdy as his presence is intrinsic, large, quiet but with a real streak of fun and a boyish humour. That whole idea had to go as I would never be able to show it anywhere.<br /><br />I started to pull images together that would feed the idea I wanted to work with. I collated images of particular well known formations, mushrooms, the chicken and the egg, the rabbit. I pulled up images of Magdy. Working with someone you know well is complex as it has to be perfect - to feel like that person - or in my mind the quilt cannot work.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3829389111/" title="IMG_1282.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"> </a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3830187180/" title="IMG_3557.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2582/3830187180_f287d2c154_m.jpg" alt="IMG_3557.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3327691286/" title="DSCN0812.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3617/3327691286_152331988a_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="DSCN0812.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3327679572/" title="RIMG0034.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3327679572_173420955d.jpg" alt="RIMG0034.JPG" width="500" height="375" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3326822157/" title="IMG_2727.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3408/3326822157_1bfd24cd51_m.jpg" alt="IMG_2727.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3326822269/" title="IMG_2728.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3335/3326822269_d584073eb7_m.jpg" alt="IMG_2728.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3829356089/" title="IMG_4300.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/3829356089_e488f381a1_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4300.JPG" width="240" height="180" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3327696268/" title="DSCN0047.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3599/3327696268_2af2f80041_m.jpg" alt="DSCN0047.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a><br /> <br /><br />I considered some of the animal life of the area - fennec foxes and camels - but decided it felt kitsch.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3326840071/" title="IMG_4052.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3404/3326840071_0ec56a1df9_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4052.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3327673588/" title="DSCN1773.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3300/3327673588_3a6f05729f_m.jpg" alt="DSCN1773.JPG" width="240" height="180" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3829389347/" title="IMG_3549.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2630/3829389347_692b041276_m.jpg" alt="IMG_3549.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br />I had been mulling over it for sometime. I wanted to combine piecing and pictures, but the area and the tribes have no real patterning that is part of their history. I decided to use the kaleidoscope block as a swirling sky of sandstorm and the other side to be blue - so I could play with neutrals and the tinting of cream and colour in the same quilt.<br /><br />Then - someone pointed out that the entries for Canberra Quilters - my local guild - were due that Friday. Talk about panic!<br /><br />I drew what I had planned. Sort of. I sketched an idea of the colours that would be in it, and the patterning of the sky on a sheet of kaleidoscope blocks. It was too short in height and too wide in length, but I sent in an entry that looked a bit like this.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3830155492/" title="IMG_6229.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2450/3830155492_1b22a05bd3.jpg" alt="IMG_6229.JPG" width="500" height="333" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3830155236/" title="IMG_6230.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3478/3830155236_6fd4742e2f_m.jpg" alt="IMG_6230.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3830155360/" title="IMG_6231.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2597/3830155360_2d6ca4e679_m.jpg" alt="IMG_6231.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br /><br />I was embarrassed, but added a note that I would have no problem with being rejected. I also had three months to make the work and it felt a long way away at the time. They did not reject me, but I kept in touch to assure organisers that things were moving on the quilt.<br /><br />I spent a month on a swirling sky - that was too busy, too strongly coloured, too tightly controlled - too everything really. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/4972332695/" title="IMG_6274.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/4972332695_17927e6a1b.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_6274.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />I wasted that month as I junked the whole thing. More simplicity was called for. I was out at our small airport and saw a poster enticing people into a career in the army. On the helmet was a swirl of dust kicked up by a helicopter - and it was exactly the sort of movement I remembered from 'my' sandstorm. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting/4972333155/" title="IMG_7692.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/4972333155_a45d2aaea8_m.jpg" width="180" height="240" alt="IMG_7692.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting/4972333301/" title="IMG_7693.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4972333301_983410d9ee_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="IMG_7693.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I opted for squares on point.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting/4972941804/" title="IMG_7719.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/4972941804_cdf42652b4.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_7719.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Now I was truly under pressure. <br /><br />I elongated the view I had originally drawn of his body, combining several images in one composite to have the wind flipping his felted and braided vest. I worked on the background, and even that had to be radically simplified. The view was pulled in tighter and closer and I had lost some of the sense of awe-inspiring distance I had wanted, so had to push it a bit further away.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting/4972946604/" title="IMG_6279.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4105/4972946604_31c1803e81.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="IMG_6279.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I made Magdy's body and then his face, though it felt odd to be pushing a hot iron over his face as it started to feel like him.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting/4972946956/" title="IMG_7697.