Postcard Delivered

This is my journal quiltlet for February finished.  Thank you for your comments, I decided to write in Maltese, the proverb translates as,
"After bad weather comes fine weather".
I used lace and thread dyed with woad on the quilt as well as commercially produced cotton perlé and a little of that Chinese silk thread used for tassels.  As the Chinese New Lunar Year was celebrated when we were in Malta it seemed appropriate.
Now we are home I shall return to my New Zealand project before thinking about the next journal quilt in March.  We also have two great workshops coming up in Country Roads Quilters, one to make a lantern-style fabric bowl and one with Jennie Rayment so I'm going to be busy!
The weather is awful here, grey, grey, grey and wet, just right for sitting by the fire to stitch.  Enjoy your Sunday.

Contemporary Journal Quilt - February

This is the start of my quiltlet for February.

I am on holiday in Malta so this month my work will have a very different feel from January.

You will see that I have included one fabric from January, one of my self-imposed "rules" for this project.  Another "rule" was that I include some text and I am currently collecting ideas and pondering this for February.  It won't be written in Maltese though, I couldn't pronounce it!

Today is the Festival of Broken Needles in Japan so it is a good day to be stitching and be thankful for the most simple and essential if our tools.  Firstly though I have a pedicure booked in the spa 😉

Maltese Patchwork

In all my visits to Malta I have hoped and failed to find any evidence of patchwork and quilting. I've even searched through the "Yellow Pages" but the craft shops I've found have offered mainly knitting wool, cross stitch and tapestry and there is some card making appearing. Of course, Malta, and especially the smaller island, Gozo, have their own tradition of lace making and still produce very fine work although it is getting difficult to find younger people to continue the skill. There are many haberdashery shops and recently I found a small shop that seemed to be selling tassels and very little else. There are also shops selling dressmaking fabric and suiting cloth. I have, however, at long last, found some patchwork and I proudly present to you:

The Marsaxlokk Fishing Cloth

Colour

The colours of Malta; the sea and the rocks. The beads are cut and polished Maltese calcite, the blue is silk. I'm not usually attracted to yellow but this is so warm and golden that I couldn't resist it. 

"Yellow Calcite will stimulate the intellect, help one organize intellectual thoughts and information as well as boot one's general energy level. From this it will naturally increase ones personal power and sense of self worth."

"Honey Calcite is a stone that will gently amplify energy. It also assists in the challenges associated with change in general. It enhances psychic abilities, astral projection and higher consciousness."

(From thehippi2000, eBay seller)

Ideas

An interesting patchwork of building materials, green plants and water. The colours and shapes of Malta in a modern version. 

A Gift from Japan

I enjoyed seeing this pagoda in the San Anton Gardens in Attard, Malta. 

Designed by the Sea

There are some interesting shapes here, eroded into the rock by the power of the water. Inspiration maybe?

More Maltese Texture

Some more textural inspiration and yours truly enjoying the sunshine on Dingli Cliffs. 

Texture

Today I am thinking about texture. I don't know whether anything here will ever be translated into something in textiles but I have had fun looking. 

Post-Operative Stitches

I have a couple of finishes to share today.  My toe operation was put back by a day and so I had a free day to sew on Tuesday.  I finished my Malta cloth and a little bracelet bag (a kit from EuroJapan Links).

The Malta cloth, "Going Up, Coming Down",  has been a long project.  It started with cloth weaving when I did an online workshop with Jude Hill.  Over two trips to Malta I have added the embellishments, using up cycled fabrics, buttons and embroidery and lace, ribbon and thread bought on the island.  It is finally finished and I am finally happy with it.  I find it difficult to know when a piece like this is finished.  Posts about the project is progress can be found here, here, and here.  I used the piece of eco-dyeing that I did in Malta as the backing and bordered it with a batik to represent the island being in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.  I couched a bright cord within the border to represent the many festas and the big carnival that takes place on Malta.

This little bag was quick and straightforward to make.  I bought it as a kit but I think I will be using the pattern again and again.  It's a good size for a little portable project carrier and could easily be made larger to use as a toiletries bag for example.  I didn't quilt the bag but with a plain fabric I think quilting or sashiko would be very effective.

The bracelet bag is photographed against the piece I have been working on this morning.  As well as preparing the boro cloth to stitch during my convalescence I have this lovely piece of dyed cloth to stitch into.  It is a piece of kimono silk that I eco-dyed with Nat in Fujino, using moss, leaves and bark that I collected when we visited a shrine in the foothills of Mount Fuji.

So far I have simply back stitched the outline of the mountain in various places on the cloth using silk threads.  The bottom collection of peaks are stitched in a lovely thread that Carin sent me, it is a very fine perle thread and the green is perfect with the dyed fabric.  The paler threads at the top are YLI and Daruma silks.  I shall also be using some heavier threads that Blandina gave me when we were in Fujino so this is going to be another piece that is full of memories.  I think about those people and places as I stitch.

