Thank you for the nice words about my new ‘do’. I’m rather pleased with the second cut. I jinxed myself with the weather though, it’s been cold and wet (really cold) since I posted about ‘T-shirt weather’. I find winter very hard here, mostly because every time I drive in the car I feel helpless and just want to cry, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the poverty and homelessness that is so visible, and contrasts so strongly with the extreme wealth that is around. I don’t talk much about these sorts of things because I don’t want people to think I’m criticizing. I know I’m very much a foreigner here, and that the country has made great strides in the last few years, but winter leaves me feeling like I should do more, I just don’t know what.
Ok, on to other things. One of the good things to come out of the whole guild trauma is that I’ve made a couple of lovely friends. One of them, F, is fabulous. She is a prolific quilter and does the most amazing things with scraps, I mean tiny scraps!
Last week I visited her for a sewing day – I love sewing at her place, she lives in an apartment overlooking the ocean and it’s so peaceful. Anyway, F had told me that she had been sewing together some blocks for me as her leaders and enders.
She started with the centre squares at 1 inch cut, none of the strips are wider than one and a quarter inches!! I was floored. They are just stunning and all from fabric that most people would place in the rubbish bin as being too small to work with. I’m going to be setting them square in a square with a plain white fabric then I’ll lay them out and see what’s next. Aren’t they awesome?!
These are not the smallest stuff that F works with either, she does foundation piecing of the tiniest scraps you could imagine, into crazy patchwork and then stitches onto them with a magnifying glass and gold thread. I’ve asked permission to come back with a camera to take pictures to show you and it has been granted. Ironically, F has the largest stash of anyone I know. She has more fabric in her apartment than some of our local quilt store owners have in their shops, I’ve told her if she keeps working with her tiny scraps she’ll never get to the good stuff that she’s been buying š
F also dropped off some quilts today for the quiltathon (yes we have completed quilts before the day – they do things very differently here) I’ll take some pictures outside when the weather is better. Again, they are scrap quilts with centres made of tiny, tiny pieces.
Life has been a bit crazy here the last few weeks, and blogging and blog reading have suffered, which makes me very sad, but I can’t spend all of my off hours in front of the computer. I’ve managed to fit in some sewing though. I’m working on a mat to go under the laptop and sewing machine, it’s all made out of scraps. It was to be unveiled at the scrap challenge for the guild in November, but since the September meeting will be my last one I’m trying to at least get the top done by Monday. I’ve also been working on the quilt for Araminta, I screwed up with the sashing though and will need to unpick and trim it – I tried to ease it to fit and it got very wavy…
Well I’ve got half an hour before I have to go back to work. Hopefully the kidlet will stay asleep long enough for me to peruse a few more blogs.
Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.
Ruth
Hello Ruth,
Your blocks are lovely!
Kind regards
Sonnja & Beertje Zonn
The blocks are very nice! I would like to email you about the poverty you mentioned. Would that be ok?
I love those blocks! What a wonderful lfriend!
It’s great to have a quilter friend that inspires you; I think she likes the challenge of working with small pieces. At first glance you think the blocks are at least 8 inches in size but then I looked at the ruler in the pic and realized how small they are! Wow-wee….You’ll have fun putting them together :^)
Gorgeous blocks – just love those colours!
I feel the same way when I go home. Breaks my heart. My mother thinks I’m criticizing, but I’m so not, I just feel overwhelmed, incredibly blessed to be born into my family and desperately sad that not everyone is the same…
Does anyone out there make quilts for the poor, or donate used clothing, household items, and food? I don’t know your situation down there, or what is done for them, so please don’t feel offended by my question. None intended….
Here we have -30 to -40 Celsius, and we donate gently used winter clothing and food for the homeless. We make utility quilts to donate to battered womens shelters, and baby/children’s quilts for sick kids in the hospital, cancer care, and such.
It is incrediblely shocking the contrast between the poor and middle class/rich, in South Africa. I hate the drive from the airport when I go to Cape Town, because of the v large camp on the side of the highway. I think a lot of S. Africans do a fair amount of donating. But the problem is almost beyond mere donating. And it doesn’t help that we have such a high HIV/AIDS problem, leaving so many children orphaned. So the poor get poorer. It is an overwhelming issue. My motto is – One starfish at a time. In the blind hope that might help.
PS. GG is beautiful. She has such a lovely, happy smile.
My fear of my own reaction to the drastic difference between poor and well off in SA is what preventing me from contemplating living there. And yet like you I’m not sure what can be done to make things better.
I’m glad you made a new very creative friend. Hope the end of winter will bring more positivity into your life.
Oh, your new hair looks so cute! Good for you that you did something about it and got something you like better. I just recently got my hair cut, it was the first time I went to a professional in the more than two years I’ve been in New York. I did get my hair cut a year ago June by my normal stylist in LA when I was there visiting my son, but other than that I had hacked away at my own hair from time to time, waiting to get an idea of someone to go to here.
My problem is that I can’t stand to have my hair cut in a way that looks middle aged or matronly at all. Finally I saw an ad on TV for a place about an hour from here that seemed to reflect the kind of style I could live with.
I’ve been very happy with my cut, and my husband even said he likes it and tossled my hair a bit … then I knew I liked the salon I chose.
Anyway, the quilting looks awesome. Your friend F seems very amazing. The baby is looking completely beautifully cute and adorable.
Best to you all,
firefly
I love those patched blocks.
I love your little bitty pieces that you’re quilting with.
I so sympathize with ‘spending all your time in front of the computer’. It was great to be unplugged (mostly) for a whole week!!
I love using all my leftover strips and strings for quilts but I’m always amazed when I see someone working on a small scale.
To try and catch up in one comment… the tiny blocks are amazing, as are all F’s quilts above. Sorry the quilt guild turned out to be such drama, and my goodness, GG is stunning! I can’t believe she’s standing already!