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/4972946956_bb28a16407.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_7697.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting/4972941444/" title="IMG_7716.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4105/4972941444_5a0305dc57.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_7716.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3830159880/" title="IMG_7727(2).JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2560/3830159880_1c246e6ca3.jpg" width="500" height="376" alt="IMG_7727(2).JPG" /></a><br /><br />The top<br /><br />I stitched everything down, and put a lot more information into his face with stitching. <br /><br />I started quilting with two weeks to go. I had intended to be clever, and include imagery of many things in the area in the quilting. In the end I calmed it down, adding only a few fossils in the border at the bottom. It is a simple place, and I risked losing the sense of peace - and the sense of place - that I felt in the quilt if I added too much that was distracting.<br /><br />I entered it as 'not for judging' but the committee pointed out that I could be judged for my category without being judged for best of show - and that sounded good. I won last year and am content with that. You never think you will win - or I do not - by the time the work is finished I am sick of it and it seems dull and boring.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3829361763/" title="Magdy Sand Storm 3.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2440/3829361763_a579a54fb8.jpg" width="500" height="430" alt="Magdy Sand Storm 3.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3829361983/" title="Magdy sand storm 4.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/3829361983_35828a4ac0.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Magdy sand storm 4.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I won my category. The final pictures are withheld as I want to enter the piece in others shows - possibly overseas. Some consider a personal blog a publication of sorts - so I am sorry - but wait a few more months.<br /><br />This will give a better idea of its size.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3830160108/" title="Magdy Quilt Show 2.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/3830160108_19b2009d0d.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Magdy Quilt Show 2.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />It fits absolutely in my current series of Egyptians that I admire for their calm acceptance of the life they are given, and their absolute competence in their chosen work. I did not name this one after Magdy as I am finding that people do not remember the men's names and cannot name the quilts - so it is Sandstorm over the White Desert. His name is written in a strip at the bottom.<br /><br />And small bit of private glee - it has been accepted into Houston!Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com51tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-22306970466264300212009-07-10T09:52:00.005+10:002009-07-10T10:00:58.525+10:00New Work - Hot Water - Dead SeaI have been working on a big piece which I cannot really show on my blog as I am hoping it will be exhibited - if I finish it in time.<br /><br />However - I recently made a smaller quilt for an exhibition in New Zealand on climate change - called A Change in the Weather. Mine is:<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;" ><b><span class="il">Hot</span> <span class="il">Water</span> - <span class="il">Dead</span> <span class="il">Sea</span><br /></b></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;" >$ 1600<br />150 cm x 50 cm<br /><br />At the waters of the <span class="il">sea</span> increase in temperature the <span class="il">sea</span> will become more acid. Corals and molluscs will be unable to form shells and the reefs will die. For a while at least, coelenterates like jelly fish will fill the seas.<br /><br />Cotton fabric, wool mix batting, layered appliqué, piecing.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3705807074/" title="Hot water dead sea IMG_6219.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3440/3705807074_ef4a9373d7_b.jpg" alt="Hot water dead sea IMG_6219.JPG" width="389" height="1024" /></a><br /><br />I do not often post things for sale - in fact I do not often even try to sell work as it is easier for me to sell classes and talks if I actually own most of it myself. I am a slow worker too. I seem to spend as much time thinking about the pieces as I do working on them.<br /><br />The crosses are inserted in the piecing like a memorial for the dead coral reef.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-84453956767603678372009-06-23T23:01:00.003+10:002009-06-23T23:53:35.752+10:00The Taj MahalThe sun was low in the sky as we arrived at the Taj Mahal. We came directly from the Red Fort of Agra, and I had been overwhelmed by it. I was worrying that the Taj could not live up to that mellow redness and the overwhelming patterning.<br /><br />We entered through a red archway amazingly reminiscent of the Red Fort. I guess that was hardly surprising when they were only about half a mile apart.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599932122/" title="IMG_5105.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/3599932122_8485b9dc1e_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5105.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br />And there it was - framed in the entrance.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599122083/" title="IMG_5108.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3599122083_e4b8d89777.jpg" alt="IMG_5108.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />I have a quilt in my mind that I will make one day. It is an image of the bits of the Mona Lisa that you can see when standing on your toes in the Louvre for that split second - and almost completely blocked by other people's heads. For just a moment here I thought that seeing the Taj Mahal could have a lot in common with seeing the Mona Lisa.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599122161/" title="IMG_5110.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3599122161_4130e5c525.jpg" alt="IMG_5110.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />We had a very clever guide who took us to the best places for photographs.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599126221/" title="IMG_5117.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3313/3599126221_85f97af7d4_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5117.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599133743/" title="IMG_5124.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3338/3599133743_9695a93989_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5124.