Kente Cloth

Our tour during Contemporary Handweavers of Texas conference took us to our first stop at Brazos Valley Museum to an exhibit of Kente Cloth.  Wrapped in Pride, Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity was a feature the Museum of Natural History and presented in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Arts.

This beautiful exhibit explores the art of making Kente cloth, its symbolism in the cultures of Africa and its expression of identity in African American communities.  This garment was displayed in the main lobby.

Photos from the region were also on display to show how the garments are worn in everyday life.

This fabric was machine printed and shows some of the different designs woven.

This fabric was woven with design, using inlay techniques.

The strips are woven in narrow bands and then shown together to make a larger length and width.

These bands were unique in design.

Inlay designs give different meanings to each region.

The African map shows the location of Ghana.

Color plentiful!

A typical loom used to weave this colorful cloth.

Weft bobbin threads used in crossing the warp.

The warp is placed at the back of the loom and this photo shows how the warp is given weight and tension.

Close-up of inlay technique.

Notice how the narrow bands are stitched.

The narrow bands on display were used for touch and feel.  They also show the different patterns.  The weft and warp designs each have their own unique meaning.
This exhibit will be on display till August 11, 2011 and is well worth the trip to the Natural History Museum.

Handweavers of Texas

Contemporary Handweavers of Texas meet biannually in different regions of the state during odd years.  This year it was held in College Station/Bryan at the Hilton Hotel Conference.  Unfortunately, we were only able to attend a couple of days (our grandson was graduating the same weekend) so we popped in Friday before our tour around the area galleries.  We visited one of the two day workshops.

This workshop was focused on color and how it 'pops' on the warp.

It is intersting how different weave structures and color play on each other, either in the warp or the weft.

Here is the draft for one of the loom setups.

Here is the woven look from the draft.

One of the special features during the conference is the hallway where individual guilds can set up their exhibits and display what their members have been working on throughout the year since the last conference.

This display had many features to admire.



What lovely woven towels!



These are more of the lovely woven towels.  Much to our disappointment, we were not allowed to take photos of the members or instructors exhibit pieces. Hopefully, the website for Contemporary Handweavers of Texas will have photos. More later on the special exhibits that were featured on the tour in future blog posts.

Messina Hof R & R

It is time for a little R & R.  Before we head to our state weavers' conference in College Station, Texas we took a short two day detour to Messina Hof Winery, located outside of Bryan, Texas.  Our room was appropriately named 'Messina', but we could have our choice between nine other rooms.

Grapes and wine are featured throughout the vineyard and this was the railing around the balcony outside our room.

Even the bronze statures around the grounds are reflective of wine.

In the evening, as guests, you are invited to the wine bar where you can choose any wine from their menu to enjoy along with a selection of cheese.

The gardens are planted with flowers and herbs (which are used in the restaurant).

Want to have your wedding on the grounds, this is the perfect spot.

We took a tour of the wine making area, along with the processing center.  This was in the storage area where boxes and boxes were stacked waiting for shipment.

On this morning the bottling was in full swing with Muscat Canelli, sweet white wine.

The barrels outside the storage room were hosting Merlot, up next for the bottling process.  If you are ever in the need of some R&R and are in this area, drop into the winery and enjoy a little of this comfort.

Spinning Memories

This weekend brings memories and honors not only for those who have fought and served in the military but for others who have paved the highway in various avenues and walks of lives.  Many will honor their family members with flower and flag laying on graves, with prayers of thanks for their dedication, while this blog post today will honor friends who provided quiet meanings to our lives.......nothing blaring about their 'common' everyday journey but a touch of sense and purpose to our otherwise mundane days.

This bag of carded green cotton comes from the garden of a dear departed friend, Jo, who gave us many happy times of sheer bliss--her whit, her personality, her joy of living.  During the last couple of years of her fragile life, Jo bought a sack of home grown cotton to our January spin-in.  She was distributing her worldly possessions so she could live in a smaller facility.  The green cotton had been hand ginned by Jo's paper thin fingers.  She was giving me one of her prized accumulations.  Reluctantly,  I took the green cotton and sent it off to be carded into sliver--promising to return the prepared fiber to her the following year; but come the following year, Jo was way to frail to even think about spinning again.

And now as we treadle and spin this special gift, memories flood back--memories of Jo--she was one of the original members of January spin-in when it begun over 23 years ago; when others were triumphantly declaring how much they spun during the event,  she always proclaimed the LEAST spun at our annual spin-in.  Memories of the time we travelled together to 1984 Dallas Convergence  and with a stop at a restroom, the pale look on her face when she emerged from the stall--she had just flushed one of her $50 dollar bills that had fallen from her money belt!  She thought it was loose paper on the floor but when it swished out of sight, she realized what it was...............but, she laughed it off and we continued on our road trip.

