Thanks, sweetie for the inspiration!!

I often present a talk that discusses where we, as quilters, find inspiration. Personally, I LOVE finding things in the world that remind me or inspire me to make a quilt.

I love it even more when others send inspiration to me!!

My husband, Michael, just returned from two weeks in Namibia, located on the southwest coast of Africa.

While there he came across an abandoned village that had been inhabited by the Herero People. As he walked around the village, he found houses that were built from a mixture of clay and cow dung. That, in itself, was amazing, but the designs that were imprinted on the walls were the most fascinating thing of all…..

Can’t you just see lines of stitching in there?

Now I am thinking about making a top using squares and rectangles of a solid fabric and adding quilting lines going in different directions for each square!!

And look how the “stitching” lines are at angles rather than being vertical or horizontal……

TOO much inspiration!!!

I was interested in learning more about the Herero people and found out that they are a Bantu ethnic group and that traditionally, they are cattle herders. Cattle are so prominent that their traditional dress is worn with a headscarf that is tied to resemble the horns of a cow…..

Based on the number of pens that Michael saw…..

….this particular village once held many cattle, but the drought had taken away the grazing pastures, forcing them to move on.

So inspiration AND a history lesson….all in one post!!!