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br />Framed in an archway and then through the trees - both were beautiful and as I was rushed from one point to another for compulsory photographs something of the peace and stillness of the building was creeping across the lawns at me. It seems to hover almost weightless above the water.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599943896/" title="IMG_5126.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3351/3599943896_a0a5e728aa.jpg" alt="IMG_5126.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br />As I took the final 'guide-directed image' I realised that the scale of it was quite different to what I had expected. From a distance the people seemed to disappear. The building really is not that big, but you can hardly see the crowds. There was an odd feeling of walking into a stage set. There is a petrol station on the way here from Delhi which has copied the Taj (with white paint and concrete instead of marble) and I kept thinking that this just was not real.<br /><br />I expected people to be still and quiet and reverential - it is, after all a tomb. It was built out of a huge love and standing and looking at it put a lump in my throat.<br /><br />The people however, were running around and posing for photographs, and calling to each other. The women have the advantage over men here. It is amazing that the peacock came from India and the male is so spectacular, the female so quietly dull. Here the women in their saris are glorious, and the men - well - they seem to wear western dress most of the time - even jeans in 37 degree heat.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599126399/" title="IMG_5119.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3585/3599126399_19bf2ce937.jpg" alt="IMG_5119.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />Looking along the colonnade on the entrance - one lady had just re-arranged her hair, and on a narrow bench in front of us a young woman in a soldier's uniform was apparently examining the ear of another young soldier. A young recently married couple were posing for photographs in beautiful costumes. I requested a photo but they refused. The young brides wear a traditional heavy set of bracelets for up to six months so it is obvious who is recently married. They looked wonderful. She wore richly embroidered and layered turquoise and jade, and was bejewelled with gold. He was elegant in a long tunic with a high collar and tight trousers in deep textured cream silk, with the pearly lustre of a really luxurious fabric.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599126399/" title="IMG_5119.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3585/3599126399_19bf2ce937.jpg" alt="IMG_5119.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599936168/" title="IMG_5116.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3382/3599936168_2bcc99a777.jpg" alt="IMG_5116.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />I realised that the most wonderful thing about having the pool in front of the building is not that it reflects, but because it provides a location where absolutely no-one can stand in front of you - hence the number of really perfect photos of the Taj.<br /><br />The patterning is stunning on the building itself - these are finely carved floral reliefs with exquisite inlay set into the marble above.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599236451/" title="IMG_5137.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3334/3599236451_9ffac1d420.jpg" alt="IMG_5137.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599238943/" title="IMG_5145.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3599238943_329aa0bca4.jpg" alt="IMG_5145.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599238765/" title="IMG_5143.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3387/3599238765_f94af6842c.jpg" alt="IMG_5143.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3600046514/" title="IMG_5141.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3406/3600046514_bb6fa841d3.jpg" alt="IMG_5141.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br />I was moved by the building but I have always liked people better.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599122223/" title="IMG_5112.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2459/3599122223_1de8897890_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5112.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599261449/" title="IMG_5190.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3396/3599261449_087ac0c0e8_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5190.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3600061404/" title="IMG_5179.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3626/3600061404_fbe6f2ac3e.jpg" alt="IMG_5179.JPG" width="399" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599242391/" title="IMG_5168.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3640/3599242391_15afbe243d_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5168.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3600066604/" title="IMG_5192.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3600066604_02d3d27405_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5192.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599126041/" title="IMG_5114.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2466/3599126041_dbd6b61368.jpg" alt="IMG_5114.JPG" width="345" height="500" /></a><br /><br />At this stage of the day I knew exactly why this lady had taken off her shoes. I would have sat with her but knew she would be able to get up again more easily than I would.<br /><br />The crowds were slowly clearing as the sun set as this is when the building closes. The view across the river was unbelievably still and silver as a mirror.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3600052058/" title="IMG_5154.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2474/3600052058_51850d185b.jpg" alt="IMG_5154.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599239115/" title="IMG_5153.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3351/3599239115_c68cee9f8b.jpg" alt="IMG_5153.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br />And as the sun dipped and the sky turned gold this little pavilion in the corner looked perfect against the sky. It seemed the perfect place to leave the day - with a sunset.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599242285/" title="IMG_5157.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2458/3599242285_3453998079.jpg" alt="IMG_5157.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a>Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-40939421707549523962009-06-06T22:17:00.006+10:002009-06-06T23:33:38.837+10:00Agra FortWe drove from Delhi to Agra. For me this was fascinating. The traffic felt much like Cairo's - cars weave and slice into different lanes with no warning and there were frequently up to seven lanes in areas marked for four. Unlike Cairo there were a lot more animals. In Cairo you get an occasional donkey cart. In India it was donkey carts, carts drawn by horses, even some carts drawn by cows. Then as we left Delhi there were even large carts pulled by camels - and I had never seen that before.