Valtopina Embroidery Festival

I was in Umbria earlier this month.

Photo of a poster of Valtopina, Umbria.

I visited an annual embroidery/ hand-work festival.

Official opening of the festival with the Zimbabwe ambassador
and italian government officials present

I wanted to see how this festival had evolved from when I exhibited my work there several years ago. Next September, I will be co-curating with Joe Lewis a textile exhibit for this event.

There was some felted works.

Licheni by Giulia Rizzo from GIfelt

There was a quilt booth full of hand stitched and quilted works.

Mrs. Stephenson stands in front of her log cabin quilt.

I bought a crocheted ring and wore it every sunny day in September!

My ring made by Luisa De Santi. Her book looks great!

I loved the contemporary embroidery by (please check back as I have misplaced her business card)

details of the embroidery

I loved a textile work by men from a maximum security prison!

I especially liked their hand-made label!

translated it says, Let us not imprison creativity.
Let us give more room to the ideas and fantasy.
The men who worked on this project signed with pride!

This year, Zimbabwe textiles were exhibited.

Dorcas Shumba is a fashion designer.
She uses traditional fabrics from her native Zimbabwe
to create her contemporary clothing line.
At the moment she is doing a PhD in New Zealand in
International Development.

I am leaving Italy and going to South Africa. I hope to have some interesting textile things to report to you while I am there.

Talent

Every day I see beautiful things that are hand-made.

Today, I saw a friend knotting threads.

Macramé.

She added fringe to a hand-woven cloth from 1920.

Such love in every step.

Hawaiian Technique in Veneto

I participated in the Veneto Quilting Day. The day's theme was Hawaiian technique.

My sample for the course we took.

Silvia Cuccarolo gave a wonderful power point presentation on the topic. She fell in love with the technique while on her honeymoon in Hawaii.

Two of Silvia Cuccarolo's fine works.

The image below shows what she is working on at the moment. Just like in traditional Hawaiian quilts hers has much symbolism including her choice of fabrics. The grey is the colour of the ocean at night and the cream-coloured fabric is the colour of the moon reflected in the waters.

Silvia Cuccarolo's work in progress.

The orange turtle symbolizes her son. His choice of colour represents his choices in life...even though she did not agree with his colour choice she accepted it.

The turtles represent four women; her mom, grandmother and sister and herself.

The borders are lovely and also represent something...I forgot! (see the comment from the artist below. Thanks Silvia!)

Her dad and her husband are represented in the quilting of the Hawaiian masks.

Two hundred quilters were in attendance.

Listening carefully to the raffle numbers. The sponsors and the
 associations donated prizes- fabric, quilting supplies and even quilts!

The location was perfect.

View of the Villa grounds.

Quilters arrive at 10 a.m.
at the Villa Filippo Farsetti,
XVII-XVIII century

The halls of the Villa were decorated with quilted works.

The merchants' corner was out in the courtyard.

I met so many past students of mine. It was great fun! I talked and laughed all day.

Verona...again...and again

I am in Verona again.

I dropped in to see friends at the Associazione Ad Maiora.

Friends meet at the studio.

As always, there was lots of talking...

 and sharing....

and eating.

Home made, of course! Obviously made by a quilter!
Look at those strips! They're cut perfectly!

One of the neighbours brought some eggs to give.

I taught a class yesterday at the same studio.

Two students arrive early to set up. There were 6 students in all.

Today, a friend drove up to the studio and gave me a knitting class.

It is always a pleasure being here. The members of the association are incredible!

Quilting Day Lombardia

Last weekend, I participated in my first ever Quilting Day-which may sound odd seeing as I have been quilting for almost 25 years.

Clusone, Italy

Regions in Italy host these events which consist of taking classes,

having a nice lunch,

prizes and gift exchanges,

and sewing a community quilt together. Really fun! This time the organizers offered a tour of their town -added bonus.

View of Clusone from the Palazzo Fogaccia

This time Lombardia province hosted and the day took place in the town of Clusone. It was great to see old friends from the hosting area. There were about 65 people attending.

Registering for the day's events.

Clusone is 650m above sea level. The town is lovely and has gorgeous views.

The "local" prince offered his castle for the event.

Inside Palazzo Fogaccia built from 1693-1709

There were textile works in every room and out in the gardens.

textile art by Luca Zaglioni
hangs in front of the fireplace.

My piece from the Città Invisible exhibit
lay in front of a fresco.

Community quilt-works made at previous events hang in the garden
of Palazzo Fogaccia

The prince had lunch with us.

Walking around the grounds after lunch.

Pretty amazing day!

I will be going to the Veneto Quilting Day on Sunday, September 22, in Santa Maria di Sala. Looking forward to it!

Milano Inspired

This is the piece I was working on before I left in July.

untitled, made just before I left

The guidelines stated the work needed to be 10"x10" but art is the size art wants to be!

Collage 

It turned out to be larger and I did not want to cut it down.

paper, paint, free motion stitching

I did not have time to make something else so unfortunately I will not be participating in takepART this time around. It is a mystery-art, scholarship fundraiser for Branksome Hall.

I hope to be invited again!

The event takes place at Snell Hall, St. James Cathedral on October 9, 2013.