Loose ends...

Multi -tasking is the theme of my life.  Along with the everyday business of the shop - the windows, making up items like mobiles, re-ordering stock from the workshop, individual customer orders, wholesale enquiries and mail order emails - I’m constantly trying to cadge some  time to work on new projects or more frustratingly, complete projects that have been on the go for a while.

Writing lists does help of course help, as we’re always told...I do keep too many things in my head...and prioritising competing demands brings a certain sense of control in the early hours but sometimes I feel as if I’m doomed to be surrounded by loose ends. 

The Quilt and Craft fairs in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra are coming up fast and fresh ideas and products are essential.  On my secondary ‘to-do’ wish list are products related to the shows; creating a new sewn and embellished wardrobe for our felt doll kit... finishing the long overdue patchwork pattern for the back-pack bed...developing a new collection of felted animals...and knitting up samples of new Huggable Friends.  

At the same time, Melbourne’s early winter cold snap has turned customer’s minds to knitting ...so new children’s designs are also underway and I’m playing around with a concept for a book of patterns for children...natural alpaca wools for blankets has been ordered and we’ll soon be knitting up stylish ak blankets.  And I’m thinking about re-visiting the oversized knitted fleece cushions we made years ago...

Of more immediate concern are samples and patterns for our Cancer Council Morning Tea workshops...happily, I have ticked off most boxes and the projects are looking great.  The crazy daffodil doll is particularly appealing – I’ve added arms to our house model so that she can hold her tea cup but her chums look equally charming sans arms.  

Everyday pleasure..

Aside from the sheer artistry, I think the most appealing aspect of Kyrgyz textile tradition has to be the way in which women embellished everyday utilitarian objects with skill and care.   Highly decorative central Asian hats, for example, were principally a marker of identity...ethnicity, gender, status, age...yet many were surely a source of pride and pleasure for the creator.   Viewed now, they are miniature works of art.

Similarly, the various pouches, bags and sacks essential for nomadic life if precious domestic items were to be safely transported were also typically decorative.   Along with my treasured collection of hats, I have several richly embroidered pouches...one favourite that probably held coins or jewellery or perhaps sewing items is worked in a unique, gloriously intricate design.  Sadly its too delicate to use but the power and confidence of the design is strong and brings to mind the hands and spirit that created it and the pleasure it doubtless brought her...

Working on projects for our morning tea I’ve been thinking a lot about the enjoyment that flows from using beautiful everyday objects ... that small jolt of pleasure that comes from a detail only you can see, like the printed lining of a handbag.    Presented with so many practical but often throw away options for storing the essentials of contemporary life, its easy to understand why generations of women across textile cultures have continued to create and personalise the  little things  that can so enrich the everyday.

Everything’s coming up daffodils...

For me, endless cups of tea fuel the creative process and fortify everyday life...

I’m a bit like Samuel Johnson, ‘a hardened and shameless tea drinker’, who for ‘twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant’ ....my (sic) ‘kettle scarcely has time to cool , tea amuses me in (sic) the evening...solaces the midnight and ...welcomes the morning’.

With thanks to Samuel Johnson

This is one of my favourite photographs and illustrates that the ritual of tea is universal...it was taken in the workshop in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and it never fails to make me smile as I think back over long but very happy days developing ak felt products ...days punctuated by laughter – lots of laughter, concentration, enormous creative pleasure and many, many cups of tea.  It was winter on the day this image was taken and bitterly cold...Chinara (left) and Dinara are both rugged up with lots of extra layers and would doubtless see this photo as less than flattering but I love it because it captures those precious shared moments.

Back to 2011 and I’ve decided that ak will be part of Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea, a Cancer Council of Australia event because a very dear person in our family is currently being treated for breast cancer. 

When looking for a theme, it seemed only natural to bring together the genial character of morning tea with mini-workshops to make handmade accessories featuring the Cancer Council of Australia's symbol, bright and cheerful daffodils.  Various project options and beginners most welcome...a great chance to have a play with felting and support a terrific organisation who help countless numbers of Australians.

I’ll be following preparations and my ‘work in progress’ on the different projects in future posts and through a calendar on the blog but the bare bones are as follows

You can look up details or donate on ak’s page at the Cancer Council of Australia’s website www.cancer.org.au/Getinvolved/biggestmorningtea.htm ...

In the meantime, a sneak peak at a new felt sprites I’m playing around with...