Shwe-shwe: " seeking wisdom "

It's been almost a year since I last blogged and I won't be surprised if everybody's forgotten about me. But, I'm just going to start again and carry on as before. The blog will be more about my personal creative journey.
This is my first quilt inspired by shwe-shwe fabric from South Africa. When I turned 21, my mother made me a pinafore with very traditional blue shwe-shwe, a fabric mainly used to make uniforms for black women who worked in white households during the apartheid years. Won't get into politics except to say we never had a "maid". But I loved the fabric. Last year, it so happened that I was helping my friend Magie Relph (from the African Fabric Shop) to fold some shwe-shwe fat quarters during the show in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines and I got all carried away, wanting to get home and print on it. She generously gave me a few fat quarters and here is some of what I have done with it so far. I printed the shield and then started piecing with procion-dyed brown and green fabric. I then printed the images in black, but they were too much in the background. So, I started embroidering, spending so much time on its that I started developing all sorts of aches and pains! But I'm pleased with the result.

I call this quilt " Seeking wisdom" because the young Xhosa girls seem to be listening to what the older women are telling them.

Daisies screen printed and machine embroidered, and, below, just some printing done with Adinkra stamps. These fabrics will eventually find their way into quilts.