I got it from the lovely Kathy at Buttonmania <www.buttonmania.com.au> in Melbourne, who designed and makes them herself.
Made from what must be hundreds of eyelets, on an elastic strand 156 cm around (that's 1.7 yards to you Americans), you can double or triple it up, twist and knot it around - it's very versatile. Mine's pink, but you can get lots of other colours too.
I'm partial to statement jewellery, and this definitely fits the bill. I had four separate compliments on it the other day.
Ofcourse, the buyer totally got a bargain. This is a hand-stitched Quilt to End All Quilts, that took some serious life-blood to make, and I don't doubt for a moment that it will hang in a major museum one day.
Still....
It's an extraordinary, (and, I suspect, unprecedented) price to receive for a craft item in Australia.
Must be some kind of record.
So why aren't the media onto it?
Anyone who has ever been refused exhibition space on the grounds that their work is 'too crafty' (read: not art), should take this sale as a personal triumph of Good over the Forces of Evil.
That said, please, tell everyone you know.
Shout it from the rooftops.
Use your media connections.
Twitter it, Facebook it.
Get your people to ring our people.
Get on the phone and tell your Mum.
If there's one thing crafters know how to do, surely...
It's communicate.
Because this is a victory for all of us.
And if Bobby's quilt isn't in a the Arts Section of a major newspaper by the end of the week....
Apart from this sentence, this post should be a duck-free zone. I think.
One of the benefits of living in or near to Melbourne, is that you can go and see this man appear live, quite frequently. I reckon when I lived there I would have averaged at least three or four times a year, for decades. Last night he performed at one of his very rare Sydney gigs, and I realised how much I'd been missing it, living here.
Chris Wilson is a legendary blues singer, songwriter and harp player, who is dearly loved by those of us in the know. His gorgeous voice is huge enough to plaster you to the back wall, and his harp playing is simply awesome. I've never understood why he's not massively world famous, like some of the blues greats in the US, but there you go. He doesn't tour there, because he has a family and a life in Australia, and he's not the world's best self-promoter; something to which Shula could testify. (She has been known to share the stage with him from time to time. They also share his fabulous wife, but not in a weird way.)
Last night, among several other outrageously talented musicians in the band, was the lovely Sweet Felicia, who was celebrating her birthday. She plays a mean bass and belts out a song like nobody's business. Happy Birthday Sweet Felicia!
I've always said there's no such thing as a bad Chris Wilson gig, and I've never been proved wrong. But last night I decided that if you were forced at gunpoint to rank one gig as better or worse than another, the only thing that would make a difference (other than personal song choice preferences) would be how inspired, or not, his between-song-patter was. Last night, his dry, laconic style of humour was in fine form: the hecklers-who'd-had-a-little-too-much-to-drink were loving it. And copping it.
Funnily enough, I am related to both Chris and Sweet Felicia by dog.
Thanks, Chris, for a top night out!
Guerrilla-edited by Shula. Some OS readers may not familiar with our National Treasure,
Not content with having a craft overload, and a co-authorial position with Popplina, I have started a new project that, with any luck, won't be finished for a very long time.
The Craftorialist is a new blog of inspirations, instructions, pictures and patterns, in which I share my technical expertise with anyone interested in textile-based craft. It's brand new, so there's only a few posts to see right now, but I will keep adding to it over time.
Feel free to drop by and have a look, ask a question, make a comment or—hell—add it your reader!
I am currently building the Great Wall of China in bagged and boxed lollies.
I have absolutely nothing to say about this, except to ask how it is that the world can need so very many sweets, especially at Christmas.
Good Lord...
Meanwhile on the Creative Front, The Genius has been accepted into VCE Art a year early, on account of her Considerable Talent. I'm rather proud of her, she had to jump through a few hoops for this privilege, not the least of them being refusing to take no for an answer. Her tenacity was admirable.
That factory I told you about? The one that I visited last week?
Well, I went back. With a patternmaker, bearing patterns and fabric. And things got very Industry and Jargony pretty quickly, and I found it all a bit vexing,
so I took photos instead.
And this is Lee, the answer to all your local production needs.
I highly recommend her.
Anyone interested in doing this as well can contact me for more information.
Shula says, "Support Australian textile manufacture".
God knows there's precious little of it left to support.
