A Voice from the Past

I've had this sampler for a little while but this week was the first time I'd really started researching the background to it. As you can probably see it was made by Florence Shilling in 1895. It was made at Donaldson's Hospital - I've always wondered what this was but discovered this week that it was / is a school in Edinburgh. Founded in 1851 the school focused on the education of poor children in the city and specialised in education for deaf and mute children. Since 1938 the school, now called Donaldson's College, has been exclusively for deaf students. The building the school was originally in was just amazing, although ultimately unsuited to educating children. During WWII the school was used as a prisoner of war camp which housed German and Italian prisoners. The building was recently sold and in 2008 the school moved to a new purpose built facility.

The original building is now being developed into apartments - and to think my little sampler has found its way from this extraordinary place to the other side of the world, to a house where there is another principal of a special school (my husband) who has just been able to open a new facility for his students. Clearly serendipity at work here.

And by way of warning - see if you can spot the image of part of the sampler in the photo below. It's the cardboard that the sampler has been sitting on for an unknown number of years. If you look closely you can see how the acid in the board has leached colour out of the sampler leaving an image on it.

Needless to say now that I know more of its history and condition I'm on the case so it can be framed in an acid-free environment. Hopefully it will then last another 116 years and Florence's creative voice will continue to be seen and heard.

Slowly, slowly wins the race

Well I know I certainly wouldn't win any races at the moment but just to prove to myself that I can inch towards completion here is the next step in my kimono quilt - the top is completed - and I am rather pleased. Particularly with this segment of it, which appeals to me for a reason I can't quite put my finger on... I think it might be the floral chrysanthemum next to the more structured fabrics.

And just to show that kimono still have a hold on me here is a beauty that recently moved to my house from my favourite kimono shop, Asian Gallery. The owner told me that he thinks it would have been made in the 1920s or 30s and was designed to be worn under other kimono as a layer for warmth. Most interestingly is the fabric that the body of the kimono is made from - it has a heavy woven cotton exterior which is quite slubby, while the reverse of the fabric has a brushed warm feel almost like a well worn flannelet sheet. Just fabulous - and of course with beautiful silk sleeves. Just fabulous.... and who of us can honestly resist a bit of fabric fabulosity?

Back to Basics - Back to Bindings

Working on bindings just seems to work like a charm for me. It gets me back behind the sewing machine after untimely lapses, gives me purpose, and reconnects me with quilts. I've been doing rather more working than sewing of late and this pile is helping to bring me back towards balance.

It's the latest group of refuge quilts that I have bought home to sew bindings on. This year as well as providing quilts to the Wellington Women's Refuge our Guild is also sending a consignment down to Christchurch, where I understand the refuge has lost half of its safe houses in the earthquake.It's rather nice to have a quilt on the lap of an evening now the weather is starting to turn, and its definitely comforting as I watch yet more disasters unfold of an evening around the world. It's all rather mind boggling.... This is my favourite - I hope it brings comfort to someone who needs it.

That's what I try to breathe into every stitch.

Long live the needlewomen and their needles

I haven't really been feeling much like blogging over the last week - the events in Christchurch have been far too distracting, or maybe that should be absorbing and upsetting. For some reason tonight though I remembered this rather odd photo I took a few weeks ago to show you. I've been doing some work over the last couple of months that has involved me in doing some stitching - my children find it almost unbelievable that I am being paid to stitch. Children are so leveling!

I've been learning how to wield these very fine curved needles. I'm far from an expert but am getting better at it. They are surgical needles (breathe now - I am not stitching in any medical theatres - no humans have been harmed in the making of this blog!) and you can see how small they are lying next to the betweens needle that I have also been using.

What I coincidentally discovered,while watching a rather odd documentary on the history of surgical developments (don't ask how I came to find this, let alone kept watching!) was that a French doctor pioneered stitching of blood vessels after watching a President of France be stabbed and bleed to death. It inspired him to look at ways to stitch up tears in blood vessels.

And who taught him? An expert French needlewoman, of course.

He went to her to learn how to stitch and after many,many months of practice he moved onto experimenting on dead animals and eventually people. This was over one hundred years ago. But isn't it good to know that the skills of wielding a small needle so effectively have helped save so many people over the last hundred years or so - and over the last week in Christchurch.

Long live the needlewomen and their needles!

Lost for Words

At times like this it is impossible to know what to say - the devastation in Christchurch is heartbreaking. While I have heard that my dear friends are safe I know that for many, many people around New Zealand and the world they will not be so fortunate.

My heart goes out to them - it's going to take a lot of love, listening and cups of tea to even come close to getting through this....

Vintage Eye Candy

We had the wonderful Leimomi speaking at Wellington Quilts Guild last night about exoticism and escapism in post WWII textiles - she had a great slide show and fabric for us all to pore over and lust after. It was great - if you are looking for a speaker on matters textile she is hard to go past.

One of our members bought along a piece of her favourite fabric that she has always been unable to cut and which is destined to be the back of a quilt. It fitted perfectly into the theme of the evening... Feast your eyes on this.... I love the cat on the chair watching the artist at work

and of course what better than the art museum for inspiration. Fantastic!

Last Chance

I have it on very good authority that you only have one more week to get into Te Papa to the Enriching Fashion exhibition if you want to see this wonderful embroidered waistcoat (click the link for all the details). Made in France in around 1780, it is well worth the trip in to see this item alone.

Next week it will be taken off exhibition, along with another six items from Enriching Fashion, to be rested for at least 5 years, so it can recover from the pressure imposed by the last 6 months of public exposure.

Sometimes I feel like it would be nice to rest for a while - although maybe not that long!