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599763145/" title="IMG_4884.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/3599763145_020758ec72_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4884.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3599763237/" title="IMG_4881.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3561/3599763237_94fbcfbf4c_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4881.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br />There was a constant stream of interesting things to see - our maximum number of people on a motor bike was five but I actually think that was beaten by the man who had a small goat in his arms, two more wedged at his feet on his scooter, and one tied behind. Truck after truck passed filled with groups of women in gorgeous saris - and they seemed to travel quite often with a sari pulled across their faces - I am not sure if that was modesty or sun protection. Fair skin is highly valued in this country.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3600574680/" title="IMG_4883.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3629/3600574680_4fc029cb60_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4883.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3600574768/" title="IMG_4892.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3635/3600574768_9aa576508c_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4892.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br />We planned to see Agra Fort in the afternoon and as we were earlier than we expected and trying to fit more into our time than my tour will (we had eleven days to do what they will do in eighteen) we decided to see Agra Fort and then to go straight over to the Taj Mahal.<br /><br />Our hotel was gorgeous, very much a relic of the British occupation.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479268235/" title="IMG_5004.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3413/3479268235_75e8a72e5c_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_5004.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3600687456/" title="IMG_5003.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3408/3600687456_fb172473a2_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="IMG_5003.JPG" /></a><br /><br />We settled our gear, ate and went straight to Agra Fort.<br /><br />I knew it would be red. I had seen a similar red sandstone building in Delhi and been a bit disappointed that we would not actually look at it but I had been assured that Agra was better.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597326573/" title="IMG_5007.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3662/3597326573_0b4d719006.jpg" alt="IMG_5007.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br />I had never realised how red it would be. The sandstone from a distance was a dark terracotta, pinkish where the sun hit it. But once across the drawbridge and inside the fort the high red walls towered above our heads and wrapped us in warmth. It is rich and dark and curiously soft and comforting - like being wrapped in soft rich velvet. It is so easy on the eyes - like looking at smooth suede. It is a seductive colour and as we walked into the long ramp that took us up to the main door I was shivery with excitement.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597327985/" title="IMG_5020.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3657/3597327985_6f45894847.jpg" alt="IMG_5020.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598134434/" title="IMG_5014.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/3598134434_97dd63d9f5.jpg" alt="IMG_5014.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />The main entrance was magnificently inlaid - and I warn anyone not into patterning that you had better stop reading right now. This post will have a lot of patterning.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597327873/" title="IMG_5018.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3621/3597327873_5a6e080bd4.jpg" alt="IMG_5018.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />The only warning Bob had given me as I left was that I was not to pat monkeys. Well - he went on to add "or dogs, or cats or any animal." Monkeys were everywhere.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598138936/" title="IMG_5026.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2439/3598138936_0cb105758d.jpg" alt="IMG_5026.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598141544/" title="IMG_5031.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3625/3598141544_6a99b2d45c.jpg" alt="IMG_5031.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />We were told that these platforms - which were well above our heads - were for passengers to load onto elephants, and that the howdah would reach to this level.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597334051/" title="IMG_5033.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3629/3597334051_5248485102.jpg" alt="IMG_5033.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598141724/" title="IMG_5034.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3598141724_a025a06b86.jpg" alt="IMG_5034.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597342637/" title="IMG_5040.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3623/3597342637_a07fd29f51_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5040.JPG" width="201" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598150326/" title="IMG_5042.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3598150326_24c27266cc_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5042.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598150486/" title="IMG_5044.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3304/3598150486_0e07062185_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5044.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597347097/" title="IMG_5048.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/3597347097_107b3a0fe1_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5048.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br />I did not expect to be moved by gardens in India but the original formal patchwork layouts with sandstone edges were unexpected, and they are beautifully maintained.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598150596/" title="IMG_5046.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3598150596_931a49e859_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5046.JPG" width="178" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598154942/" title="IMG_5052.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2462/3598154942_ef93d41efb_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5052.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598155140/" title="IMG_5054.