These might be cast-offs of debris that has fallen from the fiber, but each of these little specks brings a sense of Jo to my fingers as the cotton is spun, bobbin after bobbin.

And as the sliver is one continuous length, that was the way Jo's life was--continuous and ongoing with love and laughter.

This label might be faded from years of usage, but the memories of Dempsey are strong each time this tool of the trade is pulled out to be used.   The many tools he built with his hands; the wool from his sheep herd that laid on the bobbins always bring memories of days of yore and the times we had on his farm.  It never fails every year when the first two weekends of April roll around, that our thoughts travel to those days when we would drive the distance to meet with other spinners at Dempsey's farm.  It was here that we could pick out our sheep fleece 'on the hoof' and Dempsey would pull up the marked sheep and set his clippers to the wool--yes, this was ours!  His lovely wife, Brenda, would make her molasses cake (made from their homegrown sugar cane) and we would all gather under the pine trees with our wheels, visit, treadle away as we were serenaded by their musical friends. Dempsey's sense of building relationships was always there.  This was our common bond.

This time it is bobbins containing Jo's green cotton that are resting in the 'lazy kate' so two friends, who might have met once or twice or never, are reunited in this simple chore of plying.  And the memories can continue...................

As we ply Jo's green cotton with Dempsey's lazy kate, our memories tumble out and about us.

Another One or Two Bites the Dust!!!

Pulling out all the stops these past few days and digging into the 'aging' pile, we have found this kit--looked easy so why in the world was it buried in the stash????

Everything one would need to make up this delightful wall hanging was there; just needed to read over the directions and begin.

Just a little sewing, some tracing onto fusible web, some ironing onto base fabric...........

Maybe, this will need a little stitching to complete the binding--how can that be so hard?

And May's block with Henrietta--just might need to redo those arms--looking kind of funky there!

And while digging into the stash pattern bin, we found another kit!  Gee whiz, why was it aging?

Once again, all the supplies were included, even the batting--so, why the problem of letting it set so long?  This was purchased almost three years ago.

See, that didn't take too long to complete--well, maybe we need to add some star buttons to the blue area..........................

This is the final panel to the folk art top that has been in the making for some time.  Just need a little border or two and it can head to the quilter's hands.

Whew! whipped out May's calendar wall hanging quickly!!  This was fun to make up--now, off to the quilter.  We came we found, we conquered!!

Oh, Those Expat Gals!!

What a great group of gals these expats are!! We can sing their praises to high heaven all the time--always there when you need a listening ear, a friendly nudge, a shoulder to cry on, a sounding board for all your compliments or complaints! They'll tell you when you are wrong or when you are right............................okay enough of that 'sappy' stuff and on to the gathering this week.

Judy M had finished the quilting on this year long project--Raggedy Ann & Andy redwork sampler quilt.  It is always an accomplishment to finish a long drawout project and finally fun to see the blocks become a quilt.  This is only complete with the quilting in my book.

Since there was the recurring theme of hearts, Judy used a heart pano to give this quilt some pizazz. Now, for the binding, a little hand stitching and we'll have a quilt for the ages.

Judy had also finished the quilting on Debby's top for Michael, who was one of the foreign exchange students that Debby hosted years ago.  This lovely comforter is a gift for his summer wedding--what a gift!!

 

We all fell in love with the backing!  Black satinee--what a whole cloth experience!  We said you could use this back as the top

Karen was working on her new grandson's top--what a bright baby quilt!  She was sewing on the border strips, which is the green fabric used in the sashing.

Karen was 'fussy' cutting her blocks from this fabric.  And being the perfectionist that she is, she used paper piecing to get the main block outlined with the sashing.

Judy continued to add her 4" blocks to her top.  So many little pieces cut to make such an outstanding look.

We welcomed Brenda back after her surgery.  She had been cooped up for six long weeks so we were all happy to give her a big hug and see what she has in mind for her next project.  And it's this 10 minute tiles pattern.  Using variegated fabric, shaded in black to gray to white and reds, she was cutting the necessary widths of fabric.  Please Brenda--let us know if the tiles only take 10 minutes to complete!

Annette,  celebrating  31 years of marriage on this day(!), was working on her "Bee Happy" top.  She and hubby have planned a long weekend away to celebrate with each other.  Congrats Annette and Phil!

What a great block!  So many things happening in just one area to give you an overall motion effect.

Here Annette is 'auditioning' fabrics for the outside border.  Brenda is giving the look- review test.  Annette is planning to make half square blocks to frame the center section.

Linda was putting the finishing touches on her grandson's flight panel for his birthday gift.  He aspires to be a fighter jet pilot when he grows up!  Isn't it great that he so loves this panel and wants it as his grandma gift--yes, we are teaching them right from the start!!