orange and last minute stitching

i pasted this image together from 3 taken in the gloom of the wee small hours last night
freshly dyed cloth [milkymerino TM]
for extensions to parts of the mens costumes for 'breathe'
one of the hardest things for me is to cut into a piece of cloth like this
because
for me it's a kind of map
of the day
of the plants
of the bio-region where i gathered the windfalls
[or, in this instance, did some community pruning
to save pedestrians from getting wet hair while pootling along the sidewalk
under a low-hanging eucalypt]

which is why i prefer to make things in white/greige and dye them after the last stitch has been inserted
although
since attending a Dorothy Caldwell masterclass some years back
i have also been piecing smaller cloths together
[but i still can't bring myself to cut or shape them]

the mention of maps brings me to thoughts of Orange
as in the Orange Fibre Forum
where i will be giving a class next month

Janet de Boer [the creator of TAFTA, editor of 100 issues of its splendid magazine and fearless leader of over 20 years' worth of Fibre Forums]
kindly paved the way for me to show an exhibition of my work at the Orange Regional Gallery
which will open on April 1 and run to May 6

the exhibition is called
the windFallMaps
[which will also travel to Surface Design this year to be shown at their conference]


so
i'd like to publicly thank Janet for her support, enthusiasm and mentorship over the years.
she was one of the first to publish my writing
gave me my first 'big' teaching opportunities
and has been hugely generous in drawing attention to my various activities

her creation of the amazing textile community that has met through Forums
along with her boundless pastoral care [i'm but one of the many who has benefited]
is just astonishing.

Janet dear, i dips me lid.