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3598155140_98ceab8037.jpg" alt="IMG_5054.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />Every door was different. Every surface had patterns somewhere. I was intrigued and starting to take so many photographs that I worried that I might not have enough left for the Taj Mahal.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598157770/" title="IMG_5055.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3297/3598157770_f9b2a11ce4_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5055.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a>which was just across the way.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597350025/" title="IMG_5056.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3642/3597350025_c0355de473_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5056.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598158000/" title="IMG_5057.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3635/3598158000_290c85ed5c_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5057.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598161038/" title="IMG_5062.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3598161038_e361866874_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5062.JPG" width="172" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597356255/" title="IMG_5065.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/3597356255_eb7b56dfc1_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5065.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597359007/" title="IMG_5075.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3597359007_6d4a4b3111.jpg" alt="IMG_5075.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598169558/" title="IMG_5078.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/3598169558_eea308624b_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5078.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598169658/" title="IMG_5079.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3598169658_9cd8f86055_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5079.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597366515/" title="IMG_5083.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2424/3597366515_6f5a34c079_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5083.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597362079/" title="IMG_5082.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3597362079_bbd3c35287_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5082.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3598174404/" title="IMG_5085.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3385/3598174404_386b7eb759.jpg" alt="IMG_5085.JPG" width="342" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597366761/" title="IMG_5089.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3597366761_21e01bba31.jpg" alt="IMG_5089.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597368893/" title="IMG_5095.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/3597368893_47ac814feb_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5095.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597368993/" title="IMG_5096.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2427/3597368993_4e4212d6a1_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5096.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3597369131/" title="IMG_5097.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3363/3597369131_78f8351d87.jpg" alt="IMG_5097.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />If all of this does not have quilters reaching for their pencils I will be surprised.<br /><br />I mentioned a tour in the last post. I will be leading a tour to India in October. It is a time when it is cool. You can watch this blog for the next few weeks as I attempt to blog the things I saw, and if you are interested in coming please contact me. If you click on my website link there is an email link on that. It is a textile oriented tour, but there are things in India that should not be missed and we will see a lot of these as well. It is a small group - I take sixteen to twenty.<br /><br />I did not expect to be drawn to this country - and I was. Come with me and see why.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-55624017845856742772009-06-04T18:41:00.006+10:002009-06-06T23:29:07.376+10:00Textile Tripping through Brilliant IndiaI have been to India.<br /><br />It is the most incredible country. I had not realised how superb the colours could possibly be - but women wear such amazing combinations. Hot raspberry with rich chartreuse, emerald and scarlet, turquoise with jade and ultramarine, they move like brilliant butterflies through the streets of the cities, walking the roads of the countryside, and even packed into the backs of trucks.<br /><br />I could not have expected the beauty of old buildings. I knew about the Taj Mahal but had no idea that only across a bend in the river, The Agra Fort is just as stunning - different and rich and beautiful - and flickering between inlaid marbles and the incredible dark red sandstone.<br /><br />Textiles were breathtaking and there will be separate postings about some of the things we saw.<br /><br />I had expected dirt and filth and did not really see this at all. Perhaps it is just that I was comparing to Cairo but it did not seem more than crowded and a bit untidy.<br /><br />I had expected wonderful food and it was absolutely superb.<br /><br />I had expected some level of disorganisation simply because I think of India as a third world country and it was a stupid assumption. Instead it was superbly organised and we were tenderly handed from one Thomas Cook organiser to another. Guides were excellent and sophisticated and urbane.<br /><br />I had expected heat - and it was unbelievably hot. At times the air shimmered with heat. In the north it was still bearable but we went through gallons of water. In the South it was a steam bath.<br /><br />However - the tour we will take there will go in October when it will be like a Sydney Summer. When you see cheap trips to India be very suspicious and check the dates - they are probably making use of low rates in the hot season or during monsoon - both impossible. One is just hot, the other very hot and wet as well.<br /><br />Enough talk. I thought I would post some photographs of two locations where we looked at Dhurrie factories being made. These were not the sort of tidied-up-for-tourism places I had expected. In some ways both were poor and in poor villages. I had thought there would be more in the way of bright cotton dhurries of the sort sold in Australian rug shops - but instead there was a huge range of different rugs.<br /><br />The images that follow were taken in two different locations - one a factory on the road to Agra, and one in the village that sprawled below Fatepur Sikri - a deserted city that creeps across the hills. We will only go to one location on the tour as time will not allow both - but I thought you might enjoy the pictures.