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African Threads

Valerie Hearder's African Threads

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Category Archives: Quilts

Silk Swaddling Blanket

African Threads Posted on March 27, 2019 by Val HearderMarch 27, 2019

I stitched a silk swaddling blanket from silk dyed with avocado stones, coleus leaves, onion skins and saffron. Our third grandchild is due next week, the same day we fly to South Africa for most of April. I wanted something … Continue reading →

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Posted in ecodyes, natural dyes, needle art, Quilts, Slow stitches, Uncategorised | Tagged avocado stones, babe, blanket, natural dyes, onion skins, silk, stitching swaddling | 10 Replies

Grace McKnight: Crochet

African Threads Posted on December 12, 2018 by Val HearderDecember 12, 2018

I’ve always been certain that needlework holds stories while nurturing the soul. This belief was happily affirmed while I was curating Grace McKnight’s crochet exhibition over the past 3 years. Grace took doilies made by her grandmother, found vintage doilies, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Community, Creative process, needle art, People, Quilts, Uncategorised | Tagged art, crazy quilt, crochet, doilies, fractals, needle arts, vintage, women's work | Leave a Reply

Repair

African Threads Posted on March 23, 2018 by Val HearderMarch 23, 2018

The indigo cotton is soft, like faded blue jeans with the same comfortable worn-in feeling. I’m patching this baby quilt I made for Leitha when I was 28. The quilt is now used by Scarlett and is showing it’s wear. … Continue reading →

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Posted in contemplative stitching, indigo, My history, Quilts, shwe-shwe, Stitching, Uncategorised | Tagged baby quilt, blue, grand-daughter., homeland, indigo, memories, mending, patch, repari, work-in | 7 Replies

Sweet Scarlett

African Threads Posted on February 14, 2017 by Val HearderFebruary 14, 2017

It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I’d catch up by showing you Scarlett’s baby quilt which I finished last fall. I began the quilt about a year ago and stitched on it slowly. My favourite stitching … Continue reading →

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Posted in Quilts, Slow stitches, Studio, Uncategorised | Tagged appliqué, baby quilt, Dorr wool, napping blanket, rugh hooking, stitching | 8 Replies

One for sorrow, two for joy

African Threads Posted on December 5, 2016 by Val HearderDecember 5, 2016

This morning as I watched the group of 5 crows who inhabit my garden every day, I thought of Susan Tilsley Manley. Susan was talented quilt artist who made fine art quilts about her country life in Nova Scotia. Susan … Continue reading →

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Posted in People, Quilts, Social Commentary, Uncategorised | Tagged crows, Nova Scotia, quilt, rural life, Susan tilsley Manley | Leave a 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

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

November Retreat

African Threads Posted on November 24, 2013 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

November art retreat.

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Posted in art, Quilts | 1 Reply

The Quilts of Polly Greene

African Threads Posted on August 22, 2013 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Polly and Val laughingI joined Barb Robson and Laurie Swim to co-curate this show of Polly’s personal collection of bed quilts, quilted wall hangings, woven coverlets. The quilts and woven coverlets are not all pristine; they have been put on beds, washed and used. When faded and worn, quilts still hold the process of making and gain layers of memories and stories.

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Posted in Quilts | Tagged and Cloths, Barb Robson, Bedcloths, curators, Halifax, Laurie Swim, Mary Black Gallery, Nova Scotia, of Polly Greene, Quilts, Val hearder | Leave a Reply

Dessert with an Extraordinary Quilter

African Threads Posted on April 27, 2012 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Every year the Mahone Bay Quilters prepare an amazing feast of desserts that cover 2 banquet tables. We invite an Extraordinary Quilter to be our speaker and so, it’s the perfect combination of desserts and quilts. This event “Dessert with an Extraordinary Quilter” started 12 years ago and was the brainchild of Barb Robson.

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Posted in Quilts | Tagged Barb Robson, dessert, humour, Lynne Edwards, Mahone Bay, Penny Berens, quilt, wisdom | Leave a Reply

Found!

African Threads Posted on June 20, 2008 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Friday 20 June:  This afternoon a journalist from a t.v. station in St. John’s phoned to say that a young man had called the station to say he’d found my quilts. The journalist interviewed the fellow, and saw my quilts … Continue reading →

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Posted in Community, Quilts, Uncategorised | 13 Replies

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