Kusangalala Art & Textiles

Hello from Kusangalala, we have had a great week with our last 2 Ladies joining us and #6 quilt top finished. With 6 Ladies quilting they are working quickly and have finished 2 large quilts and working on 2 now. So please meet Ruth and Rhodah…

Ruth Nkhoma

Ruth is 42 years old and has a very large family. Her husband Max is a night watchman at Tribal Textiles and she says “having work is good so I work at day and Max can work at night..”. They have 7 living children and 3 grandchildren who were left with them when their first born daughter died several years ago. Their 1st living child is married and lives with her husbands family nearby. The 2nd, a girl, in grade 9. The 3rd, a son, in grade 7. The 4th, a girl, in grade 4. The 5th, a girl, in grade 3. and the 6th and 7th, a boy andgirl are at home waiting to start school in the next few years. It is a remarkable feat to have all of their children in school, especially the girls, who are often pulled out of school at age 13 because of money. Ruth is a very experienced seamstress and worked for may years for Adrienne Carr when he was running an embroidery project in the Valley. We are very lucky to have her with us.

Rhodah Zulu

Rhodah is 43 years old and has 3 grown children, 1 school age son and 2 grandchildren. Her husband passed away several years ago from malaria. Her 1st born daughter is married with2 children and lives with Rhodah working the family veg plot. Her 2nd born son lives in Zimbabwe and is attending college studying accounting. Her 3rd born daughter is waiting to start college in the fall and is planning on becoming a nurse. And her 4th born son is in grade 3.

We are very lucky to add these women to the Collective, now with the 6 of them all together the laughter rings out from the sewing circle all day long.

Pinwheels 1

Detail of Pinwheels 1

…and finally, the new quilt top this week is Pinwheels 1.

Other critter news, I had a squirrel break through the thatch roof on the inside and get stuck in the house. It was quite funny, me and the 6 Ladies trying to chase him out of the house, which we finally did after much laughter.

Hope you are all well…till next week.

Hello from Kusangalala Art & Textiles, we have had a wonderful week with the full staff working away. With the second frame up we are starting to look like a real quilting workshop. The Ladies are getting very involved with the designing of the quilts and like to give they’re critiques of each design I come up with. So far they have approved of all the designs and are enjoying being more involved in the process. I have just finished top #5, just 11 more to go…Oh boy!

Since I have been making both the designs and the quilting patterns more detailed this year I have also decided to add two more Ladies starting next week, so there will be 6 Ladies in the Collective, very exciting! More about Rhoda and Ruth next week.

Alice & Suzie finishing Colors of Africa and Cecilia & Sarah working on Lightning Sky.

Suzie and Alice showing the new Quilt top, Night Sky.

Detail of Night Sky

The Night Sky quilt was inspired by the recurring pattern in Showa Cloth from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Amish quilt designs from Ohio.

Showa Cloth, by the Showa people of the Kuba Kingdom of Kasai in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Other plot news, I have a Vervet monkey troop that has moved onto the plot with me. They are not at all afraid of me and come very close to the back door and sit in the sun on the large log next to the hut. They are a young troop (lots of babies) and very cheeky. Because I am so close to the Village this year there are not alot of animals around, we have alot of birds but most of the animals have moved off. So I was very excited when this troop decided to move into the Ebony and Plam trees around my hut. Currently they are feeding on the large seeds the Palms product, the locals call them “Monkey Biscuits”. The monkeys eat the outer husks or “biscuit” from around the seeds.

Vervet Monkeys having breakfast with me, they are very close, within 2 yards from my back door.

 And finally I thought I would show you all my shower boiler because it is really great, a true luxury in the bush. Every morning Blackson (plot watchman) starts a fire in the base of the boiler and a half hour later I have a wonderful hot shower (great water pressure too). It is winter here now and can be quite cold in the mornings so a hot shower is a must!

Hot water boiler out back behind the bathroom area and outdoor shower.

Hope you are all well…till next week

Hello from Kusangalala Art & Textile, we have been open for 1 week now and things are moving right along. We have added our two new Ladies to the Quilting Collective, please meet Sarah Zulu and Cecilia Chulu.

Sarah Zulu

Sarah is 42 years old and the mother of 3 teenage children, her oldest is finished with school and works the family maize and veg plot, the middle is in grade 11 and the youngest is in grade 9. Her husband abandoned the family years ago and Sarah is the families sole support. She says “Ï am happy now to have a job so I can save to build my family a new house with metal sheets for roof.”

Cecilia Chulu

Cecilia is 49 years old and the mother of 5 children and grandmother of 4. Her oldest is married, has 4 children and helps support the large family working the family maize and veg plot. Her second has moved away to Endola to make her way there. Her third is the family black sheep and a “beer drunk” as Cecilia says, she doesn’t know what to do with him. The fourth is in school doing grade 11 and the youngest is in grade 4. Cecilia’s husband passed away from malaria in early 2004, leaving her to support her large family. Cecilia brings a wonderful smile and wicked laugh to the quilting circle and is a true joy to be around.

till next week…

It has been a crazy 2 weeks getiing all the odd and ends organized for the new season. It finally all came together yesterday with moving day. I have moved the mass of quilting supplies, food, and generator into to Freya’s wonderful house. It is a large one room, thatch roof hut surrounded by palm trees. Derick, the plot foreman, has set up my generator and I now have power for my sewing machine and to recharge my ipod, computer and cell phone (I guess I have not unplugged quite yet). It is a powerful little generator but it guzzles the petrol (so I might be unplugging sooner rather then later). The house has a wonderful outdoor shower and just enough room for a perfect sewing studio.

My home for the next 4 months.

Today we started the 2010 season of Kusangalala Art & Textiles. Alice and Suzie are back with me this year, and both are healthy and happy to be back at work. They started our first quilt, Colors of Africa, today and are right back to top form. They will settle in to the routine for the next couple of days then on Friday our 2 new Ladies (Cecila and Sarah) start training. We will have our second quilting frame and new chairs (being built for us by Andrew the local carpenter) by then and the full staff will be hard at work on the 2010 Collection.

Suzie and Alice, opening day June 1, 2010.

Colors of Africa - String 2010

 till next week….

Hello everyone, well this is my first post on the new Kusangalala Art & Textiles blog. I will be heading back to Africa tomorrow to start working on the 2010 Collection. It will be wonderful to be working with the Ladies Collective again. Alice and Susie will be leading the Collective and we will be adding two new Ladies, bringing our team to 4 for the 2010 season. Here is a look at the first quilt of the collection. Kuba Red #1 inspired by the traditional Kuba Cloth from the Congo. Kuba Red is an original design, queen size quilt, made with over 1000 individual pieces.