My folk-art imagery reflects my multi-cultural background and my fascination with folkart from around the world. Inspiration comes from memories collected during my African childhood with its animals and grasslands, a sojourn in the green South of England and time spent in Connecticut, Tennessee, Utah and Ohio.
Around the area are many floating villages and many of the residents sail the waters selling goods to the people on the junks.
Our junk was very colorful and well equipped with bedroom, bathroom, dinning room and area to sunbath and take in the wonderful views.
This was a great way to end our stay before travelling the long distance home to Ohio.
I have very fond memories of our trip to Vietnam and cherish the friendships of all the wonderful people who crossed my path. You will all be in my heart for a long time to come.
I look forward to planning our next trip to teach.
Sue
One evening Wendy and I decided to walk around the Old Quarter and came across a fabulous store that specialized in cloth from the minority people in Northern Vietnam. There are dozens of different groups who all do the most amazing hand work. Mainly on their clothing using a lot of embroidery, applique and silver colored beads and buttons.
The washed out colors of the old buildings and folk art where very appealing and of course have my creative juices going.
We also came across a young man who carved wooden stamps. We spent about an hour sitting at his store front going through large baskets of amazing carvings. We picked out a few for him to carve our names in as a momentum of this special time.
While walking the back streets of many cities we have visited we are always fascinated by the Graffiti. Wendy has taken many photos but I feel this sums up our visit to Vietnam. I will always smile fondly thinking of the millions of motor bikes I encountered on the streets of this friendly country.
I will post tomorrow about our last stop in Halong Bay. We are very blessed in this country and I have many parts of my life to be really thankful for. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and special time together with family and friends.
Take care
Sue
Hoi An is full of long, narrow tube houses, Chinese pagodas and ornate community halls as well as family shrines and a Japanese covered bridge. There is also a very interesting market which we walked through many times. It was a feast for the eyes full of great colors and shapes. One morning Wendy and I got up very early to see all the fishing boats pull in and unload all the fish for the day.
There are many tailor shops here where you can have any item of clothing made in 24 hours. It was a fun experience to have clothing made in any style and color. We thought this was a unique way to have your cloth delivered to your store. Just a little different from UPS!
Vietnam manufactures wonderful silk fabrics. We came across a small exhibit of the process of silk making. Here are millions of silk worms that will spin cocoons to be unwound for the manufacture of cloth. It is a fascinating process.
The architecture in Hoi An was wonderful. Wendy and I spent many hours wondering the streets admiring the colors of the buildings and doors. There were many great restaurants and wine bars that were we sat and watched time go by.
One night we took a cyclo ride to the Mango Room for dinner. It was an interesting experience.
I will always remember Hoi An for the sea of color, filled with lanterns, fabrics, pottery and buildings. Wouldn't these make wonderful quilts!
My fingers are itching to start a new project. Here in Ohio we are expecting a miserable weekend so I am planning to cuddle up and create all weekend. Hope you all get the opportunity to stitch as well.
Sue
As you can see the market was full of color and a wonderful place to dig for treasures. I found some great buttons and ribbons to bring home. We were nearing the end of our stay in HCMC and visited a travel agent to book flights to Hoi An then on to Hanoi.
I have very fond memories of this city with its bustling streets, great markets and all the passionate quilters I met. I will treasure the experience for a long time.
Sue
Today's goal was to teach embellishments. We had brought many beads, threads and buttons with us. They loved looking through the bowls and making their own choices. Many thanks to Susan Day from Michael Miller fabrics, Sheila from Renaissance Ribbons, Rings and Things and my students at home who donated generously to the cause. We were able to leave many supplies with them for future projects.
I spent about 4 hours on the floor teaching 10 different embroidery stitches along with beading and the use of buttons. It was fascinating to see how easy it was to communicate with hand movements and the use of our eyes. They were just so eager to learn and use all the stitches on their blocks.
At the end of the day we pinned up every ones block. Each person shared what they had learned along with why they had chosen certain colors and embellishments. I was amazed at how much knowledge they had translated into their work.
Thanh had suggested that they make a quilt out of all the blocks. Well no quilt is complete with out a label! So I quickly had everyone sign a piece of fabric for the back of the quilt. I can't wait to see the finished quilt.
This experience was a wonderful blessing for me. I could not have thought of a better place to share what I am so passionate about. Many thanks to Wendy and Della for there support and encouragement and to Thanh and the quilters for making this trip so special. We hope to return soon to teach hand dyeing.
Sue
We had taken all the supplies for the workshop. Wendy had hand dyed cotton, wool and velvet along with fun prints, batiks, ribbons, beads and buttons which were donated by some of my students and suppliers. I gave them a choice f three fun folk-art flower patterns and allowed them to choose what ever they wanted for backgrounds and applique. We talked about color selections and Wendy and Della helped them get good contrast in their pieces.
I demonstrated freezer paper templates and spent the day helping with needle turn and wool applique. I was amazed at how eager they were to learn and how much fun they seemed to be having. They were all very good at handwork as they had done so much hand quilting so they took to needle turn very easily.
It was good to see them all working independently yet enjoying this creative time together. I was amazed at the end of day one how much they had accomplished and I was very eager to return to see what day two would bring.
Sue
Our next stop was to meet some of the 180 quilters in the area. There are 9 group leaders and each one has about 25 quilters under them. they meet at the group leaders home each day and quilt for 8 hours. They make quilts for Westerners mainly Australian and Japanese clientele. There was no quilting in Vietnam until this program was started 8 years ago by Thanh Truong
who has a passion for quilts. It is an income generation project that offers income and employment for rural women which enable these women to remain in their communities and care for their children and families.
They now have two retail stores one in district 1, Ho Chi Minh City and on in Hanoi. It enables them to supply scholarships and books for children to go to school , health education for women, toilets in a number of poor people's houses as well as impregnation of mosquito nets with insecticide. 
Our last stop was at a local school where Vietnam plus has helped with a weekly program of teeth cleaning. We watched as the whole school came outside and did there weekly routine of brushing and caring for there teeth. It was great to spend time with the kids who were so excited to meet us.
I hope you will join me tomorrow as we meet the quilters in our workshop.
