eQuilter Blog

Sometimes we embark on an adventure, with certain expectations, and at some point we have to embrace the surprisingly enchanting reality or be limited by our expectations.

Sometimes we have an opportunity to experience a new way of doing things…as a quilter, as an artist, as a fabric lover…and we have a choice of making a breakthrough or clinging to the rigid familiar boundaries.

When is the last time you pushed yourself to jump off the metaphoric cliff and have an adventure without expectations, just to see what would happen?

It could be a travel adventure, a creative leap of faith, trying out a new technique or medium, or just removing the adjectives you use to describe yourself…and being a blank white sheet of paper.

My trip to Bali challenged my expectations, but it was a cleansing experience, and I feel like I pushed the Reset button on this trip. Our quilting industry sometimes seems oversaturated with an amazing amount of fabrics and products, but we still occupy a teeny tiny little sliver of the textile world.

After our group spent a morning in one of Princess Mirah’s batik factories, everyone came away with a greater appreciation for the multi-tiered handmade process that creates these gorgeous fabrics. I could see it in our group’s eyes – “WOW!” – and this was just for batiks that are made for the American quilt industry market.

After taking a class and using a handheld tool called a Tjanting to “draw” a batik resist image on a square of fabric, we all had a better appreciation for what it takes to create a hand-painted batik panel.

After visiting an ikat factory where we saw images created in the warp and weft threads through a resist method, then woven by hand on shuttle floorlooms, we began to truly think outside the box in terms of what textiles were precious, and what textiles could be used in quilts or other projects. Eventually we were all collecting 2 meter sarong pieces (prints, batiks and ikats) to bring home, for our own unique Bali-inspired quilts.

Theater costumes have always been a great inspiration for me, and we were fortunate enough to see 3 costumed dance performances on this trip. On our last day, Mirah’s nieces and nephews performed at the Karangasem Palace, in gorgeous costumes laden with gold metallic, beads and crystals, embroidery and pom-poms, and 3-D sculptural cut-outs. The children were 5-15 years old, and wore elaborate headpieces, with eye-popping dazzling fabrics. I don’t know who enjoyed the dance performance more – the children, or our group of intrepid traveling quilters!

The photo above shows 2 of Mirah’s nephews performing the traditional Baris dance, with the Gamelan orchestra in the background. After this we were treated to a purification ceremony, with the family resident priest. We had flowers tucked behind our ears, floral headbands and anointed foreheads, and holy water washing our faces heads and hands. Wearing our sarongs and flowers, I think we all pushed the Reset button that day.

* My thanks to Mirah, my fellow travelers, and Jim at Sew Many Places, for making this trip so special! *

How do you push the Reset button? Hiking in the mountains? Snorkeling on a reef? Cleaning your studio? Picking a color you hate and making a quilt you love?

Watching the Royal Wedding?

I know there is a lot of hype around Friday’s wedding, but behind the hype there is a family that is taking a big step forward on that day. My best London friend of 25 years was roommates with Diana’s older sister, so I have a more personal view of the event. I for one will be sharing the joy, and watching for Kate’s dress which is sure to spawn a huge trend in fashion, and perhaps a trend in fabrics too.

After immersing myself in Balinese Art, Color and Design for 9 days, I feel like I am wearing those polarized glasses that make everything look like it is sparkling with rainbow colors!

The Colors of Bali are not just a postcard gimmick for the tourists – this is really how the people of Bali adorn themselves and their homes. In particular I am thinking about certain shades of pink, purple and green that I saw in the rice paddies, the flowers, and the brilliant sarongs. Color is a way of life there, and I feel blessed to have absorbed the colors of their spirituality, their love of Nature, and the artwork they create so freely.

I arrived in Los Angeles late Friday night, and I am writing this before I fly home to Denver on Saturday. I took about 4000 photos, and even though I've posted several colorful images on my photo page, I will definitely be editing and posting more pictures so I can share the inspiration of this amazing island.

The other thing that really strikes you in Bali is that the people are so sweet and genuine. I never felt like they were scheming ways to rip off the tourists – but rather they had a genuine concern for our well-being, and a gentle nature that comes from a simpler lifestyle and a slower pace of living.

As I wrote about last Tuesday, there are so many villages there that are dedicated to the creation of artwork. As we would drive along narrow roads, punctuated by dogs and children, the neon green of the rice paddies would sparkle with the reflected sun off the water. Clear mountain streams were channeled to run through the center of town and we'd see children playing and bathing in the cool water. Everywhere we went, we'd see kites tugging on unseen strings…with a small child at the end of the long line. Roadside art galleries revealed the artist's studio just behind the artwork. Village after village would have seemingly endless rows and rows of stone carvings… their dramatic light and shadowplay deepening as the sun dropped lower and took on a golden glow. Mothers walked along the road with their babies tied around them in a colorful sarong, and a woven basket of fruits balanced on their head.

On one of our last days, we drove into the mountains, until we were following a single lane road along the top spine of a ridge, with a huge lake down below on one side, and a ravine full of coffee plantations and shrouds of mist on the other side. Fields of blue hydrangeas appeared along the side of the road, and after our lunch we saw the villagers cutting and binding huge bushels of hydrangea blossoms, and leaving them curbside for pickup. Across the ravine, the reddening clove tree orchards glowed with early Fall colors. (Bali is 8 degrees below the equator – now is their early Fall season)

I'll be sharing the visual poetry of Bali over the next week or two as I go through my photos. Sorry you couldn't join me this time – but I hope this is the next best thing!