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480052558/" title="IMG_4919.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3480052558_a8a0d93cd3_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4919.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480052672/" title="IMG_4921.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/3480052672_7d5803a1b4_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4921.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480052786/" title="IMG_4927.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3411/3480052786_49e6f160fa.jpg" alt="IMG_4927.JPG" width="320" height="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480059428/" title="IMG_4940.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3659/3480059428_51f689b097.jpg" alt="IMG_4940.JPG" width="320" height="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480059536/" title="IMG_4944.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/3480059536_37a224d7bb_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4944.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480065294/" title="IMG_4945.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3325/3480065294_35f5d26b36.jpg" alt="IMG_4945.JPG" width="320" height="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479258235/" title="IMG_4974.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3327/3479258235_78231bd659.jpg" alt="IMG_4974.JPG" width="381" height="480" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479288449/" title="IMG_5298.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3249/3479288449_6d569f366d.jpg" alt="IMG_5298.JPG" width="480" height="320" /></a><br />The rag fields - dyed fabrics are stretched out to dry and then piled in great heaps. Most were cotton t-shirting.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479288679/" title="IMG_5303.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3479288679_66c4282ba5_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5303.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479288811/" title="IMG_5313.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3479288811_f3ab5c87dc_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5313.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479294333/" title="IMG_5316.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3655/3479294333_3aefda23be.jpg" alt="IMG_5316.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479294215/" title="IMG_5314.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3411/3479294215_d7a1a69f77.jpg" alt="IMG_5314.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480106602/" title="IMG_5318.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3314/3480106602_ee50ca5a6e.jpg" alt="IMG_5318.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479300125/" title="IMG_5324.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3589/3479300125_2e359beae6_o.jpg" alt="IMG_5324.JPG" width="640" height="300" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480114810/" title="IMG_5325.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3405/3480114810_a1bb43ee02_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5325.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480115054/" title="IMG_5326.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3416/3480115054_93ff562702_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5326.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479311121/" title="IMG_5340.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3605/3479311121_e9602de6a2_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5340.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480118660/" title="IMG_5344.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/3480118660_ce85f9a638_m.jpg" alt="IMG_5344.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3479319525/" title="IMG_5351.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3611/3479319525_caf8c770ec.jpg" alt="IMG_5351.JPG" width="368" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3480126980/" title="IMG_5352.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3411/3480126980_43ffb20696.jpg" alt="IMG_5352.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />That is it for now.<br /><br />Sometimes I think I should have simply called this a photography tour. It is almost impossible to take a bad photo in India - and by now you can see why I was raving.<br /><br />Namaste.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-90842415669330139352009-03-10T19:46:00.003+11:002009-03-10T20:50:52.455+11:00As Promised - New Finished WorkThere are three stories and I am going to tell them - bear with me as the quilts are only intended to be the tip of the iceberg, a memento.<br /><br />Collections<br />Jenny Bowker<br /><br />My pieces for Collections started as work based on the things I own, and in these quilts I have featured things from Egypt.<br /><br />I love my cluttered home, and every object has a story. Each is a starting point- it evokes a memory of people or places, maybe one specific time, or a long period of multiple visits. As I made the work it became important to include some of the people I loved in the city<br />of Cairo.<br /><br />Hassan and the Glass<br /><br />Hassan blows glass in a tiny room in the centre of a square opposite the Qaitbey Mosque in the City of the Dead in Cairo.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343950244/" title="IMG_0764.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3377/3343950244_6f5174d59c.jpg" alt="IMG_0764.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br />The room is overwhelmingly hot, even in Winter, and shelves around the room are packed with bright treasures. Colours are so vivid that they seem to trap the fire inside the glass. I went there often and each time I would buy some small pieces.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343950188/" title="IMG_0755.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3343950188_f0e6638de2.jpg" alt="IMG_0755.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343116671/" title="IMG_0765.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3630/3343116671_db8f84c550.jpg" alt="IMG_0765.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br />I wanted some sense of the ordered ranks of jewel-like glass in its silhouetted shapes, and the incredible heat of the room and that Hassan continually worked with. I worried that the quilt was too rigid as I started the racks of glass, but it seemed to improve as I started free-cutting elements of fire.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343933696/" title="Jenny Bowker_1216.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3537/3343933696_49242581ea.jpg" alt="Jenny Bowker_1216.jpg" width="339" height="500" /></a><br /><br />I noticed that as he started to work with the molten glass, he focussed and became intent. I wanted that concentration and I wanted his face to be really strong.