Valerie Hearder on the art and soul of quilting

Bamboo bandwagon

. Many quilters are concerned that cotton cultivation uses the greatest amounts of chemicals of almost any crop. So I was relieved when I saw new environmentally sensitive batt products appearing:Pale green colored batting from Quilter's Dream,which is made from shredded 7-Up pop bottles, and also bamboo batting. I decided to investigate bamboo a little more. 

Bamboo is the new sweetheart of fashion, gorgeous drape and feel and we can feel good about it’s “green” credentials. Bamboo is good for the environment, were told. But is it all good news? Scratch the surface and it turns out there are dark problems. I recently came across this excellent information resource for organic clothing and cloth:

http://organicclothing.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/09/bamboo-facts-be.html

I recommend that you check out this site and become more informed about organic cotton vs. bamboo. The skinny is:

Bamboo is a very good thing for the environment to cultivate, but the process for turn it into fibre is exactly the same harsh chemical process used to turn woodchips into viscose for rayon. It’s this secondary process that is very harmful to the people who work in the factories and the environment where the chemicals get dumped. I’m sticking with organic cotton batting which has been my favourite for about 15 years. But guess what? Hobbs is phasing it out due to low demand. So better snap it up while you can. When organic cotton batt is no longer available, I’ll be switching to my other favourite batt that’s always been in fashion: pure, renewable, environmentally friendly wool!

 

 

The Weight of Their Stitches

My friend Bonnie Samuel asked me to write a guest blog for http://bonniesamueldesigns.com/blog/

/on my 6 weeks with women's sewing groups in South Africa. I've talked about it here but I thought you'd like to read about some of the powerful experiences that I had. Heart-warming and heart wrenching expereinces as I saw the effects of the Tsunami of HIV/AIDS. Read how women are using sewing skills to stitch body and soul together. The needle is literally saving their lives.

Embroidery Threads

I squished this enormous pile of embroidery threads into a large suitcase and carried them to South Africa; gifting them to the women I met. About 2 years ago packages of threads started arriving in the mail when word got out that I was taking threads to women’s groups in South Africa. When I gave talks, women brought bags of threads they no longer wanted and often donated brand new bags of floss. Margaret de Carvalho of the Mother’s Union heard my talk about African Threads and determined that the Mother’s Union was going to “fill a hockey bag” of threads for the African stitchers. Gulp! That’s a lot of thread! Margaret put out the word and a deluge of threads arrived from as far away as Ontario.

 

What a pleasure to give the threads directly to the stitchers in 5 different embroidery groups in S.A. Mapula, which means Mother of Rain, is one of the embroidery groups I visited. They were founded about 14 years ago and it’s a vital economic source for about 145 women in the rural Winterveld area north of Pretoria. Their embroidered hangings have become collector items.

Here I am with some of the Mapula Embroiderers.

 

Group of the Mapula Embroiderers in front of one of their wonderful painted Winterveld houses. 

Here’s a sampling of beaded ceremonial and initiation dolls from the ‘Ndebele people that I now have available through African Threads. You can find more works on my Etsy Site.

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Wonderful Wooly Retreats on spinning, dyeing, felting workshop s in the heart of Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia on the beautiful Watershed Organic Farm. Workshops start on 31 July. Treat yourself to exquisite organic food, textiles and friends. Run by Pollination Project.  There’ll be more interesting workshops from this group so I’ve put a permanent link in the sidebar for this group.

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Be sure to visit  the delightful new web site of Margi Hennen – doll maker, wise-woman and humorist.  I just love these dolls! this one is titled John Lennon Lives on in Maria's Heart.

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Our on-line landscape group has grown to almost 300. There is a very active landscape postcard exchange. Small groups sign up to exchange cards and goodness… the beautiful cards they make are truly inspiring! We also have a stash-building fabric noodle exchange, landscape challenges and a lovely exchange of support and ideas. Come on over! We’d love to have you join us and check out our abundant photo albums for landscape inspiration. See the link in the side bar.

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 Beyond the Horizon – Small Landscape Appliqué, my long out of print book is now available as an e-book download from C&T publishing. There have been many calls for it to be reprinted and now you can have your own copy for the reasonable price o $14.99.  It can be ordered through the “buy now” affiliate button in the left side bar or on my home page. 