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Mission of Love has received over 800 quilts for our *1000 Quilts for Japan* so far, and our deadline is still 2 weeks away. MOL has posted a video showing several of the quilts received.

Are you working on a quilt right down to the deadline? Let us know – we can be flexible with the deadline if we have a flurry of quilts being shipped at the last minute. This week we'll be shipping quilts dropped off at eQuilter.

For more information on our eQuilter project to send quilts to Japan's homeless tsunami victims, please read our project page.

How would you like to live in a place where you have two choices of career: be an artist/craftsperson, or work in the rice fields?

I am writing to you from Nusa Dua near Denpasar Bali, on my 5th day of touring here. Yesterday we spent most of the day in Ubud, which is famous for its locally made arts and crafts. Driving to this town, the roads are lined with tiny open-air shops displaying stone carvings, wood carvings, paintings, glass mosaics, art studios and craft workshops. Entire villages can be dedicated to one artform. The quantity of artwork shop after shop, village after village, is staggering. These artful villages are surrounded by rice paddies… so it appears that the main career choices are between arts/crafts, and working in the fields.

On the way back to our hotel today, we passed an open air community structure where schoolchildren were receiving their instruction on Balinese dance. The boys were on stage, having a blast with their teacher, learning intricate hand gestures and arm positions. We were told that all children either learn to play a musical instrument like the Gamelan, or learn the intricate Balinese dances.

I’ve always thought that I was a little special or different because I believed since I was a child that I was an artist, and a creative person. Not everyone feels they have the opportunity to pursue that point of view as they become adults.

As we rode along these tiny village roads, and I saw all the creative talent that was expressed by the locals, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to grow up in a community where everyone is considered to have creative talent, and everyone is encouraged to develop those talents professionally. Instead of having to go out and sell one’s art, in these communities the world comes to them, to view and purchase their work. Would I still feel special if I lived in a village of artists, where everyone paints, carves, sews, dances, plays music, or otherwise expresses themselves? Yes! Special… and lucky!

Everywhere we go, there are signs announcing ” Batiks”. We are buying armloads of beautiful sarongs – prints, batiks and ikats. They are about 2 meters long. I plan to bring them home and we’ll cut them up into a sample packet so you can have some of my scrumptious Balinese local fabrics to work into your quilts. My favorites have borders around the edges. For avid textile collectors, this place is a dream. For a designer, there is so much eye candy and design/color inspiration, it makes my head spin.

This photo above was taken yestserday, just south of Ubud here in Bali, with a view across the ravine at the steeply terraced rice paddies…and some patchwork quilts hanging in the foreground!

I started traveling on Tuesday, and arrived here on Thursday, (after crossing the international date line…. travel including layovers was 32 hrs total) so it has been rather disorienting and I have had no idea what day it is….until Paul asked "when are you going to write the newsletter?"

Friday we visited one of Princess Mirah's batik factories, and it was fascinating to watch how these colorful fabrics are hand-dyed on the ground in the sun, stamped with wax, and then boiled to remove the wax.

Everyone in the group said they came away with a new appreciation for the value of these hand-dyed imported Batiks. There are so many steps, and it is a painstaking process. Ribbons of newly-dyed cotton hang parallel to dry, and 2 of the workers' young children play among the colors.

Saturday morning (before it got too hot and humid) we attended a traditional Balinese Barung play, complete with a 20-pc. Gamelon orchestra. The costumes were ornate, with lots of layers and embellishment. I've posted photos on my photo page and my Facebook page if you'd like to have a look.

We also visited an ikat weaving site, a woodcarver coop, and then learned how to draw a batik design with wax and a tjanting drawing tool. We topped it off with an Indonesian restaurant that had a Philippino band playing tunes from the 70's and 80's, and a trip to a bookstore that specialized in Balinese photo books.

As you may remember, I saw Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love) recently in Boulder. She spoke about the process of writing the book, and it gave me a great insight into her experiences in Bali. I can certainly understand why Bali is the "Love" part of the book – the people here are so gentle and sweet – at first you wonder "is this for real?" – and yes it is genuine caring and joy that is exuded by the people of Bali.

I'll post more photos by Tuesday night, so watch for my Creative Nudge, and I'll have some more special images for you then. Bali is incredibly inspiring, because everything is decorated. Art and embellishment is everywhere. Besides all the arts here, including textiles paintings jewelry carvings glass sculpture and kites, the architecture is a constant source of wonder. Apparently when the Dutch and British were fighting over various parts of Indonesia, they agreed not to touch Bali, because it is so special – like a living museum.

Indeed it is a magical place, and I have only seen the tip of the iceberg here, or should I say the tip of the bamboo shoot.

Share what’s interesting to youDear Friends, We arrived in Bali last night, and it is Friday morning here. I am about to go grab coffee and get on the bus to go visit Princess Mirah’s Batik Factory! We all got here fine, got to our beautiful hotel the Melia Spa and Resort which is a huge property right on the water.
We had a casual dinner next to the waves, listening to a live guitar/singing band. The first song they played was “Girl from Ipanema” which is my absolute alltime favorite travel song! In fact I was listening to that song on my iPhone on the Hong Kong to Denpasar leg, to get me in the “vacation” mood. Imagine my delight when the band started their set with this tune! Woo hoo!
Pictures posted tonight…off to the races….