Egypt4u

My second quilt - Harvest Gold


Africa quilt made for my grandson

Steps and Spirals - March 2012

Wow Rubyslippers, they are beautiful. You must have a lot of patience.

HEPZIBAH wrote:Wow Rubyslippers, they are beautiful. You must have a lot of patience.

Or just a lot of time on my hands, maybe, Hepzi? Thanks for liking them!

I will second that, they really are works of art, do you manage to make a profit from making them? I am sure that offered in the right places they would sell like hot cakes.

Wow! these are amazing, how long does it take you to make one ?

Steps and spirals is breathtaking RS!
Contemporary colours and something like that would cost a fortune!
You're very talented!
Would imagine it's very therapeutic hobby and "labour of love.",the end results are stunning!

Firstly, Horus, I don't make a penny! Most of them are gifts for people or get given away! Kiya, it all depends on the complexity of the piecing. Some can take me a few weeks to cut out before I even start putting them together. I am halfway through my next one but I have to stop and go on to dolls clothes for a week or so. I ordered some patterns online so hopefully they will be here by Monday and then I will really have to get my head down to make Baby Annabelle some new outfits and some for Barbie and Ken! It's my grand-daughter's 4th birthday on the 13th so they are needed for then. I have already bought some things and made her a Harry Potter invisibility cloak but her dollies need clothes, so she tells me - and who better than Nanny to make them? As to the quilts - most people wouldn't pay anything like they are worth, so, sooner than be insulted, I give them!

Really don't think you could put a price on them!
They're exquisite!And what makes them all the more special is fact that they're made personally for friends and family and not for commercial gain.
They're beautiful.Well done again RS!

Thank you all so much for all your extremely kind comments. It's always nice to have compliments and gives me encouragement to carry on.

Wowwwwwwwwwwww - all your quilts are gorgeous RS. I especially like the african quilt. And they really truly are works of art. Beautiful. I can't imagine even starting to design a quilt, figure out the patterns, find the right material to give the effect that is wanted, cut out all the pieces, put them all together and then do all the final top stitching in quilting patterns. Just can't get my brain around all this.

Quilts are works of art and the 'soul work and hand work' that goes into making these heirlooms is priceless. They're gorgeous!

Lovely work, RS! I will forward this to a friend who makes them, as I know she will be interested in your Africa one as she is travelling through 4 countries there right now (though I don't think you find tigers there normally ) She once made a quilt for her son out of old ties once worn by a favourite uncle.

Have you ever heard of the Australian quilt maker, Jenny Bowker? Go to http://www.jennybowker.com to be absolutely stunned! I have heard her lecture and seen her quilts and been totally gobsmacked. The portraits are particularly spectacular. She is a strong promoter of the dwindling number of master craftsmen at Khan Khayamiya – the Market of the Tentmakers – which stretches opposite Bab Zuweilah in the heart of Old Islamic Cairo, on the edge of Khan el Khalili Markets. She has taken them all around the world to craft fairs, where they are mobbed like superstars! Because of her I made a special trip there, and took the aforementioned friend when she was part of one of my tours.

I hope Jenny inspires you!

WI, I adore Jenny Bowker's quilts and always have since I was introduced to them about 5 years ago! I was as sick a a pig that I couldn't get to The National Quilt Exhibition when the Tentmakers of Cairo were there with her! Her blog on her time spent in Cairo as the wife of a diplomat is fascinating. As for the 'Africa' quilt - that was a pattern in a magazine, Hence the poetic license of the tiger in the middle! We all know that tigers come from India but for a little boy who was 2-3 at the time, well, it didn't really matter that it wasn't authentic, did it?

Just out of interest, although the Tiger is not native to Africa, there are actually plans afoot to set up a large reserve in an attempt to stop them becoming extinct. I have seen a program about this and it was underway as a real project and they were quite happy that they were naturalising and making their own kills. It was located on some guys massive farm and I think his idea was to fence in a huge area to stop them becoming a nuisance to local people, so the reality may be that although they do not originate in Africa, it may be the only place left where they exist, what does that say for us as a species?

Horus, I find that extremely sad! The tiger is such a magnificent animal and I admire anyone who takes steps to stop them from becoming extinct. I would like to think that they will still be around in their wild state when my grand-children are old enough to go and see them for themselves should they feel the need in the future. I hate zoos like poison so I would hate to think that a zoo is the only place to view these wonderful big cats!

Horus, I find that extremely sad! The tiger is such a magnificent animal and I admire anyone who takes steps to stop them from becoming extinct. I would like to think that they will still be around in their wild state when my grand-children are old enough to go and see them for themselves should they feel the need in the future. I hate zoos like poison so I would hate to think that a zoo is the only place to view these wonderful big cats!

