Preparing for a Talk

I am super excited to be the guest speaker at the Peaceful Nights Quilters Guild on Wednesday.

I've been preparing during the last few days, digging out art work and quilts from the cupboards.

It is nice to go through some of the things I haven't seen in a while. Many of my quilts are packed away. All of my art work is rolled up and sits on top of a cabinet.  I never see it.

So it's been a treat to enjoy those pieces.

I am glad to be sharing some of them with the members of the guild.

The theme of my presentation is Inspiration- where to find it and how to translate it.

My presentation is more like a lesson that a talk about me and my work, although the audience will learn about me and the way I work while I speak about the pieces. I want people to go back to their studios inspired and ready to create THEIR work, to have THEIR ideas brought out in textile, be it traditional or contemporary.

This is open to anyone. If you are interested, come along!

Hand Embroidery

In the late 1960's households in Italy started purchasing washing machines.

With that, they also needed to buy laundry soap. That became a competitive market.

Some companies put "prizes" in their boxes to encourage shoppers to select their product.

The oval shaped boxes were made of cardboard. A company put hand-embroidered linen towels in their boxes. My friend's mom collected all 4 designs.

The difference was in the border colours; some were yellow, some blue, some pink, some light green. The flowers were exactly the same.

The  embroidery is hand done. The appliqué is super tiny and looks hand done but I think it maybe machine appliqué. Made in China.

The other embroidery sample I have for you is this one.

It was made about 100 years ago by a friend's friend.

It was originally the front of a parasol cover and had a kind of felted back but by the time my friend got it the back was ruined so she recycled it into a bag.

All hand done.

The underside was gorgeous and so neat! (forgot to take a picture)

Out for the Day

About twenty five of us friends had a day out today in Valeggio sul Mincio.

We went to a wonderful agriturismo, Corte Marzago, that belongs to my friend's family.

They have a bed and breakfast and also several vineyards for their own wine production.

I bought a case of the white Custoza which is the area for that DOC wine.

Entrance to the Agriturismo.
It use to be a convent in the 1500s.
You can still see the steeple of their church.

We started with a quilt lesson from Roberta Bugli, one of the Ad Maiora quilting pioneers.

It is  a fabulous hand-sewing project taken from the magazine Quiltmania.

Teacher's example.

I like to have those on the go for when I travel. I think I will make this one of my projects.

Some of my amazing friends.

It is so nice to sit together and sew...like the old days, I guess,
when women got together
and shared stories while making things for their loved ones.
Down time is good!
We do a lot of laughing.

Someone was selling small scented cushions to put in drawers. The money went to charity. I bought this one made by a 90-year-old women. ALL BY HAND!!

You can not believe the work!

We had a fabulous lunch...

The chef in his kitchen

... with the main course being the famous tortellini of Valeggio served with a butter and sage sauce. The pasta is so thin! The filling is meat.

photo montage, Maria Teresa Sansotta

A few of us took a side trip to Borghetto,

where they have a famous tortellini festival in June.

The festival is really about eating the famous tortellini with tables set out on the bridge which is all lit up with candles!

I just love being here!

Hand Work

No one in this town does stitching but many crochet. I have seen some beautiful things-table cloths and centro tavola, as they call them.

My friend Lina makes blankets. She used all her leftover bits of yarn to make this colourful work. She made hexagons and then sewed them together by hand.

Lina's crocheted blanket

She used the same pattern for this white one but made the flowers smaller. It is made of cotton.

It is a baby gift...although she is not sure which baby (sound familiar?)

She has them stored in a cupboard as she makes so many (sound familiar?)