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African Threads

Valerie Hearder's African Threads

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Category Archives: Embroidery/Stichery

My Perfect Day

African Threads Posted on August 13, 2017 by Val HearderAugust 13, 2017

It is Sunday and everything is moist and soft in the drizzle and rain of the past few days. I wake early and sit in the stillness to stitch. Simple stitching is restful, contemplative. Later, I’m keen to walk in … Continue reading →

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Posted in contemplative stitching, Embroidery/Stichery, Nature, Slow stitches, Stitching, Uncategorised | Tagged blueberries, contemplative, forage, mushrooms, Nova Scotia, stitching | 2 Replies

Stitching on Spirit Island

African Threads Posted on October 6, 2016 by Val HearderOctober 6, 2016

This past week I was on Manitoulin Island to visit Judy Martin’s home with Penny Berens and Margi Hennen. Manitoulin is known as Spirit Island due to deep spiritual significance to the Indigenous People. What joy to be in this … Continue reading →

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Posted in Community, Creative process, Embroidery/Stichery, Inspiration, Slow stitches | Tagged Creative process, embroidery, indigo, inspiration, Judy Martin, Manitoulin, Penny Berens, prints, retreat, Spirit Island, stitching, stitching friends | 1 Reply

Slow Quilting

African Threads Posted on November 8, 2015 by Val HearderJuly 7, 2016

We gaze at the patchwork, the fine cotton, the tiny quilting stitches. Like sentences in a diary, each patch is a record of a childhood dress, a housecoat and scraps from dressmaking projects from an ear when women made all the families clothing.We sense the comforting continuum of the generations of women who stitch. And so it continues with Cooper’s quilt. We’re doing what women have always done…slow stitching.

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Posted in Community, Embroidery/Stichery, Fabric, Quilts, Slow stitches | Tagged bee, cotton scraps, generations, patchwork, quilting, slow stitching | 5 Replies

Judy’s Journal: I feel as if I know her

African Threads Posted on October 31, 2015 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Judy Martin wrote a lovely piece about some embroideries I’d bought on my recent tour to South Africa. These highly expressive pieces were made by women in the Isipethu Sewing Collective in KwaZulu Natal. We visit this group each time we take our tour to South Africa.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Community, Embroidery/Stichery, Grandmothers of Africa, South African Tour | Tagged embroidery, Isipethu, KwaZulu Natal, sewing collective, South Africa, tour to South Africa | Leave a Reply

Gathering

African Threads Posted on October 28, 2015 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

To gather with friends is a simple, rich experience and, when women gather to stitch, it is particularly special. Last week began with two days with my dear friends, Judy and Margi at Penny’s house in Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia… always a treasured and affirming time.

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Posted in Community, Embroidery/Stichery, Musings, Quilts | Tagged gathering, Judy's Journal, mantra, meditation, stitching, Tanglewood Threads, women | 6 Replies

Embroidery Bearing Witness

African Threads Posted on September 4, 2014 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

On September 7th, a fascinating exhibition of South African embroideries will open at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles. It’s called, Bearing Witness: Embroidery as History in Post-Apartheid South Africa It will feature the work of two groups that I’ve been closely connected to over the past 10 years through my fair trade imports, African Threads and my cultural tours to South Africa.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, art, Embroidery/Stichery, Grandmothers of Africa, Social Commentary, South African Tour, Travel | Tagged African Threads, Bearing Witness, Cultural tour, embroidery, Fowler Museum, Kaross, Mapula, post-apartheid, South Africa, textile tour, UCLA | 2 Replies

Mapula Cloth by Elizabeth Mogano

African Threads Posted on June 16, 2009 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

> Mapula Cloth by Elizabeth Mogan Originally uploaded by African Threads I’ve just returned from 6 weeks in South Africa. It was a truly rich and fascinating time. Veryan and I visited 9 women’s groups in various parts of S.Africa including … Continue reading →

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Embroidery/Stichery, Mapula Embroidery Group, Social Commentary, Uncategorised | Leave a Reply

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