Exciting news! Two days from now we will be exactly ONE YEAR away from the beginning of the first Ighali held north of the Karoo! Toni Olivier has been extremely busy getting the initial organizing going, and has sent the following information:
The original concept was that of Via Laurie, chairlady of the Helderberg Embroiderers’ Guild in 2001. The vision was a gathering of the Cape Embroidery Guilds, in order to share information and teachers.
The word “Ighali” is derived from the Xhosa word for “thread” and the idea was to host an Ighali every second year, opening it to guild members as well as the general public.
The aim was to hold hand-embroidery lessons of exceptional quality, from traditional to contemporary, and for these to be presented by skilled embroidery teachers. In so doing, participating embroiderers would be exposed to educational, informative, constructive, inspiring and hands-on embroidery workshops.
Ighali 2020 is to be hosted at the Ekudeni Exclusive Country Venue in Muldersdrift, Gauteng from Thursday 6 August to Monday 10 August. More details will be available soon, so we urge you to save the date and start saving for this awesome event.
We look forward to creating many new embroidery friendships in 2020!
Please, Please, Please let as many people as possible know about this! Ighali virtually unknown in Gauteng, and there are many little informal embroidery groups and individuals who would love to be part of this. Muldersdrift is not that far from anywhere in Gauteng, and I’m sure there will be those who would like to be day-visitors. Please start the advertising process now.
At the end of this paragraph, I have included a link to the Quilters’ Guild exhibition and conference held later this month at Heronbridge. If you are planning to visit, please give yourself an extra half an hour to get there – they are re-building the road, and Heronbridge College is right in the middle of it all.
website http://festival.quiltsouthafrica.co.za for information
As regards workshops – Jenni Langford is enjoying a well-earned tour around the UK and seems to be having a wonderful time. We look forward to hearing all about it, and learning new things from her when she returns later this month.
This month Carol Robinson is teaching the something many of us have not seen since we visited Granny in our childhood, although it is still popular, mass produced and on sale in various interior decorating shops in the country. Cutwork – an example of which you can see below – is the new skill, and I think that the classes are full, but I am certain Carol will offer it again – we must just ask her nicely. It’s very beautiful, and we look forward to adding further creativity to our efforts. That’s all for this month. I hope you have survived winter successfully, you are still sewing madly and with passion and enjoyment
