Hand Stitching Indian Style

I heard all about Dijanne Cevaal's travels to India. I am particularly interested because my husband has been working in Bangalore for the last month and I plan to join him during his contract there and perhaps travel to different areas when he is occupied with meetings and such.

One of the things she did during her residency in Pushkar was to help find use for small pieces of fabric discarded from making clothing.

She designed a patchwork-type purse using pieces of hand-spun, indigo-dyed fabric.

She hand-stitched each small geometric-shaped piece of fabric using stitching inspired by the techniques the local women use.

Aperitivo with Dijanne!

The stitching is called  Sujuni. It is different from the Kantha stitch in that there is a chain stitch used to outline figures and shapes and the straight-line running stitch is used as a filler. To read more about these two forms of Indian traditional embroidery, click here.

Australian Textile Artist

                                       

Lucky me.

I got an email from Australian textile artist and author, Dijanne Cevaal, who will be passing through Verona, Italy, next week.

We met in Parma, Italy, in 2011 and I haven't seen her since although we have emailed. I also signed up for an on-line course of hers.

I am looking forward to catching up and hearing all about her works and her adventures worldwide.



To see more of my posts related to D. Cevaal click here , here , and here.

(Images are taken from the internet. All works/particulars by Dijanne Cevaal)

Dijanne Cevaal Made the Cover

I picked up a magazine in anticipation of my upcoming train ride to Montreal.

Australian textile artist, Dijanne Cevaal,
 has her travel blanket on the cover of
Quilting Arts, December /January2013 issue

My friend Dijanne's work has made the cover of the latest Quilting Arts magazine.

They have a good article about her- she's in the Spotlight.

Last spring, I signed up for her on-line travel blanket course. I am sorry to say I have not finished the work. I had planned to stitch during the summer but that never happened. I still will get it done. It will look great. Her on-line class was really fun to do! Here is another look at my blanket.

CONGRATULATIONS, Dijanne!!

If you are interested in her class, click here.

When I was in Parma, Italy, translating for Dijanne in her free-motion class, I bought this small piece from her.

Dijanne Cevaal's free motion work.
I did frame it...ah, framing artwork...
I will comment on that in a future post!
You know not all ART has to be framed!!

Hand Stitching

I am a FAST person. I think FAST. I walk FAST. When I have ideas, I want them executed FAST.

Maybe that is why I never really got into hand stitching, as much as I love the look. It's so SLOW.

Most of my work, be it quilts or textile art, is machine done.

I have enrolled in an on-line class given by my Australian friend and textile artist, Dijanne Cevaal. It is all about hand stitching!

Dijanne Cevaal's hand stitching, "X marks the Place" detail

Since I will be travelling this summer, I will be able to stitch while away.

Summer is a good time to be SLOW.

Discipline

Being an artist is like every other job. You have to go to your "office" every day and work.

Penny Berens stitches 5 hours a day.

Penny's work (detail) is always filled with hand and machine stitching

Judith Martin spends 5 hours stitching, 3 hours in studio designing and 2 hours researching. That's a 10 hour day.

Judy Martin presents her work " Heart to Heart"

Australian artist Dijanne Cevaal dedicates 50 hours per week to her art. That includes blogging, writing articles, teaching, designing, dying and making.

part of Dijanne Cevaal's Sentinelle Series

Before I became a mother and made that my career, I was a student at the National Ballet School and later a ballet dancer in a dance company in Vienna, Austria. I know about self discipline!

Now, I am a textile artist.

I sew every day, even on weekends. I spend on average about 4 hours in my studio creating and doing, depending on my family commitment.

Blogging, taking art classes, teaching, researching other textile artists, curating, writing my book...that is all extra! I fit that in when I can.

Confession: Sometimes I work on quilts unrelated to the quilt book I am writing or projects that have nothing to do with my teaching samples or my art work!! That is the equivalent of playing computer games when your boss isn't around!

wasting time??

I have decided to put aside every Wednesday for painting and preparing fabrics and papers for future works.

My dance training will come in handy.