Mapula Cloth by Elizabeth Mogano

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Mapula Cloth by Elizabeth Mogan
Originally uploaded by African Threads

I've just returned from 6 weeks in South Africa. It was a truly rich and fascinating time. Veryan and I visited 9 women's groups in various parts of S.Africa including the group called Mapula which means "Mother of Rain". I'll be posting more stories from my travels and what I learned by talking with women in South Africa: how they deal with their poverty, their courage and optimism and how the work of their needle keeps them and their families going.

I'll let you know when I've updated my Flickr site so you can see more wonderful folk art available through African Threads.

Granny's Overwhelmed

I received a shipment of wall hangings from KwaZulu Natal just before Christmas. This one is made by Sheila Msimbi and depicts a Grandmother with many grandchildren to look after: they're jumping, climbing and hiding from her. This small tapestry illustrates exactly why the Grandmother-to-Grandmothers Campaign was founded: to support these un-sung heros who care for the millions of HIV/AIDS orphans. While the bright colors and folk art deisgn of this tapesty is joyful, the truth is that Grandmothers are truly overwhelmed by poverty, ill health and so many mouths to feed.

Granny's Overwhelmed  12" x 14.5" Hand embroidery, appliqué, cotton.
Sheila supports 12 people with her stitchery.

My trusty, rusty sewing machine

Well ... it's not really trusty! I found this treasure washed up on the beach in La Have, Nova Scotia and simply had to bring it home. I photographed it with  luscious organic silk squares from Thailand that I bought from Tammachat a small fair trade  business that buys 100% pure silk
textiles from women's groups.  Ellen and Alleson, who live here in Nova Scotia, spend 4 months a year working closely with the spinner and weavers in Thailand and Laos.

What is truly unique about these silks is that they are all dyed with natural dyes from local plants that the women gather in a traditional and sustainable way.  Buying their work keeps traditional practices of organic silkworm farming  and natural dyes alive and sustains the women in their communities so they don't have to go to the cities to work, thus loosing traditional weaving skills.

Here is an example of the natural dyed silks used in a small  art quilt by Laurie Swim. what I adore about these silks is the range of color and texture - the most subtle to vivid.
Tammachat  has an Etsy shop  where you can buy sampler quilt squares. Or vist the Tammachat
on-line store you'll  love the range of exqusite scarves and shawls!

So that covers Nova Scotia, Thailand and Laos, let's see what's up in dear old England.





 Helen Cowans lives in the UK and has started writing this fabulous blog about the history of embroidery - holy moly, talk about not being daunted by a big task! Helen will post each weekend and you can sign up and follow along and learn a lot of fascinating history. Helen starts at 900AD and provides books and links to find out more.This will be a fabulous blog to follow and learn a lot about history.
And, if you're intersted in contemporary British embroidery I recommend visiting the Embroiderers Guild for inspiration. I particularly like to check out the links on this site.

Being part of the Commonwealth, we Canadians love to see what the Royals are  doing particularly when it's quilt related! Visit this wonderful video** Royals stay in new Welsh home **Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are stayed for the first time in their Welsh home during the royal couple's summer tour. Their wonderful Welsh farmhouse has been beautifully appointed with antique Welsh quilts.

As you can see from the links in the sidebars, I'm now part of Facebook and I hope you'll join me there. I've also started a brand new blog about the art, stories and issues facing women in South Africa. Importing these fascinating textiles is a major passion for me. I'm planning a trip to South Africa in April to both teach and visit the women I buy embroideries from.

 My most heartfelt wishes for a peaceful, healthful 2009 to you all!

Quilter's Dessert Party

What cakes would "Piece O'Cake" quilt designers make? What does Darlene Christopherson bake to win her son-in-law's heart? Do you want to make Rum Balls like Lorraine Torrence or Pavlova like CBC radio's Shelagh Rogers? Find out in this exceptional dessert book.

My guild, the Mahone Bay Quilters Guild, produced this recipe book based on our annual "Dessert with an Extraordinary Quilter" event where we invite a fabulous speaker and have tables laden with scrumptious desserts. We decided to invite extraordinary quilters from all over to submit their favourite desserts for this book.