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343116725/" title="IMG_0768.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3539/3343116725_106f8540b2.jpg" alt="IMG_0768.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343100519/" title="Jenny Bowker_1218.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3383/3343100519_2a6dbc4779.jpg" alt="Jenny Bowker_1218.jpg" width="500" height="355" /></a><br /><br /><br />Ittayer - The Friday Market in the City of the Dead<br /><br />Ittayer has a junk stall in the City of the Dead. It is not tidy - it<br />is grotty and cluttered and he rarely has things I actually wanted to<br />buy. He has a wonderful welcoming smile. I have a collection of old<br />keys, and a few locks, and hamzas - the hand-shaped protection against<br />the Jealous Eye.<br /><br />I do not actually have an image of his stall - but I am using bits and pieces from many places.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343959956/" title="IMG_3207.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3343959956_8f3fa99b09_m.jpg" alt="IMG_3207.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343957754/" title="IMG_2711.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3343957754_7feb9cf47d_m.jpg" alt="IMG_2711.JPG" width="240" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343959666/" title="IMG_3186.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3592/3343959666_9756f83e39_m.jpg" alt="IMG_3186.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343124565/" title="IMG_2720.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3379/3343124565_49e3c2b025_m.jpg" alt="IMG_2720.JPG" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br />He has a marvelous relaxed smile and a joyous attitude yet he lives in one of the hardest places in Cairo.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343126399/" title="IMG_3202.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3571/3343126399_75d3352aa5.jpg" alt="IMG_3202.JPG" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /><br />He usually sells metals and I have found some treasures over the years.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343099803/" title="Jenny Bowker_1297.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3579/3343099803_ac33c94d5a.jpg" alt="Jenny Bowker_1297.jpg" width="328" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343100621/" title="Jenny Bowker_1219.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3343100621_191235b076.jpg" alt="Jenny Bowker_1219.jpg" width="329" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><br />Abu Ali and the Gilded Chairs<br /><br />Abu Ali is usually strikingly dressed in black and white in the area<br />where he carves and sells chairs.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343943032/" title="IMG_6202.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3404/3343943032_0cf5e8a26b.jpg" alt="IMG_6202.JPG" width="375" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343954582/" title="IMG_3309.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3655/3343954582_e61f29b473.jpg" alt="IMG_3309.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />He is guaranteed a living as this is one thing even the most wealthy Egyptians will spend money on. The chairs are gilded and covered in elaborate fabrics, silks and satins and flocked velvets. It is so strange to walk in the tiny overcrowded streets of the furniture areas and see, among the dirt, these chair frames gilded and glowing.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343954638/" title="IMG_7171.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/3343954638_e983744bea.jpg" alt="IMG_7171.JPG" width="377" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343954520/" title="IMG_3276.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3573/3343954520_a136737da9.jpg" alt="IMG_3276.JPG" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /><br />On this day I had arrived to bring him some photographs and found that<br />he was not well. The escort I gathered in asking for him took me to<br />his window and I handed up the photos. He was moved and thrilled to<br />get them, and this is when I took this photograph.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343112017/" title="DSCN2083.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3586/3343112017_0fc5a33f92.jpg" alt="DSCN2083.JPG" width="375" height="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343945518/" title="DSCN2081.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/3343945518_f1c7316da1.jpg" alt="DSCN2081.JPG" width="500" height="375" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343945454/" title="DSCN2082.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/3343945454_9bdc78168a_m.jpg" alt="DSCN2082.JPG" width="180" height="240" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343100571/" title="Jenny Bowker_1213.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/3343100571_d319e74fd4_m.jpg" alt="Jenny Bowker_1213.jpg" width="160" height="240" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3343933636/" title="Jenny Bowker_1205.jpg by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/3343933636_54cb1dcb8e.jpg" alt="Jenny Bowker_1205.jpg" width="500" height="464" /></a><br /><br />Now you know what I have been doing for the last few months. I have been missing Egypt and have been working my fingers off trying to re-create some elements in my house.<br /><br />I decided to blog these when I realised that none can really be competitive in the States. All are committed to the Collections for two years of travel. By then they are just too old for Houston and many large shows in the US.<br /><br />So - you might as well see them.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"><br /></span>Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-10746228098679967232009-03-09T17:34:00.002+11:002009-03-09T17:46:27.692+11:00Thanks from AliceAlice has sent me a letter to put up for everyone. At the last count she had about 120 parcels. I will let her tell you.<br /><br />This is her letter.<br /><br />To Jenny and Scquilters and Friends,<br /><br />We are presently renting a two bedroom house in Buxton (our own home having been destroyed by fire). The second bedroom is bursting at the seams with quilting fabrics and quilting accoutrements, everything from pins and needles to cutting boards, coffee cups and crayons. The room is overflowing, my heart is soothed and delighted by your kindness and notes of comfort and both Jan and I are overwhelmed by the gifts and your outpouring of care and concern.<br /><br />Jan is still taking delivery of the parcels, and very kindly records each giver's name and gifts. I feel quite unable to reply to each so I am hoping all the girls in America, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, and England who have sent parcels will read this and know my thanks are plentiful and sincere.