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African Threads

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Category Archives: Community

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

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

Stitched into this place.

African Threads Posted on November 17, 2015 by Val HearderJune 27, 2016

Today, when some in our world seem hungry to divide people violently along racial and religious lines, I find myself thinking about growing up in Apartheid South Africa. In Durban in the late 60’s, I was not supposed to go alone to the Indian Market, in the heart of the city. Here I found community and my world grew bigger.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Community, Fabric, Fabric shopping, Musings, My history, Social Commentary, South African Tour, Travel | Tagged African medicine, Apartheid, bunny chow, culture, curry, Durban, fabric shopping, Hindu, Indian Market, Madrassa Arcade, Muslim, South Africa, tour, Victoria Market | 3 Replies

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

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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