Busy Day

Today was another busy day at the Quilting Cottage. We began the day with working on hand stitching our bindings to our little quilts. Even for experienced quilters, this would be a challenge, and for these beginning quilters, it was their most difficult task yet. They needed a lot of "one on one" attention from me, so I was kept very busy trying to get around to everyone in the group. Rose was there to assist me since Judy was away today, but since she had never sewn a binding before, this was all new to her too, so it became very challenging all the way around. Sewing through a double binding, and three layers of a quilt by hand is not easy, and although we brought out the thimbles, I'm sure there were many sore fingers today.

After tea break, Jeffrey arrived to give us a demonstration on the sewing machines. He was able to get three of them to work, but one will need to be returned, because something was wrong with it. He also brought belts from home, so with three machines working, many of the women got to have a turn trying them out. You should have heard the chatter in the room when they were on the machines!

When the women left for lunch, I got a ride home with Gerald, and Jill stayed behind with Rose. The two of them would walk home with the women to Mashaka. There they would visit several homes and Jill would do some interviews. I'm sure they're going to be very tired and dirty when they get back home. The wind has been blowing since noon, and the red dirt is flying. It is very difficult to keep our Quilting Cottage clean. Each morning we arrive, there is dirt on all the tables and chairs what has fallen from the rock walls and corrugated tin roof during the night. It must be very discouraging to have to keep house in this environment.

I am finding the teaching of 23 women at one time to be quite challenging. I had thought they spoke English, but most of them speak Kiswahili, or Kimeru, neither of which I understand. So it's necessary that I have a translator, and both Judy and Rose do an excellent job at that. But it does slow the process down and I find I'm able to cover much less material than I had anticipated. And to get around to all the women with each new thing, takes a lot of time, so we are not moving as quickly as I had hoped. I can definitely see that I will have to adjust my expectations. The women are very happy with their projects, but I can see many areas where we will need to put more emphasis in order to get the quality of the items up to what is expected. Some are still having trouble with their quarter inch seams, and we may be drawing many more seam lines on the fabrics. This too will slow our progress, but they must "get" that 1/4" seam for everything to fit properly.

Can you feel my frustration? I'm sure glad I'm staying two months, and not leaving this week, like Jill.

Big hugs to you all!
Kitty