<br /><br />My next task (when I finish unpacking) is to find a venue and invite interested quilters to come and partake of these gifts. We are hoping to be given space at the Marysville Golf Course, the clubhouse has been converted to a centre for community reconstruction.<br /><br />Today I will send to "The Triangle News" a news item coving the story of your generosity hoping it will reach all the quilters and 'would-be' quilters in this area so devastated by the fires.<br /><br />With much love and gratitude to Jenny and all who responded so warmly.<br /><br />Alice, Buxton.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-37281984293042090442009-02-28T07:19:00.002+11:002009-02-28T07:27:01.585+11:00Alice and thanks, and a new pieceAlice has so far received a massive EIGHTY parcels. She is utterly blown away by your kindness and all the notes - you are just extraordinary people.<br /><br />Thank you.<br /><br />I have news too. I put an entry into the Bernina Friends competition for an 830 - and the CEO of Bernina International, Mr Claude Dreyer, has bought it before the judging.<br /><br />I am so thrilled.<br /><br />Below is the blurb,and some images.<br /><br /><br />You can make Anything on a Bernina - or Anywhere, or Anyone.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3314830910/" title="IMG_7391.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3344/3314830910_0b7deee8a3.jpg" width="500" height="424" alt="IMG_7391.JPG" /></a><br /><br />This is Mohamed Sa'ad in Cairo, Egypt. He is the caretaker of the<br />Mosque where he used to do the call to prayer as a muezzin. His voice<br />wore out and the<br />mosque is under repair and so he lives here with his wife and<br />daughter. The door behind him is stunning - dark wood and ornate<br />bronze and silver.<br /><br />I wanted to make something special for Bernina as I owe them an<br />enormous debt of gratitude for help and support over the years. They<br />have lent me machines in locations all over the world - they have<br />flown me to classes all over the world. They even delivered a machine<br />to a hospital hostel for me when my daughter was badly burnt and I had<br />a quilting deadline.<br /><br />I wanted something in my style as requested - and that was hard as my<br />style is pictorial and representational. I wanted something to<br />fascinate and hold people's gaze, and to pull them in for a closer<br />look. I wanted something with a different technique - the sort of<br />technique that might make people wonder how it was done. The 8 as a<br />theme was a problem and I am aware that I have not made this a theme<br />in the way that others will - but the stone walls have red numbers on<br />them for the buildings and though the mosque did not have a number -<br />it does now!<br /><br />The quilt is made with cottons, some commercial and a few hand dyed,<br />the batting is Matilda's Own Wool Mix Batting, I used Mettler and<br />Signature threads, and silver foiled jersey.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3314007593/" title="IMG_7395.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/3314007593_57ece1b9ae.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_7395.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennybowker/3314831288/" title="IMG_7394.JPG by jennybowker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3481/3314831288_01aa8993bb.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_7394.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />Jenny BowkerJenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10298014.post-34154325831445653982009-02-12T10:54:00.002+11:002009-02-12T11:20:54.160+11:00Firestorm in VictoriaI have just been on the phone.<br /><br />First - I need to give a bit of background story. A very long time ago my mother remarried. I was grown and married, and so were my new stepfather's children, but our families met from time to time and I am fond of my step brothers and sisters.<br /><br />Alice and her husband moved to a delightful wooded area in the hills of Buxton in Victoria. I am not giving their full names - Alice is proud and would not like to feel as if she was being given charity. <br /><br />They set up fire systems, and as fires moved towards them they were ready to stay with their house to fight for it. It was the advice of a neighbour - a man who had a lot of bushfire experience - which made them move. He had cleared fields around his house where Alice and her husband had lots of tall trees - and he said they should get out as they would not have a hope of saving it.<br /><br />They threw a few things into the car and headed for Marysville.<br /><br />Now all Australians know that that town no longer exists. All but fifteen houses burnt to the ground. There are terrible and terrifying stories of bodies found and perhaps 100 people died there.<br /><br />Alice and her husband realised that the town was unsafe - it was being evacuated - and drove just ahead of the fire to Alexandra to the next evacuation point.<br /><br />It was days before they could get back to Buxton to see if they had a house - and everything was gone. Their tool shed is there so they have garden tools and a lawnmower - but no garden and no lawn.<br /><br />Alice had started quilting quite recently - and the beautiful blue quilt she was making for her daughter has gone.<br /><br />They have been offered some temporary accommodation and I am going to send her a machine I can spare at the moment, a rotary cutter and a ruler and mat. What she needs most is activity. I know how calming and fulfilling quilting can be - so I want to try to replace her fabrics so she can work on a quilt. <br /><br />She was working in all shades of blues and pastels. My idea was to ask if my readers could spare a piece of fabric from their stashes to send it to her.<br /><br />I would not post something like this without permission so I spoke to Jan, her sister in law and my other step-sister who is in contact with her.<br /><br />Alice was thrilled with the idea. She does not want to feel like a charity so I am not asking for goods or clothes - only fabric and perhaps some quilt magazines with patterns. Her idea is that if she gets the offered house in Buxton she will start a group for the women there - and if she has some fabric she can share this with others. This means that all colours will be very welcome. I was really touched that she would immediately think of a way to share whatever might be sent.<br /><br />At the moment she does not have an address so Jan is offering to receive packets for her and will take them to her as soon as she has a place to live.<br /><br />The address is:<br /><br />For Alice,<br />c/o Jan Stinear,<br />76 Prince Street,<br />Mornington,<br />Victoria 3931<br />Australia<br /><br />Please be generous and send her a fat quarter or a nice piece of fabric - I love the idea of a phoenix quilt group, rising from the ashes.Jenny Bowkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17450267765291076259noreply@blogger.com39