Idiot Drivers

I went to see a friend today - around 1 and a half hours drive from where I live.
The visit was great  but getting there and back was a right royal pain in the posterior.

It was on the free way which was choked with long haul trucks moving at a snails pace and idiot drivers who had no idea of  what they were doing. For heaven's sakes, don't they get taught to anticipate? Its easy enough, look ahead and pay attention to the driver three cars ahead instead of trying to drive over the top of the car in front of you.

Internet Radio

I have just been given access to internet radio and I am in heaven! No more listening to the political b---llsh--t that our radio stations put out ad nauseaum, no more appallingly bad and repetitive music- and best of all, I CAN CHOOSE what I want to listen to! Classic? yum! Rock? yes, please. Popular music- as in my age group? Lovely!- and from anywhere in the world.  I have just found BBC Cumbria and York and knowing both areas, its great to listen to what is going on there.

Now to find a way to dump SABC 1,2 and 3 - and e-TV and M-Net with all their rubbish.

Now to get on with that quilt.

Frustration

What does one do when the hobby becomes a business and takes over ones life?

My dyeing was suppposed to be a side line to my work- that of making art quilts but after 15 years of dyeing fabric, I find that the work of making art quilts seems to be pushed further and further to the side. Advertising samples have to be made, patterns created , sales targets pushed higer and higher and I now have the responsibility of making sure that two workers are keep busy and fulfilled and that the work continues to flow in.

I have so many ideas for quilts that I would like to  realise but I know that they will probably remain ideas. And the frustration grows.

Winter on the Horizon- at last!

It's finally gotten cooler as the first real front of the winter season is passing through.
We haven't seen any rain but my friend in Swellendam says that the mountain outside town has a dusting of snow.

We have clear skies and a cold wind blowing here and I am energised again. I hate the hot weather with a passion as I can't think or work properly - and its got worse since I went to Antarctica.I didnt think that two weeks in that place would make a difference but it has.

I even have a new idea for a tote bag class and will have fun making the sample. It will be called " Weed Wacker Tote Bag" just for fun.

Telkom woes

I have given up trying to do just about anything on this blog or even try to surf the net as our esteemed telecommunications company- Telkom- just cannot get it right. Sometimes we have fantastic speed and other times, its worses than the Death March.

Its pretty obvious that they have got rid of all the really good workers ( the ones who actually got off their posteriors ) and we are now sitting with the sick, lame and lazy.

Winter's End

 Winters End ( 50 cm X 75 cm) came about as a result of a trip through the Eastern Free State literally at the end of winter, just before the first spring rains. The Earth was bone dry and the grass not much better off. This is my interpretation of that time.

Close up of the Winters End quilting.The one thing that contributed the most to the success of this piece was the use of acrylic felt as batting. It quilted easily and did not "puff up" the quilt and contributed to the texture of the piece without overwhelming it.

                                                   

New Work

Its been difficult to settle down and produce new work- mainly because I am so busy in my other job of running a hand dyeing business. Hand dyes are not exactly top of the pops in the South African quilting scene- especially locally produced hand dyes. If it comes from the States- even though the fabric is made and printed in China or other Far Eastern countries, for some people, it has to be better than local. Funny thing is that I have American and European customers who can't get enough of my fabric.

Be that as it may, I managed to produce a couple of small pieces:The one above is Desert Pan.

Here is Earth Warming:

This was in response to all the discussion about global warming. Is it or isn't it? Some scientists reckon that is the lull before a new ice age but no-one really knows.

Rain in the City was in response to the moans and groans in a guild where the challenge was to use greys.

When I started this quilt I couldn't stop and it just sort of "flowed".

I was very happy with the result.

This is a detail of some of the stitching.

Antarctica 2007

December 2007 was the time we took to go to Antarctica.

Two years later I am still trying to process what I saw and felt on that continent and get it into some kind of workable art - and not succeeding too well. Lots of staring at the photographs I took and lots of sketches later, I am still no nearer to getting a piece that means anything.

Antarctica had a huge effect on me and I would go back tomorrow if I could.From what I understand from others who have been to Antarctica, it seems to have the same sort of effect on them. If nothing else, the place is so vast and so-o-o- quiet, that it cuts one down to size very smartly. Its incredibly beautiful, very scary, challenging and almost impossible to describe if you haven't been there.

Your perception changes, your ideas about light and colour change as do your ideas about who you are and where you fit in the scheme of things. I believe that every polititian - especially those with over inflated egos- should be forced to spend a couple of weeks in that environment.

Scale and distance are deceptive and you don't have the reference points you would have in other parts of the world. You are surrounded by the most incredible pristine white, deep blues and greens, turquoise and jade along with violets, purples and lavenders. Its another world- almost alien

While on board the ship, I learned a lot about Antartctic art which deserves considerable study- except that there isnt much information about it in South Africa. Alan Campbell of the U.S.A. , Jenni Mitchell of Australia,Sue Lovegrove from Australia,Scott Hanson fron U.S.A.are all artists who have benefitted from their country's "Art in Antarctica" projects. Unfortunately, South Africa does not have a similar program.

Resurrection

It's been a while(like YEARS) since I last posted on this blog and I thought it might be worth resurrecting. Since I last posted we have been to Antarctica, mind blowing!) Norway and Sweden, twice to the U.K. and we have travelled around South Africa.

I now have a website www.amafu.co.za with LOTs of quilt photos and most of my concentration has been on that.

May be I'll post some photos from our travels a bit later.