Friday we realized that our 8 days have been intense; a lot learned and executed. It was decided (in Enlish and Gujarati) that we should take a break! It is time for the women to work alone starting on Saturday and to continue while we are in Katmandu. One quilt has been completed in its entirety with four others to be finished in our absence: Scrappy quilt: constructed of irregularly cut squares of various fabrics. A cutter practiced cutting strips, and Feroza is practicing stitching by attaching first to black strips, cut apart, and now with blue or red borders (see photo). Chinese coin: On Monday, the less skilled women sewing at home will return having sewn together one to three inch strips of various colors. Farnaz and I discussed the size of finished strips, so ... read more

The homework assignment: start hand quilting by doing embroidery on the rose panels. The women were delighted to show us their embroidery skills. Apparently, embroidery is still a classroom subject, especially in the convent schools. Although quilting is best done with a running stitch, most were determined to show us several other styles which slowed everything to nearly a standstill. Actually, that was fine with us since we weren't sure what we were going to do next. However, during the night, awake at 2 a.m. due to jet lag, I thought about using the bags of scraps to make a Chinese coin quilt. This got Bill involved with cutting strips, and he quickly learned that Medeena was excellent, and so she had to teach Hamida, who was not quite as precise. Fortunately, total preciseness is not ... read more

I thought it would be useful to make a quick wall hanging quilt, so that the women would have a finished project that they could call their own. Well, small quilts are mostly finished but will not be going home with anyone. Not sure what will happen but... In addition to the 9x12 inch panels we had access to five large, contractor size bags of scraps the day before. I thought, why not let the student add at least one cloth as a border adding to those that we had precut. 9 women and 8 panels, but that problem was resolved whenone of the husbands demanded that his wife quit the class and return home because their three-year old son was crying, and he was not about to babysit. He really didn't want her to learn; ... read more

Bill fell asleep instantly, but I only slept intermittently...I listed to the cacophony of 4-5 dogs barking, snarling, and howling. It got very quiet, and then the loud speaker for the Moslem morning prayers started, then quiet. Someone REVVED up his mortocycle and took off. Quiet. Then, a most familiar ritual...someone coughing up phlegm, gagging, etc. Another motorcycle revving, then a rickshaw horn, and then, someone did their laundry, which consists of beating the dirt out of the clothes. THRAWK, THUMP, THRAWK...Bill slept through it all and I will no doubt crash in a few hours of pure jet lag. About 8:30 a.m., the chowkidar (night watchman) and his daughter pounded on the door to ask if we were ready for a bucket of hot water for bath...you know, there is the plastic cup, a bar ... read more

After 2+ hours to wander through the marvelous Dubai International Airport, we were DAZZLED!!! It got better, though, when we arrived in the 6-month old Ahmedabad glass structure. Very modern. Then, reality set in. We had to wait and wait and wait for our luggage...Apparently, three planes landed at nearly the same time, and we were convinced that the luggage handlers carried five bags from pane A, then five from plane B, and then five from place, and then started over again. It took FOREVER, and at 3 a.m., people were really getting annoyed. During the 70 minute wait, a couple of young (20s) Indian men approached me to ask if I would buy two bottles of Johnning Walker Black label on their behalf. One had supposed bought his two quota in Dubai, but the other ... read more