THE TENTMAKERS OF CAIRO

A very sleepy Diane!

THE TENTMAKERS OF CAIRO

My husband and I went to Egypt in 2004.  At that time I had only been quilting a year.  If only I knew then what I know now about quilting, I would have beautiful quilt photos to share, and perhaps a quilt from Cairo as well.  Because I was so new to quilting my knowledge was very limited and I wasn't really familiar with appliqué either.  It wasn't until many years later when The Tentmakers of Cairo became world famous that I realized what I’d seen in 2004 when I was in Egypt.

One of the many places we stayed at while in Egypt was Luxor.  Very early one morning, while it was still dark, our small group of OAT travelers (Overseas Adventure Travel) went to the banks of the Nile River and carefully walked across a narrow plank into the waiting boat.  We crossed the Nile River to the west bank where we were going to watch the sun rise over the Nile.

When we arrived on the opposite bank of the Nile we walked to a large tent where we were to have breakfast.  Inside the tent were several short, round tables, with squatty stools to sit on.  Someone was cooking us a hot breakfast on a camp-type stove, and huddled in one section of the tent were local women cooking bread in stone ovens.  I was still only half awake at that time of morning but as I looked around me I saw that the tent was made up entirely of quilts.  They were very large and extremely beautiful.  I took several pictures but in 2004 my camera still used film and the quality was not like the camera I now use on trips.

After breakfast we went outside to watch the sunrise over the Nile which was gorgeous to see.  We then walked through the small village, stopping to watch women squatting on the ground making bread for their family, and visiting a villager's home.  On their roof they had a homemade washing machine the owner was very proud of.  After our visit to the village we walked back to the boat, boarded, and made our way across the Nile to Luxor.

It wasn't until The Tentmakers of Cairo became well known and famous among the quilting world that I realized what I had seen, as well as my unique experience of having breakfast inside a tent completely made up of exquisite quilts all hand appliquéd by The Tentmakers of Cairo.

PETRA, JORDAN

TIAMAM, ME, AND MAGDA

THE TREASURY

PETRA

THE ROCK GIRLS OF PETRA

One of the greatest joys of traveling to foreign countries are the personal interactions with the local people. Those are some of my most favorite memories. And one of those special memories happened when we visited Petra, Jordan.

Petra, Jordan, is a historic and archeological site, dating back to around 312 BC, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were staying in the small town of Wadi Musa, close to the entrance to Petra. The day we arrived we made arrangements to go to Petra at night, for the candlelight ceremony.

That night a huge crowd walked quietly along the candlelit path. At times the path was very narrow, other times it was quite dangerous walking in the dark over gravel and loose rocks. When we arrived at "The Treasury" the famous rose colored carved stone facade featured in the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," everyone sat down on mats on the ground. A musician played the most hauntingly beautiful music on a wind instrument. It was a magical and mystical event, sitting on the ground, in the dark, with candles flickering everywhere listening to the music.

The next day we entered Petra once again, only this time the path was much easier to navigate during daylight. It was a very, very, long hike through the canyon in the heat, and I wasn't feeling too well that day. By the time we finally reached the end of the path there was the one and only restaurant inside Petra, where we had lunch.

On the long hike out my husband decided to hike up a side trail to see some ruins but I opted to sit on a bench and wait for him. There were two young Bedouin girls selling small rocks to the tourists and when they saw me they came and sat next to me on the bench. They spoke English so we were able to have an interesting conversation. They told me about themselves, their families and school, and sang songs for me. I told them about myself and sang a few songs for them. When my husband returned from his hike about an hour later he took a few pictures of the girls and I together. They each wrote their names on a piece of paper which I still have along with my favorite picture of the three of us together. But my best reminder of Tiamam and Magda, the "rock girls of Petra" are the two rocks I bought from them and keep on a table in my sewing room.

AFRICAN FABRIC FOR CHITENGES

                                           

TABLECLOTH

FABRIC

                                

SMALL ART QUILTS 

                                    

                      

BAMBOOZLED

Sometimes when I am shopping for something in a foreign country and it seems like too good a deal, I think buyer beware and reconsider.  Especially when it comes to buying fabric.  I don't think I will be making the same mistake again that I did while I was in Africa.

On every Overseas Adventure Travel trip (www.oattravel.com) that my husband and I have taken the small group of people (16 or less) get to know each other fairly well early on in the tour.  However, the stars must have been lined up right because on our African trip another woman and I were talking and discovered that we were each art quilters.  She showed me some pictures of her quilts and I did the same.  We seemed to click right away and as the days went on we mentioned to our guide that we were hoping to buy some African fabric.

On the day we flew into Livingstone our guide took our group to an area in town with lots of vendor stalls selling all kinds of various souvenirs, etc.  My new friend and her husband took off looking for fabric and so did my husband and I.  When a shopping trip is limited to one half hour you don't have much time to think about you are buying, especially if you want to visit lots of stalls.

When we all met back at our vehicles we showed what we had each bought.  The 2 meter pieces of fabric were bright and colorful, just like we would see all the women walking around wearing called chitenges.  The fabric had a stiff feel to it, not at all soft like cotton, but we both said that probably after it was washed it would soften up.

We didn't have another opportunity to buy more fabric until the end of the trip when we had left all the bush camps and we were staying in a hotel in Victoria Falls.  In the hotel lobby were stacks of beautiful, bright 2 meter pieces of fabric at such an inexpensive price that it was just too hard to resist buying more.  I came home with 2 dozen different pieces of fabric!

By the end of our absolutely incredible trip my husband and I had become good friends with my quilting friend and her husband.  We exchanged information so we could continue keeping in touch once we got home.

About a week after returning home I washed all my African chitenge fabric, threw it in the dryer, and to my surprise it came out of the dryer with not so much as one wrinkle!  That's when I knew it wasn't cotton.  I quickly sent an email to my friend from the trip and she wrote that she had the same experience.  We each decided to burn a corner of one of our pieces and sure enough it was POLYESTER and most likely from China.  We soon learned that almost all the textile mills in Africa had closed and there were only a few left.  My girlfriend said that we were BAMBOOZLED!

So now what to do with 2 dozen 2 meter pieces of polyester fabric!  I quickly found that the top of my dining room table is exactly that size so I am using several different pieces as tableclothes and they are very pretty.  Several other pieces I have cut up and made small art quilts with heavy beading, hand embroidery, and free motion quilting.  I may never use all the chitenges I bought, but after all, isn't that why we quilters buy so much fabric in the first place?  We just love to look at all the beautiful colors and prints, and we certainly don't need to have any immediate plans to use it.