Ami Simms sent her Grandma’s Kichel cookies, Debbie Caffrey sent Christmas Rush Cookies and Paula Nadlestern sent her favourite Chocolate Meringues recipe. I’m picking baskets of apples from my trees these days and Judy Mathieson’s Apple Brownies are a treat, as is my very own recipe for Apple ’n Cheese tort. Staying with fall fruit, Jean Ray Laury shared two easy and delectable recipes made with pears and peaches. Naomi Ichikawa, editor of Patchwork Quilt Tsushin in Japan sent a fig recipe from her Turkish friend – just to round out the diverse international flavours of this exceptional book.

Whip up Bethany Reynolds Decadent Fudge recipe and Linda Carlson’s Millionaires Pie – so quick and easy, just they way we quilters like it. Included are keepers from Jo Diggs, Ann Bird, Sharyn Craig, Judy Morningstar, Georgia Bonesteel, Judy Dales and Quilters Hall of Fame Inductee, Virginia Avery. And this is just the half of it! Many more yummy deserts from extraordinary quilters are included.

Hold your own quilter’s dessert party using these recipes. Order a copy for the bargain price of $10 + $4 (Canadian $) or  $8 + $3.50 (US$) for shipping and handling. Send a check to Val Hearder at Box 690 Mahone Bay, N.S. B0J 2E0 Canada, and I’ll ship your book off, ready for your next quilting bee and Christmas. Come to think of it, it’s the perfect quilter’s gift! All proceeds for our guild’s education fund.

Landscapes to bid on

Ami Simms wrote the other day to say there is a special bid on a group of 4 mini landscape quilts all made by quilters Rosemary Garza and Noel Ann McCord of Beaumont, Texas. This is their Seasons Of Life series made after taking a "cut and collage" landscape workshop with me.

Check out this remarkable fundraising event visit Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative which was started by Ami who has raised over $156,000 since 2006 for Alzheimers Disease. Perhaps you'd like to donate a small quilt to this wonderful on-going event?

Almost

I had a call this afternoon from my textile friends who collected the found quilts from the police. The police wanted to photograph all the quilts before they released them.

It's not a complete retrieval. None of my teaching materials, teaching demos and slides have been included in the haul. Further, I'd tucked some of my small framed collages and landscapes into my plastic teaching portfoilos. They are still lost. Still, I'm counting my blessings and VERY happy to have the most important pieces back! The out-pouring of support from everyone has been the biggest blessing of all.

I just can't wait to get them safely home!
best,
Val

Billy found the quilts.

Billy Jordan found the quilts while walking in the woods. Apparently nature called....... read about it in the Chronicle Herald:

(hmmmm, I can't get this link to work, but if you're interested, cut and paste this link
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Search/1063500.htmlinto your browser or, for the story and a photo or.... read it on my Facebook page!)

Tomorrow I have to make arrangements with textile friends from the Anna Templeton Centre for Fibre Arts in St. John's to collect the works. I'll update this blog as new links and developments happen.
Val

Found!

Friday 20 June:  This afternoon a journalist from a t.v. station in St. John's phoned to say that a young man had called the station to say he'd found my quilts. The journalist interviewed the fellow, and saw my quilts and they aired the story this evening.  I'm told  they are undamaged. They were found in 2 plastic garbage bags on a well used path - obviously dumped there today. I spoke with the finder who handed the quilts to the police and I am waiting to hear from the police

I'm thrilled and overwhelmed. The out-pouring of support and care from everyone has been so heartening.
So many were positive they would be found - and I knew that if magic could happen in any city, it would be St. John's where there is a big heart and everyone cares. I heard from a quilter in St. John's this evening who said even her postman asked everyday if the quilts had shown up yet. When the quilts were stolen a local t.v. station contacted me to say the whole town was pulling for me! I love St. John's!

I've seen my work published in many forms over the years, but taping up "Reward" posters of my quilts was one of the most disheartening things I've done. I could only think of them as "Lost" - because that meant they
could be found. So it is!

Thank you everyone for your kind emails and calls. I may not be able to respond to them all but, please know that I'm very grateful for your positive thoughts and care.
Love Val