As I travel around the city often something will catch my eye and make me laugh. Of course I never have my camera! Yesterday I spotted one of our City Council Parking attendants, sporting a bright yellow coat. On the back in black capital letters was 'PARKING CLAMPER, CORRUPTION IS EVIL'!!

One of my husband's aircraft is being serviced at a small airport called Orly in Kitengela. This is the sign at the entrance gate!

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I have been so frustrated! I left my lap top charger at our camp in the Masai Mara! My biggest achievement was finishing my sampler quilt! I am very proud of this quilt and it looks wonderful on my bed. It was a good exercise in patchwork & quilting discipline! As an art quilter I can become impatient and often try to cut corners. With this sampler quilt ' more haste less speed' is definitely true! It is entirely quilted by hand using my own designs. All ready for our winter weather!

I am partially deaf. Last night 4 male lions came into our camp roaring away. They even came around our tent and I didn't hear a thing!!!! I HAVE to get hearing aids sorted out!!

This weekend we are at our camp in the Masai Mara (www.maraedensafaricamp.com), time to do some maintenance on the tents before the high season. What a paradise! While taking tea on the balcony of our tent this morning I saw zebras, gazelles, warthogs, impalas, and 3 jackals! We heard lions in the night. Yesterday a group of banded mongoose came to the mess door- very curious creatures. Watch this space for pictures!
 I was also able to lay out the blocks for a new quilt, ready for sewing together when I get back home.

 

 

QuArKe Challenge

 

 

While on our quilting retreat Charu set a challenge. We each began with a 17'' x 24'' piece of fabric and a bag containing 10 instructions that we had to pick out, one by one at random, and follow- no cheating! I found it immensely liberating because when I make a quilt I usually have the finished piece in my mind and work towards it. This time I had no idea what I would create! I was very pleased with the result and then I picked instruction No 9- CUT IT INTO HALF!!! Well worth finishing I think....

 

 

 

 

Manyika Retreat

 

 

I have just returned from a 3 day retreat with members of my 'Quilt Artists of Kenya' group. We went to 'Manyika' a 90 year old  house situated in a coffee plantation just outside Thika.


 

The house is full of character and has beautiful gardens with a magnificent view of Mount Kenya from the front door! It proved to be a wonderful environment for creativity and we were able to achieve a great deal. Watch this space for examples of my work.

 

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a class given by Ragbhir  using a wedge shaped ruler to make a curved table runner. It was a challenge as Ragbhir had never taught before but she did a wonderful job and the result of my efforts produced something I am proud of. My fabric selection worked so well and I was also able to practice my machine quilting!