Yesterday was spent in Tartu, at the ENM (the Estonian National Museum).
The makers' great shared birthday present to our Estonia, the Patchwork Quilt 100 project for the centenary of the Republic of Estonia, has successfully reached stage II.
Hurrah.
For anyone who has been out of range so far, it is a project in which 100 makers set out to sew 100 patchwork panels measuring 100 x 100 cm on the theme "My Estonia today". The deadline for the panels was today, 9 December.
In the morning we drove to Tartu, rolls of panels under our arms, and looked together at what we had made.
Oh, what a splendid exhibition it came to.
A photographer from Postimees was there too, so perhaps our undertaking can soon be read about in Postimees as well. Here and there the papers have already covered the subject a little.
Stage II of the project is photographing the pieces and compiling the publication. It will include a photograph of every piece, the story of how it came about and an introduction to its author.
As always at important moments, something important gets left behind. This time it was my camera. Happily not the panel.
But the professionals will take out their cameras and all the pieces will be properly photographed. Here are a few of today's pictures, taken with a phone.
If you are ready to give our project a boost, we will all be very grateful. We ourselves and many good people have already given it a good boost, and we are diligently sewing presents for our supporters.
You can support the publication here:
http://www.hooandja.ee/projekt/album-lapivaip-100
The story of my panel for the publication.
DANCE FESTIVAL (panel no. 4)
Besides their striking ingenuity and business sense, Estonians are known as a nation of song and dance. The tradition of song and dance festivals here has no equal anywhere in the world. Thanks to it, national dress is still popular here and we have choral singing of a high standard and a heritage of folk dance.
Most recently I took part in a choral festival in Italy, where I discovered to my astonishment what a gap is left in a nation by the absence of a choral tradition, that is of motivation. If there is no choral singing, there are no suitable part songs for choirs to perform either.
We have song choirs and folk dance groups from the first years of school onwards in every school and village society. You could go on talking about that for ever.
My panel is inspired as a bow to the tradition of our song and dance festivals, to national dress, to all those capable choir and dance leaders and composers who keep it all alive and at a high standard for the whole nation and the world.
The panel is sewn from linen fabric. In the pattern I used cotton striped fabrics, 52 different ones. In the corners are eight pointed stars, symbols of joy and good fortune.
The striped fabrics, starting from the yellow at the top and going clockwise:
1. Muhu yellow, Muhu orange, Luganuse, Vaike-Maarja brown, Urvaste, Poltsamaa, Marjamaa, Karksi (2), Maarja-Magdaleena, Jarva-Madise, Kambja, Parnu, Kihelkonna;
2. Helme, Viljandi, Hanila, Rapina, Puhalepa, Noarootsi, Ambla, Kihnu, Hargla, Hageri red, Keila, Rapla blue, Jaani;
3. Haljala, Turi, Rapla blue (2), Kopu, Aksi, Peetri (2), Viru-Nigula, Karja, Ilumae, Johvi, Urvaste (2), Vonnu;
4. Marjamaa green, Poide, Juri green, Risti, Noo, Hageri green, Reigi, Pilistvere, Iisaku, Koeru, Laane-Nigula, Kadrina, Viru-Jaagupi.
Mailis Kess