Me too RS, but it is a fact that some species of Tiger are down to just a few thousand and will probably become extinct in our lifetime and for what? because some stupid people mainly in China believe that Tiger bones, Tiger penises and anything Tiger is a medicine. I would love to see a plague that was created from the use of such parts that wiped out the users, a bit like BSE or similar, the fact that we are about to lose so many wonderful creatures because some stupid human belives that it makes then more virile or will cure a disease makes my blood boil. To kill for food is acceptible, but to kill and mutilate because of some stupid belief is not, but because of this your great grand children will probably never see any of the big cats whether in a zoo or not. I am against zoo's per se, but the ones that have an active breeeding program are OK in my book because their primary aim is the conservation of the animals and allowing us to see them is of secondary concern and that is how it should be. To end on a high note, there is a guy who is trying to create a complete corridor of habitat that crosses several countries such as Nepal, Tibet & Bhutan and a few others, so that the Tigers can move freely and safely through this corridor and hopefully breed and fan out back into some of their old haunts where they are now extinct, lets hope it works. I am not a raving naturalist or anything like that, but sometimes I am ashamed to belong to the human race when I see the way we treat some of the magnificent creatures that we share this planet with.

Ruby Slippers wrote:WI, I adore Jenny Bowker's quilts and always have since I was introduced to them about 5 years ago! I was as sick a a pig that I couldn't get to The National Quilt Exhibition when the Tentmakers of Cairo were there with her! Her blog on her time spent in Cairo as the wife of a diplomat is fascinating. As for the 'Africa' quilt - that was a pattern in a magazine, Hence the poetic license of the tiger in the middle! We all know that tigers come from India but for a little boy who was 2-3 at the time, well, it didn't really matter that it wasn't authentic, did it?

Of course not; I bet he loved it! I am going to suggest to my friend she gets some of her holiday photos printed on fabric for the picture panels, if she decides to make it.

quote="Horus"]Just out of interest, although the Tiger is not native to Africa, there are actually plans afoot to set up a large reserve in an attempt to stop them becoming extinct. I have seen a program about this and it was underway as a real project and they were quite happy that they were naturalising and making their own kills. It was located on some guys massive farm and I think his idea was to fence in a huge area to stop them becoming a nuisance to local people, so the reality may be that although they do not originate in Africa, it may be the only place left where they exist, what does that say for us as a species? [/quote]

Horus wrote:Just out of interest, although the Tiger is not native to Africa, there are actually plans afoot to set up a large reserve in an attempt to stop them becoming extinct. I have seen a program about this and it was underway as a real project and they were quite happy that they were naturalising and making their own kills. It was located on some guys massive farm and I think his idea was to fence in a huge area to stop them becoming a nuisance to local people, so the reality may be that although they do not originate in Africa, it may be the only place left where they exist, what does that say for us as a species?

Sadly it says the terrible truth, H. I do hope this idea is put into place and is successful.

I have a fabulous poster of a Siberian tiger face on the wall of my study, and I somehow always end up gazing into it's eyes whenever I am in deep thought, despite the many other things I have collected from around the world that I could be looking at, including from my beloved Egypt! I never tire of looking at it's beautiful markings.

Can't say that I'm an advocate of zoos however I must say that many of the newer zoos have a much more realistic approach to the animals than when I was a child. I have no problem with zoos housing animals that for whatever reason cannot be returned to the wild and/or to have an active breeding program that is attempting to save a species from extinction.

I'm also not an advocate of sealands that house whales. Keeping whales or any large sea animals in a 'tank' is not humane either. I hate seeing killer whales kept in a big old round swimming pool where it spends life swimming in circles. Anybody ever been to Sealand in Egypt? Watch the Russian trainer with the sealions? whales? Sad sad sad.......

When I was a child (back in the day of the dinosaur) zoos tended to keep a huge variety of species and also kept them all in 6' x 6' concrete cages - makes me shudder to remember. At least many zoos today try and recreate natural habitats and most also try and keep their animals in as large an area as they can.

It is also very sad to think that certain populations see eating parts of animals as enhancing their own virility. Stupid stupid stupid. I wish the governments of such countries would start educational programs enlightening the public as to the fallacy of these old outdated beliefs. Extinction is forever.

I still think that making quilts is an art form that takes highly skilled artistic artisans.

The Masters at The Street of the Tentmakers are a critically endangered species, too.

Geezzz! RS thats a long time on one quilt but, as ST says when its a labour of love then time means nothing, they are all beautiful