Blog Giveaway- Sharing My Love Afffair with Silk

The wonderful Michele Foster is hosting another blog hop in hopes of chasing the winter blues away. I sure hope it works! I decided to share some of my silk from my travels.

The silk I am sharing today is from Kyrgyzstan, a small, poor country near China. I had the privilege of traveling to Kyrgyzstan to curate an exhibition of American art quilts and Kyrgyz patchwork.  The silk was produced during Soviet times. While silk use to be a major industry in Kyrgyzstan, that ended when the Soviet Union fell apart. There is a small effort being made to weave silk again in Osh, where I purchased the silk in an open air market. I've included a photograph I took of the women who were selling it (note the meter silk she is using to measure it). In addition, there is a photo transfer of postage stamps from Kyrgyzstan.

Each piece is approximately 9" x 28" and as you can see in the second photograph, you can use either side. I hope you enjoy owning a little bit of history.


Read Carefully:

1. I will ship internationally.
2. I won't be responsible if the package gets lost in the mail.
3. Winner will be announced on March 20 in honor of the spring equinox.  I will not track you down so make sure you either check back or leave an easy way for me to contact you so I can get your address. If I don't hear from you within 24 hours, a new winner will be selected.
4.  I love people who follow my blog and want them to know it so my followers will get their names put into the hat twice. My last blog giveaway a follower won!

Enjoy the hop!

Valentine's Day and Foto/Fiber

Happy Valentine's Day! I had really hoped to have this sweet quilt done by this Valentine's Day, however, it didn't happen. Maybe by next year. February 14 was originally a Roman feast day celebrating the beginning of the mating season of birds (hence the association with love).

I must admit that I am in a little bit of a panic. My sewing machine is acting up. It has developed a clunking noise and occasionally turns itself off. I cannot image myself at this point in time without a machine. I tried oiling it. No luck. Think I will try denial just a little longer. Isn't that a river in Egypt?

Don't forget that Foto/Fiber begins tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Central.  The goal is to add $7,000 to the $215,000 already donated to the American Cancer Society. There are 4 ways to win with this fundraiser - one of which is that 100% of the funds are donated directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause. The other three are detailed on Virginia Spiegel's blog. If you want a jump on how things will work tomorrow, please check out http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FotoFiber2012Directions.html. I still can't decide which photo I want! How about you?

Here is another on of my donated BONUSES. These are two pieces of Georgian silk (country not state) that are 9" by 36". Georgia was on the Silk Road and once produced wonderful silk. You will be amazed at the hand. Unfortunately, they no longer produce any silk. I purchased this silk in the open air market in Tbilisi (capital of Georgia). The employees were paid in silk at the closing of the production sites and sold to make money for their families. I never purchased any all white silk because I knew how rare and important it was to the batik artists in Georgia. I'm also including an embroider bracelet made by nuns to support their efforts to help unwed mothers (young girls) and run a hospice for the poor. Of course, it will all be in a box like the one I shared yesterday.