I ordered these pieces before Xmas and I don't know where they have been but they finally arrived in the post box. I bought them from Tambani which is a job creation project in South Africa. They now have a new blog called African Quilts and Embroidery both sites have wonderful stories of the embroiderers and the stories the embroideries illustrate.
But back to the beginning. I bought my first embroideries from Ina in Houston Texas at the International Quilt Exhibition in 2007. I had no idea of what I was buying or the history behind the pieces I just loved them at first sight. One of the first pieces I bought was these two lions.
Later on I read the whole story of the Lions and the Zebras (which you can read here) and had to have the rest of the pieces. There is an even better version of the story at the Tambani site under Venda Folktales.
Today this excellent Zebra arrived. Just look at him he is so arrogant and he is so beautifully stitched.
Both of these pieces were stitched by the same embroiderer. You can read more about her here.
I aslo received this embroidery of the zebras dancing.
This was stitched by Eni and you can read her whole story at the Tambani site.
Oh dear I see I'm missing an embroidery, this one. I must order it straight away.
There are lots of stories and the embroideries that go with them and they are all available on-line.
I love the dancing zebras, but that lion is absolutely priceless!
Posted by: Rachel | February 28, 2012 at 10:30 PM
These embroideries are special.
Posted by: Carolyn Foley | February 29, 2012 at 07:44 AM