The earthquake and back to embroidery.....

It's been a very long time between blog posts........and almost as long since I picked up a needle and thread. I am afraid my sewing year has gone totally off the rails because of work. If you are wondering what I have been doing, I have been working on this:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-11/13/content_7202416.htm

So far, it has been months of long, long work days and trips away, including to Sichuan and Washington....... But even though my team is tired, we don't pause to think about what else we might be doing, because winter is coming and there are many extremely poor and vulnerable people who need us to help them right now, and there are many people in Sichuan who are working much harder than we are. We are just a small part of the story that will be told one day.....

This may be the most difficult and yet the most meaningful work I have done so far in my career.

But it sure has put paid to my sewing time. A few weeks ago I gave up on applique for this year - it became too difficult to work on something so beautiful and so exact amongst the tragedy and chaos of the one of the world's worst earthquakes. So I decided to put my thoughts on the earthquake into stitching using a series of embroidery pieces. I have completed two so far. I plan either 6 or 9, and then I will somehow mount them together as a tribute to the Wenchuan earthquake victims and all the people who are working to help them. I may even hang them in my office to remind me later of this period of time.

The first two pieces are about the impact of the earthquake. The first is about the human tragedy:

"empty arms, shattered dreams"

6" x 6", embroidery on felt, silk and cotton applique, bead embellishments

This piece is dedicated to all the mothers who lost children in the quake. The numbers of children who died are still not known, but most certainly many thousand children lost their lives in schools and kindergartens. In this piece, the heart behind the maternal figure is white, the color of mourning in China.

"the mountains exploded"

6" x 6", embroidery on felt, cotton applique, stone, bead and bone embellishments

This piece (the colors are not very good in this scan, in reality the background is more mauve and the hills more green) depicts the extraordinary environmental impact of the earthquake. In the mountainous areas near the epicenter, the land did not shake, it literally exploded. Massive landslides scar the landscape and huge boulders lie littered about where they were spat from the mountain sides. When I am in that area I simply cannot imagine how horrifying it must have been to have been there that day, to have the world explode all around.

I have started this series with some pieces about the tragedy of the quake, but I do intend to also include some that will portray the rebuilding process which has already begun, the enormous number of people from all walks of life who are helping the people of the earthquake region to rebuild their lives, and especially the hope that I have for a better future for the children of Sichuan.

Happy New Year (of the Rat) and TIFC February

Welcome to the Year of the Rat! Well, the old year certainly went out with a bang (and a sizzle) last night with a pyrotechnic display orchestrated by my colleague that ended up with us setting some dry grass on the local golf driving range alight (OOPS!!) after a wayward rocket flipped onto its side and set off into the grass. Unfortunately, the grass that started to burn was on the OTHER side of the 50 feet tall chain link fence of the driving range from where we were standing, causing the guards to start running around in circles barking into their walkie talkies.....but doing nothing else. One of our friends tried putting it out through the fence using beer (quite enterprising and he's not even an Aussie) but that didn't work. So some of our friends sprinted down to the driving range clubhouse, found a couple of extinguishers, scrabbled under the fence through the drainage canal (eek!), ran the entire length of the driving range....and put the fire out. Luckily Beijing grass burns slowly, but it does beg the question "Where were the Authorities?" (Noone turned up during or after the fire-fighting extravaganza. I suspect they were all out having their own pyrotechnic show with their families.) It also reinforces why fireworks have been banned in all countries that have independent courts and the ability to sue the pants off someone else........

It WAS quite exciting, though......

Anyway, on to TIFC February. I am struggling a bit on what to do this month given I need to keep the project under control as I have limited time for it. I am quite taken with the idea of hexagon patchwork (see previous TIFC February post), but I am wondering exactly how to incorporate it. I am hampered by my small stash and my distance from any quilt shops...or maybe that is a good thing. I thought about trying to do something very traditional, say floral, but I don't have enough nice floral fabrics. Also, my taste is not for this type of thing these days so I doubt I would enjoy doing it. So I have been wondering how I could modernize it a bit as a way to bring the old together with the new....

I like the color scheme for this month, provided by Sharon:

and I found a piece of fabric by Elly Sienkiewicz in my cupboard that matches remarkably well, so I thought I could use that as a basis because although it is traditional floral looking, for me it is relatively recently that I have come to know Elly and my life has become enriched by knowing her. So it blends old and new for me, anyway. I have also stuggled to find some coordinating fabrics, but then I found a few in my silk collection, and I thought it would be nice to update the hexagon patchwork concept with Chinese silk that reflects where I live today. I don't have anything in the last color on Sharon's palette although that color is in the Elly S. fabric, so I may have to substitute this for a darker russet. Here is the selection of fabric I have come up with so far:

Actually, they look closer to the color palette in real life than it looks in this scan. Still, the red russet is clearly not the right color for the palette, but let's see whether I come up with a better idea before I actually start. Today I am finishing an applique block while recovering from yesterday's festivities!