Lovely Botanicals: The Academy of Appliqué 2019

How can a week possibly fly by so quickly?! When you are having an outstanding time, that's how! That was our experience last week in Williamsburg, Virginia, at the Academy of Appliqué. One minute, we were unpacking and setting up to teach, and in two stitches with our needles, we were packing to come home. Well, my home; Kara came here with me (Teri) for a few more days before heading back to Germany.

As always, we want to thank Barbara Blanton, left, for all her work in creating this spectacular venue where lovers of appliqué can gather to stitch, learn new skills, and catch up with stitching sisters from around the globe. It always amazes me that I can feel an instant kindred spirit when meeting another who shares a similar needle passion. That sense is almost indescribable to one who hasn't shared the experience. If you love to appliqué, we encourage you to put this week—or half-week—on your bucket list. You, too, will be amazed! We have made some dear friends over our years of attending the Academy.

Here are a few photo highlights of our week. I'm afraid we didn't get many general event photos, as we were pretty busy in our classroom, but hopefully, you will get a feel for the fun we had.

Kara demos the drizzle stitch in our first class.

 

The sweet pea bloom is easier to create with wired ribbon than it looks!

A lovely ombré ribbon leaf

Mastering stems, leaves, and petals

We have zinnias!

And tulips!

The beginnings of a stumpwork ladybug

Announcements at lunch

Our "chat" during one of our lunch sessions, sharing this year's project:
Lovely Botanicals

Hanging in our classroom

Marking our patterns on the background fabric in our second class

Using tools to mark the edges of the transfer paper—
what a great idea!

Rose-making demo

Working on those roses

     

Mastering the "gimping" for the center of the sunflower

Marking the wings on organza for the stumpwork bee

We have another bee!

     

    

On the last day, we laid out some of our off-block units to see how much progress we made on our Lovely Vases. Don't they look awesome?

We stitched, created, shared, laughed (and punned), shopped, and inspired each other. It was an all-around fabulous week. And we are already planning for next year! Those creative ideas just keep coming. 

We'd love to hear from you. What skills would entice you to join us in a class? Please tell us in the comments below. It would be such fun to stitch together!

Back in Maryland, doing inventory on our Painters Threads—
and maybe doing a bit of shopping. Such yummy threads!

Rabari Weaving from India

On occasion, I (Teri) like to browse online auctions to see if I might stumble upon some fun finds relating to textile arts. Not long ago, I placed a fairly low bid on an "Exceptional Indian Wall Hanging, Kutchi" and—to my surprise—won the piece. The description claims it to be "an old and particularly fine Ribari tribal weaving, the mirrored panel of hand woven linen, of classic design." Of course, that piqued my interest to learn more.

As Kara mentioned last week, preparing for the Academy of Appliqué is consuming most of our time, as you can see from these shots of my kit-making endeavors, but I did take the time to do a bit of reading about the embroidery of the Rabari people.

Quite simply, the Rabari people are traditionally nomadic shepherds—herding cattle, camel, and goats—located primarily in northwest India. The majority of Rabari today are settled in small villages or towns. I read in numerous accounts that the women are known for their intricate embroidery, and it is an integral part of their lives. Typically, designs are bold in color, with motifs used from their surroundings. Mirrors are quite often incorporated into their designs. 

I hope you will enjoy these close-up views of my newest treasure.

The center motifs, bordered with mirrors—I love how the animals each face both directions.

I didn't find any other cow motifs in my search, but it makes sense to include a cow, since the Rabari are known as cattle herders.

I did find an example of a weaving with a very similar elephant motif. 

The flowers are centered and surrounded by small, glass mirrors.

 A few of the mirrors have cracked, but they were so expertly attached that they remain in place.

A bit of water damage: you can count on those reds to run.

Evidence of the marked pattern—these seemed to have been missed; there is no evidence of stitch marks.

Top right corner of the border

While all the embroidery is hand-stitched, the borders are attached by machine.

The back

Close-up of the back, with a peek inside—the top is attached to a linen backing, but there is no batting in between.

If you would like to learn more about the Rabari people and their exquisite embroidery, here are a few links to get you started.

Rabari People of Northwest India

Dating Rabaris, the Nomads of Kutch

Rabari Culture

Rabari

I am off to continue packing for the Academy and will soon pick Kara up from the airport. There is a chance that we will be so involved with Academy activities next week that we may not post, but we will try to make up for it the following week. Until then—

Happy Stitching!

An Inspirational Walk Through Liechtenstein

At this time of year, for Teri and me (Kara), our dining tables have disappeared under copious amounts of threads and ribbon as we put together kits for the Academy of Appliqué. 

While Teri is diligently working on kits, I had to get my end of things finished a week earlier, as my husband and I would be heading to Bavaria for a work conference this week. Needless to say, putting a blog post together for either of us was going to be a challenge. With that said though, I thought why not bring our readers along, through pictures, on our trip to the Alps—specifically Liechtenstein!

Our daughter flew in to join us on the front end of the trip. She lives in Bangladesh, so it was a long flight and a very drastic change in climate for her. One of the things we wanted to do while she was with us was to visit Liechtenstein. Kaitlin had participated in Model UN in high school, and the country she represented was Liechtenstein. It had always been a dream of hers to visit, so off we went. 

We chose to go to the capital, Vaduz, to take a hike, view the castle, and see the state museum. All three things on our agenda did not disappoint, and hopefully you will enjoy our trip as well!

A view through one of the castle gates

The Prince of Liechtenstein and his family still live in the castle, so we could just view it from a distance.

A storybook view!

A beautiful stone carving along the trail!

It was 50 degrees on our hike, and these snowdrops were a glimpse of the coming of spring.

After our hike, we went to the Liechtenstein National Museum. Unfortunately, we arrived there with just an hour to go through the museum, but we made the most of it. It was definitely worthy of a trip back. I love being inspired by other cultures!

A beautiful national hat

Another hat with some fantastic embroidery!

A decorative handbag.

Crocheted lace collars

This wonderful example of filet crochet has many Liechtenstein symbols and crests.

Close-up

A stunning tapestry depicting the life of Christ

Close-up

A collection of religious jewelry

Not quite a quilt, but this certainly qualifies as appliqué!

A close-up of the coat of arms

I fell in love with these wooden hearts used to decorate the cows
as they come down from the mountains.

The "IHS" is in thanksgiving to He who has preserved the cows and kept them during this time.
They are called Apabfahrtsherz.

A block used for fabric printing

Last but not least, a beautifully preserved Kingfisher. I think this may be the next bird we stitch!

We hope you were inspired by our quick trip to the little country of Liechtenstein. While it may be small, it is big on beauty and inspiration!