Happy Valentine's Day!
On to boys and toys. Remember the tree I showed my neighbor knocking down the giant paper wasp nest from? Awkward grammar, awkward situation.
After doing the worst pruning over the years, the boys showed up and in no time it was a pick-up load of sawdust.
Meanwhile I was occupied with making what turned out to be a great soup, butternut squash, cashews, sweet potato, milk added. Here's the result, and the containers for the freezer, and the process.
The onionskins added to the broth gave it a lovely rich color.
Also a lemon blueberry cake happened.
And, fortified, I knitted on and tried on the current Ministry Sock
I try on over another sock, out of respect for the future owner. Next some ribbing and I can cast off ready for Ministry Sock Two.
Here come the molas, presented for the New England Rug Society, by collector Tom Hannaher.
He provided a lot of explanatory slides of the history, culture and techniques of the mola. I was surprised to find it dates only back to the mid 19th century.
It's an intricate form of applique, reverse applique, in repeated layers, skilled stitching. One of the slides illustrates the sequence.
The Panamanian women who make them seize on all kinds of ideas, from traditional to current pop culture, great sense of humor.
Anyway here come the molas, created by the Guna women of Panama and Colombia. The captions are very helpful.
It was a detailed presentation from Tom Hannaher, an enthusiastic collector, who really appreciates the art and social awareness of the artists.
Handsome Son coming to dinner tonight, and we get to tackle that lasagna I wrote about lately. Also cake.
Happy day!
Quite a wonderful presentation on molas! The process for making them is fascinating - their creators really have to conceptualize the final product and plan ahead to reveal all the layers of color. I find the sea motiff patterns the most pleasing to look at - especially the wave forms. One of those wave forms is quite Escher-ish! I have 6 molas, all of them currrent era. I'll have to post photos of them soon. I think I prefer the spontaneity of the early era molas to the polished "cookie cutter" designs seen in some of the modern era molas. Thanks for sharing all those gorgeous screen shots.
ReplyDeleteThose molas are very striking. Some remind me a little of Australian aboriginal art. Soup and cake sounds perfect! Enjoy your meal.
ReplyDeleteThe soup and the sock both look great! Now you've got me thinking about making lemon blueberry muffins.
ReplyDeleteThe molas are beautiful and colorful. I love the wood carvings too.
ReplyDeleteYour sock is so cute! The recipient will love it!
The socks turned out beautifully. Cozy, warm a pond pretty.
ReplyDeleteThose wool socks will be so appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThe molas are fascinating. So many themes and some quite humorous. Thanks for sharing those!
ReplyDeleteYou've got me wanting something blueberry now too. :)
Wow! From sea urchins and waves and passion flowers to Texaco and the Panama Canal and Superman! Unbelievable. The human creative ability knows no bounds, does it? "Folk art and fine art" indeed!
ReplyDeleteThe Alka Seltzer mola made me smile. Wonder how many hours would go into creating some of those designs.
ReplyDeleteYou're making great strides (pun there, sort of) on the socks.
I have a collection which dates from the 1950s from my grandmother. I hope you and Handsome Son enjoyed that supper. Happy Valentine's Day.
ReplyDeleteE, is there any chance you might blog about them? I'd love to know more, and see them, or some of them. Did she make them? This is really exciting.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have time to look at the molas when you posted them though I intended to come back. I was slightly familiar with molas living so close to Mexico all my life and having been there many times so I enjoyed learning more about them.
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