A Few Finishes Feel Fine!

Framed piece is about 5" by 8"

Don't you love seeing projects through to completion? Whether it's a batch of pickles (finished my 14 day crock pickles this week) or a quilt or piece of needlework - it just feels good to be able to cross them off the list!
I have had several small pieces laying around a long while, waiting for me to get them to the framer. When hubby had something he needed framed quickly last week, for a gift, I rounded up some of my pieces and took them along. So here they are - two pieces of cross stitch and two H'mong applique. You may remember me showing the first H'mong piece before here, I was trying to decide whether to border it and frame it, make it into a pillow, or whatever.. I finally decided there was so much "motion" in the piece that it just needed a simple treatment, so I chose a simple black molding for both. These incredible appliques are done by the H'mong women of the Golden Triangle- an area of northern Thailand where it meets Burma and Laos. They call these works pa'ndau, pronounced "pan dow", often translated as "flower cloth" - a style of reverse applique that decorates many items used by

Framed piece is 7" by 8.5"

 traditional H'mong families. The H'mong people have no written language, so rituals and artistry have been vital in
keeping their culture alive. Extraordinary needlework has long been a part of that culture. H'mong girls traditionally begin to learn the stitches for pa'ndau embroidery as young as five years old! (info from Tammachat website and blog here. Tammachat is a Nova Scotia business run by Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase. They import high quality fairly traded environmentally friendly handcrafted textiles from women artisans in Thailand and Laos. Imagine my delight, when reading back through their travel blog, I found mention of  Laurie Swim! How serendipitous! Ellen and Alleson had presented Panmai weavers in northeastern Thailand with one of Laurie's photo cards. They had previously taken several Panmai weavers to Laurie's website to show them why we cut up their beautiful silks into small pieces- for art quilts! )

Framed piece is 9.75" by 10"

I purchased the second pa'ndau this past summer in the Merchant's Mall at Maine Quilts. The workmanship on these pieces is amazing- below is a  photo of the back side. Their stitches are tiny and oh so neat and even! I'd love to know what size needles they use???!!
I am amazed at the precision and perfection of this applique- the very narrow strips of fabric (about 1/8" on this first piece) are so even and straight. I couldn't do this if my life depended on it! Wow!
And the second piece, below, is equally impressive- look at the smoothness of those curves, and again the consistency of the width of the pieces. I'd love to meet the ladies who did these...and know how many years they have been doing this wonderful work...
And you just know they are not working with Ott lights and John James needles....

Framed piece is 10.5" square

Piece,
Linda

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." ~ John Quincy Adams