Trip to Oaxaca Mexico Part Four

A side street with Palm Trees heading toward the beautiful Santiago Church.
A beautiful home converted into some sort of shop or restaurant.
On my way back to the hotel I stopped for lunch at a Natural Food Restaurant around the corner and had a delicious fruit salad and fruit juice. Yum.
The street in front of my hotel (and several other streets all over town) were torn up to fix and improve pipes and wiring. It made walking on the now slanted and hole ridden sidewalks full of men with wheelbarrows quite a problem. When I arrived late at night I had to navigate my way up the long street looking for my hotel. Not fun.
The park is usually full of balloon sellers.
I love the displays of fruits and vegetables in the market. I was disappointed to find fewer textile sellers and all the basket makers who used to be there were gone.

Another Holy Mola Quilt

This mola quilt wasn't shown on my blog from the dinner celebrating the Holy Mola Challenge. Barb Seils used this mola as her inspiration.

And made this beautiful leaf quilt.

Details.

The Alebrijes Have a New Home

My Alebrijes have a home. I don't have a shelf anywhere in the house tall enough for them so they are living on top of a china cabinet in the dining room. On each side are "fake" opium pipes from Vietnam. And on the wall is a four part mother of pearl screen also from Vietnam.

They were joined by a monkey I purchased 10 years ago from a famous artist in Arrazola. It's holding a bunch of bananas and has a very long tail. It had been living in seclusion on the top of another china cabinet.

Unfortunately that meant that four inside painted glass balls from China were displaced. Now they have to find a home in turn.
I made probably 10 to 12 trips to China between 1993 and probably 2005 and bought these balls on a majority of the trips. I looked for them on my last trip and couldn't find them anywhere. I was able to find smaller inside painted pieces but never liked those as well.
They are crystal globes with the insides carefully drilled out. Then an artist carefully paints them with tiny brushes. I have seen them do this in fancy shops but am always stunned by the quality of the work given the conditions. This one is the signs of the Zodiac.
Court gentlemen and ladies. My favorites are tigers and dragons and have probably 8 of them.
The white streak on the red is from my flash.

Jacket Class Day Three

Marcia continued to work on her jacket made from scraps of beautiful fabric given to her by Marcia Murphy.
And Liz completed the outside of her Halloween jacket and sewed the lining.



Suki captures Marcia's chair and resists posing for photos.
The view looks a bit discouraging for a cat who likes to wander outside
Nancy takes her jacket back down and begins sewing on strips.
And Caris decides to make a shorter version of her jacket without lapels.
Donna constructed some Seminole Strips for her jacket.

And Marcia made a few decisions about the front panels.

Jacket Class Day Two

I brought in my Turquoise Turkish Coat to show the class how you could use "scrunched" fabric on a big "canvas". Suki decided that I needed help with the demonstration.
Liz made great progress on her Halloween jacket and had the outside pieces finished by the end of the day.
And Caren had her vest pieces ready to trim and line.
Nancy worked on some Seminole Patchwork to add to her design.
And Donna finished the back of her jacket.

Jacket Class at Marcia's Studio Day One

Yesterday was the first day of another great jacket class at Marcia DeCamp's beautiful studio. The weather favored us with only a few showers and not the possible snow. Caris Burton is preparing a pattern for another of her beautiful subtle silk jackets.

Some of Caris's fabric.
Caren Betlinski began the day by finishing up a jacket she started in a previous class and Liz Scott started a jacket with a Halloween theme.
After Caren finished work on the jacket she started a vest with a red and black colorway.

And Nancy Crouch started a jacket with a beautiful fabric by Sherrill Khan as the focus.

Caris's jacket betins to take shape.

Marcia worked on the start of a jacket using fabric given to her by Marcia Murphy.
Caren's finished jacket incorporating her fabulous threadwork flowers.
Another gorgeous flower on the back.

Trip to Oaxaca - What Did I Buy? Alebrijes of Course

I had no intention of purchasing a rug but I couldn't resist this one. I bought it from a weaver on the street in a artisans market in the center of town.
Of course I had to have a tiger mask for my collection. I don't have one with this fancy painting. This one is from San Martin.

I couldn't resist this cutie made by Pete Santiago in Arrazola. The babies and corn stalk are all detachable.

I am not sure if this is a deer or an antelope. From San Martin.

I had never seen a bat done in this medium and couldn't resist this one also from San Martin.

I may have the wings on backward. The painting on these figures is just exquisite and the talent and workmanship has really increased in the past 10 years.

Another irrestible piece from Arrazola. The book detaches.


This was the most expensive piece...also by Pepe Santiago in Arrazola. The painting is exquisite.