Major Oya Alert!!!!!!

A very thoughtful reader named Bev Forsling sent me the link to this UTube video this morning about oya...It also has tons of pictures of other forms of Turkish needlework--it's like a long, quickly moving slideshow, set to joyous Turkish music. There are a few pictures of some lovely women wearing some of the scarves, too. I was enthralled by this, the patterns and artistry and sheer exuberance of the talent involved in creating this gorgeous needlework. Have a look!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW5RSHVb6uQ&feature=related

Spring CQ...Butterflies and Oya

Well, I did get a lot done yesterday out there under the trees!

At this point in the development of my quilt, I am "filling in the gaps" of the ring of flowers around the center. I want them to make a complete, if loose, circle. So Sunday I pulled out my beautiful stash of Oya purchased from my Turkish friend Rengin and also those angelina butterflies that Catherine Smith of Oregon gave me when she was here visiting in April, and spent about an hour pinning them and unpinning them onto my quilt on its design wall, deciding where they were to go on.
Yesterday and this morning I sewed most of it all into place, also adding some cool Mokuba ombre ribbon leaves to some of the oya.

I used a leaf design from a Japanese book published by Mokuba. The oya are those pink dimensional needle lace flowers.

Here's a view of the back..pretty gnarly, eh?
I use a separate thread to tie off the ribbon so I don't have to make a knot at the end (though I don't mind starting with one.) I had to use pliers to pull the ribbon through for each stitch, which was a pain, but the ribbon held up just fine.

Here are the oya with their ombre ribbon leaves at the top of the quilt. I would have added more leaves but I ran out of ribbon!

Here is another little line of oya flowers, the purple and white ones. They came with little leaves on them so I just sewed them on there as is.

This line of oya is right next to the Golden Chain flowers...

These larger viola type oya are not sewn down yet...I have to figure out how to do the leaves for them still.

Here are two of Catherine's angelina butterflies. Wow do I love them...there are five on the quilt in all.

An overview of the whole quilt to date...you can see it is getting quite filled in!

Just like this is.... ;-)

Spring CQ...Primula and Calibrachoa

It was briefly sunny yesterday, and we so enjoyed using up our ration of nice weather for the week. I went outside and took a few pictures.

Here's a corner of the garden with my Giant Allium in the center left of the picture. I love those things, my "Dr. Suess" flowers.

But really, it's mostly been pouring and 55 degrees Fahrenheit so I've stayed inside, cooked curry, and sewn some more flowers on to my quilt.

These are again of the "inspired by variety", not botanically in any way accurate.
Primula, or "Primrose", and Calibrachoa, or "Million Bells" have both appeared in my garden over the years, so they qualify for this quilt, which is turning out to be a visual/horticultural memoir of sorts.
I needed the bright yellow shapes of the Primrose and the trailing habit of the Million Bells.


These oya from my friend Rengin in Istanbul were the perfect shape, but not yellow/orange enough, so I tried my trusty Tsukineko inks. The thread that these needlelace flowers are made from didn't absorb the color well enough though.


So I brought out the big gun...a Marvy Fabric Marker! Big bright yellow, real fast...


Those leaves are done with the Kreinik Soie Noppee silk thread I mentioned yesterday.


Here's the whole spray.....

...and there it is in a larger view.

This is really so much fun....makes up for all the rain.....almost!

The Art of Turkish Needlelace: OYA!

A few commentators on my last post asked about oya...as is in, what is it? (And why would I spend the entire proceeds of the sale of a nice sewing machine on a stash of it?)

For a great introduction, read Barbara Blankenship's article about oya in CQMagOnline here. There is contact information at the end of the article for purchasing oya from our lovely friend Rengin in Istanbul, too.

Here are some pictures of this wonderful and ancient needleart from the villages of Turkey. I love using it, particularly on my floral crazy quilts, because it adds such wonderful dimension and interest.

This is a picture Rengin sent me of some of her stock. Each flower is about an 1" or so in diameter, handmade using simply a needle and thread (rayon, I believe).

Another picture from Rengin. Oya are traditionally worn as borders on scarves. These are for sale.

This is one of several necklace/earring sets that Rengin has for sale...she has found a wonderful artist who makes these. The necklace flower looks to be about 3" wide.

This is all that remains of my personal oya stash. You will notice there is some lovely needlelace trim in the upper left of this picture. Often seed beads are incorporated into the trim as it is made.
Rengin says that this is a dying art, so you can see why I want to stock up!
I also love the idea of monetarily supporting the women in the villages still creating the oya.

If you are interested in purchasing some oya, I encourage you to link to Barbara's article above, read more about oya, and contact Rengin.