Not that stitching is that easy.  I thought I would have lovely long days of sitting with my foot up and sewing away to my heart's content.  At the moment I am finding it very hard to concentrate for very long and need to have frequent rests.  I'm sure this will improve, especially when I can manage with fewer painkillers, they make me even more ga-ga than usual!!  Wishing you a wonderful weekend, especially if you're in UK and have three days :-)

Surfacing and Plans

It has been a while since I wrote a post.  Our trip to Malta was great but, as ever, the travelling caught up with me.  If only I could go to sleep in my hotel bed and wake the next morning in my own bed.  Now that would be an 'app' worth having.

Nat forwarded me a photograph that she took while we were shopping in Tokyo, in a shop filled with vintage fabrics.  Also in the picture are our sensei, Bryan, and my indigo sister, Janine.  The staff there described us as the "Western Ladies Bomb" and had a lot of tidying up to do once we'd finished our shopping spree.  The photo reminded me that I have not shared my shopping in Japan with you and so I shall organise that for my next post. 
I also have to share our visit to the Indigo Master, one of the most amazing days of the Japanese Textile Study Tour.  I have just seen on Bryan's blog that he is planning some indigo workshops in the Autumn.  Do have a look, I highly recommend them.  Here's the link:  Autumn 2012 Japanese Indigo Workshop and you will find all the details and costs there.  Just staying at Bryan's farmhouse is a wonderful experience, the workshops themselves will be fantastic.
I am starting to be able to organise my creative thoughts post-Japan.  More about that in a while.

PS If you're waiting for my Maltese eco-dyeing it will be a little while longer.  I took a peek and it was very pale and sort of wishy-washy so I've given it another steam and set it aside for a while longer....I need to learn patience.

Peasant Costume 2

 

This is DH's handkerchief all bundled up with flowers and leaves that I have gathered here on Malta.  It is currently sitting in the steam room in our swept-up hotel room and I'm trying to resist untying it!

Below you can see samples of dyed cotton from the exhibition I visited on Monday.  You will spot some indigo, which was probably first brought to the islands in 1746 and was then used until the First World War.  Most of the dye colours are in the yellowy to brown range, from plants such as pomegranate, daisies, camomile, grass and then onion skins were used for the rusty orange colours.  Fibres were also used in their natural colours of white through to cream.

 

Here is a Gozitan dye pot, isn't it great?  According to the book accompanying the exhibition, "Peasant Costumes - Insights into Rural Life and Society", many villages here had at least one specialist "tintore" or "mghallem" making their living from dyeing thread which was a time consuming process.

My assumption was that the thread being used in Malta and Gozo by the ordinary people would be wool.  In fact it was cotton.  At one time all available land was given over to cotton growing and an area of half an acre of cotton could provide sufficient income for a family.  Cotton was traded between the local people in its various stages and finally exported as yarn into Spain.  In 1800 the annual export of cotton yarn into Spain was valued at half a million pounds sterling.  The country folk of the Maltese Islands used cotton for clothing and household textiles but may also have kept a couple of sheep and used wool for extra warmth and for filling pillows and mattresses.

This fellow is ready to go to market.  His cap, shirt and underpants are historically accurate reproductions but the rest of his outfit is from the 19th century.  He wears a cotton waistcoat "sidrija", cotton trousers "qalziet" and has a cotton pouch "horga" over his shoulder and a cotton sash "terha" around his waist.

Malta Cloth Finish

A finish (except for the backing and binding) - my Malta cloth is done and I am quite satisfied with it.  It is called "Going Up, Coming Down?" after the building work here. It is almost impossible to tell whether something is being constructed or demolished and Al and I try to guess.  Our general belief is that if there is a crane on site then the building is going up.

Speaking of the backing...I have decided to try some eco-dyeing while I'm here for the backing but haven't got any suitable fabric with me.  "Allie babe....", sure enough DH came up with the goods, greater love hath no man than he would hand over his brand new white cotton handkerchief to be dyed with prickly pear flowers.  Watch this space.

Speaking of flowers, I found these white strelitzia in the hotel grounds this morning, rather different from the usual vivid orange/blue version isn't it?
Today has been a lovely relaxing day.  We had a stroll this morning and then I stitched while Al sudokued (is that a verb?) and read the newspaper.  Here's a picture from yesterday's trip into Valletta, there was no way I was going down this street, look at the up to follow!  Many of the smaller streets are steps, Lord Byron referred to them without any love in his poem Farewell to Malta
Adieu, ye cursed streets of stairs!
(How surely he who mounts you swears!)

Hoping you've all had a lovely weekend - I know that England has been having some excellent weather at long last :-)

View of the Grand Harbour

A gentle day in Malta today with a very special highlight.  We went into Valletta and visited the National Museum of Fine Arts.  There was the fairly predictable collection of religious paintings by Maltese and Italian artists especially, all fairly dark but the detail was still possible to appreciate.  Some of the paintings date from the 14th Century.  There was a collection of modern bronzes in a lovely sunlit courtyard but the room that attracted me was a collection of pictures of the Grand Harbour of Malta and the surrounding area.  There were some lovely, understated watercolour and ink sketches by Edward Lear (probably better known for writing limericks and The Owl and the Pussycat) and there was a tiny watercolour jewel,

View of the Grand Harbour painted by Joseph Mallard William Turner in 1830. 

