FNwF - Korak finish

Big Thank You to Cheryll for getting us together again for Friday night crafting! 

And we will get to do that all over again next Friday, thanks Cheryll for getting us organised. 

I was putting finishing touches to my Korak sampler. If you don't know what Korak is, you can scroll down to one of the previous post to read about it.

Koraks were not made into quilts as we understand; it is thought that they were used to decorate the walls of the nomad's huts, pressed in before the mud walls dried; 

some of the Koraks were found to have remains of mud on them. 

But I decided to make my one into a small quilt/ wall hanging for fear that otherwise it will just end in one my draws. So I sandwiched it and backed it, and joined all with just few quick quilting stitches, adding some embellishments.

Korak sampler on our hall wall.

There is one thing about having to spend so much time indoors, you get to do jobs which have been "on the list"  for some time.

So DH decided to re-paint our dining area, so I spent a big part of my week emptying the dresser and cupboards, and putting it all back when he finished... you know the drill.........

Luckily we already had the paint at home, which was good, given the current problem with shopping.

I use one of the walls here to display my quilts,

so all change.........

this is the one on the wall now:

it was Quiltmania's BOM in 2017.

The patterns for the blocks was taken from this book. 

I remember really enjoying making this quilt, so I think it would be fun to make another one, again using blocks from the same book.

I just need to decide from which section, but it will be applique;

flowers, baskets or houses; yes the choice is out of 2001 blocks!

It is a great project for diving into a stash!

It is promising to be beautiful Sunday here, may be even some stitching in the garden!

I have 24 crochet tassels to make for Arabian Nights blanket.

"See" you all next week!

Keep well and safe!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2020

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL UK MUMS!

Not the kind we are normally used to; but - everything is different now, all our lives have changed very quickly. It is like those horror films we have watched over the years.

My flowers and cards were delivered yesterday, my children are keeping their distance, I am not able to give them a hug 😢

We are trying to keep away from others as much as possible, as we are in the "at risk" age group.

Just as well we have hobbies!

It is a beautiful day here in our part of the world, blue sky and wall to wall sunshine,

we were sitting outside earlier, enjoying a cuppa in the warm part of the garden. At least something is right.

Our garden is slowly waking up, the camellia is in flower,

and the miniature Japanese cherry is fully out.

About a week ago I managed to make a quick trip to Midsomer Quilting to spend my Christmas vouchers; not many people there.

The nice people at MQ said that they will carry on as long as they can, specially their online shop.

This is what I came back with,

aren't these colours a feast for eyes?

Yes, there was a plan for these fabrics.

I have been playing with a small Korak sampler. What is Korak?

It is possibly the most ancient form of patchwork. There isn't much know about is; I came across it some 9 years ago, when someone else was making a small sampler and I wrote a post about it here.

You will struggle to find much written information, the only very informative book I know about is this one (which is in both, German and English)

Koraks were made by nomads in Central Asia, along the Silk Route, which also explains the various fabrics used, including silks, in some of the Koraks which survived.

Korak is made very differently to patchwork as we know now; pieces of fabrics  (mainly squares and triangles) are stitched to a foundation fabric, so not unlike today's applique. It is an interesting technique, be it a bit fiddly, as the fabric pieces are very small.

I am following (very loosely) one of the designs in the book. 

This is where I am so far with my Korak sampler.

There is also some progress on the "Circle Play" top.

I must admit that I find very difficult to be creative when I am worried, and these are very worrying times.

I wish you well, keep safe!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2020

UFO - korak

I am currently in the process of sorting out my room, which, I am afraid, could take some time. I have come across some UFO's, which I am sure many of you have too.
The most interesting of all my UFO's is my Korak sampler.
The first time I came across Korak, was when one of the Guild members brought in a patchwork she was working on, but I was intrigued by the method she was using to stitch what looked like a quilt top.
She was working from a book by a Swiss author Ruth Tschudy, which she came across on her holidays in Germany. Eventually I managed to find this book on  Amazon. It is a very interesting book, showing some old Koraks, and also some of Ruth's own work and projects to make with instructions.
The text inside the book is in both German and English.

Korak is thought to be one of the most ancient form of patchwork in the world. They were produced in the areas along the Silk Route, mainly in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
Koraks were used mainly as floor and wall coverings by the nomads living in the area, sometimes pressed into still soft mud walls of their new huts. Because they were made along the Silk Route, where the caravans were bringing fabrics from different parts of the world, Koraks were made with all sorts of fabrics, cottons, silks, brocade, velvet ...
Ruth Tschudy's book explains the significance of shapes and colours used, mainly the triangle.
The Koraks are stitched onto a foundation fabric like old cottons, linen etc. I used a piece of calico. A lot of work goes into the preparation, making templates and cutting out the fabric shapes.
You start with drawing a grid onto the foundation fabric, whatever design you want to stitch. Then you lay and pin on the shapes, starting at the bottom, working upwards, overlapping the raw edges as you go along.
All the stitching is done by hand, on the right side, using the straight hem stitch, again starting from the bottom, removing the pins as you sew. Koraks are not backed or quilted.
My sampler is about 40 x 36 cm. I made it only as an exercise, not really thinking ahead what I am going to do with it. Later I decided it could be made into a wall hanging, so I stared to embellish it. I think that at that point I did run out of ideas and it ended up in the draw. May be it is time to resurrect it!