It was exquisite and worth the admission to the museum on it's own.  Here's a link to an article about the loaning of the painting to the museum http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20030321/local/turner-painting-of-grand-harbour-on-display.154041
This afternoon we returned to our hotel and I stitched and enjoyed the sunshine while Al studied the Arriva website - the bus "timetables" change tomorrow, it could be a chaotic day on Malta's roads!

Maltese Stitching

In case you think this has just become a travel blog I thought I'd share some stitching today - for the first time for ages!
This is what I'm working on while I'm in Malta.  It's a woven cloth I started after doing an online class with Jude Hill and those of you who have been with me for a while will have seen it in the early stages and also know that I've found it's not really my "thing".  However, I decided I would bring it with me to finish here, if I'm not motivated in the place that inspired the project then there is no hope.
I wove the cloth first and tacked it to a muslin backing.  Now I am stitching and adding various embellishments, all aspects of the island.

  Detail:

I was actually very encouraged this morning when I showed it to DH, his comment? 
"That completely says "Malta" to me."

New Buses on Malta

Warning:  this is a bus heavy post!!

Today I am having a relaxing day in the sunshine after a wearying day yesterday.  It wasn't intentional to get worn out and I blame Arriva buses.  They have been on Malta for nearly a year now, replacing those lovely vintage vehicles the island was famous (infamous?) for.  They don't seem to have got things quite straight yet, a proper timetable isn't available and the one that is doesn't list all the buses, show the routes clearly or give times!  We were aiming to go to the south coast, to enjoy Dingli Cliffs in the sunshine after lunch in Mdina.  Firstly we had to get a 41 from outside our hotel.  Now this is a Valletta bus and they all seem to arrive full so we got a bus in the opposite direction first with the intention of getting a seat!  Good plan but of course the bus still filled up and was stifling.  (I'm not sure the buses supplied were new when they got here, they seem to have all sorts of technical problems, like non-functioning air con for a start).  We arrived in Mosta when we knew we had to change to an X3.  What we didn't know, without a proper timetable, was that the X3 goes from the first stop in Mosta, not the "terminus" near the church, the Mosta Dome.  So, we had to retrace our journey, uphill (of course) and in the heat, rushing because the buses only seem to run every hour and we didn't want to miss it when it did come.  We arrived in Mdina, the lovely old capital of Malta, also known as the Silent City

and headed for a much needed drink and lunch at our favourite restaurant.  Aaaagh, the door to the restaurant and the Carmelite Priory (to which it belongs) was firmly shut, no signs, nothing.  We wondered what had happened to the lovely Charlene who used to run it with her brother.  (Admittedly this is probably not Arriva's fault!!)  Okay, find a different place for lunch, one with a great view across the island as it happened:

Next we wandered in the shade of the Silent City for a while and then went to find a 201 to Dingli.  By the time we reached the cliffs I was feeling pretty tired and so we decided to stay on the bus and make notes for another day - where the bus stops are located etc.  The views were lovely and it would have been a spectacular place to stroll or picnic. 
How are you doing, are you enjoying my bus-related rant?
One plus point, the 201 continued to the Blue Lagoon and actually went down the hill to the village and back up again, saving quite a climb after a lovely boat trip another day.  The bus then continue to the airport.  Why oh why in this day and age would it seem a good idea to make the international airport the location of a bus terminus?  Just asking!  Surely you just need buses that serve incoming and outgoing flights, not buses for the hospital, the race course etc etc.  Another scenic journey on the X1 followed, on some fairly good roads and along the north coast of the island until we finally arrived at our hotel over an hour after leaving the airport.
A soak in the hot tub and straight to bed for me, DH brought me a plate of salad from dinner later on.

Today it is 26C and the wind is now a gentle breeze.  We are making the most of it and having a very relaxing day.  Our only exertion has been to stroll about 30m along the street to buy some pastizzi for lunch:

straight from the oven!  Excuse me now, I'm heading back to my lounger for a rest!

Maltese Wildlife

In case you were feeling envious, dear reader, I have to tell you that although it is warm again today it is cloudy and blowing a hoolie!  We went for a lovely walk along the coast (downhill, and got the bus back) and got quite sandblasted at one point!  We found the Ghadira Nature Reserve and had a lovely walk around there. Malta is not too hot on conservation so this is an important project.  It wasn't sunny enough for lizards and snakes but we saw some good flora and birds:

and had a good view of the Red Tower built in 1649 by Grand Master Lascaris and dedicated to St Agatha:

We also had a good view of lots of kite surfers who were enjoying the wind much more than we were:

Our bus trip back up the long and winding (and steep) road was our first on Malta courtesy of Arriva (go Ed!!*) who recently took over the bus service and brought it in line with European regulations.  It means the iconic Maltese buses, held together with faith and duct tape, are no more.
Al just called from the balcony (where he is being kept amused by watching Maltese v tourist drivers on these narrow streets) that the sun is out, I am away to bake gently.

* a comment purely to amuse my DD who I am trying to pair with a nice guy called Ed who works with Arriva!)