A few weeks ago I was contacted by a friend of a friend, who
was helping prepare for the official reopening of the Xanana’s reading room
(Now Xanana's cultural centre and library)
At our first meeting Belekria was asked to sew some cushions
for the children's area in the library.
They asked for a total of 24 cushions including 10 huge cushions at
1mx1m. All with an applique animal on
the top surface. Most cushions produced here
are single layer, but we sew/stuff a cushion and also sew a removable cushion
cover to match.
Their second request was for me to organise a floor covering
of some sort, which we decided would be better if was woven matting rather than
a cloth/sewn rug. We discussed some
decorative options and have decided to use tais fabric to stitch an appliqued
outline of East Timor across 3 large woven mats.
The third request was for a large crocodile puppet along the
lines of a Chinese dragon, which children could hold up and move around.
The fourth and final request was for me to re-stretch 2
small paintings which Xanana painted while he was in Prison.
WOW!
As you can imagine I’ve been quite busy myself as well as
the sewing room being flat out stitching and stuffing cushions. J
The official opening was this past Sunday, and the cushions
and crocodile were well loved.
Unfortunately the woven mats were unable to be prepared in time, partly due to the impracticality of collecting and drying the required palm leaves during a rainy time, and partly as they are so huge themselves – 3 mats each 2.5 x 5.6m! Hopefully they will be ready for Mid January when regular activities will be arranged at the Cultural Centre.
Unfortunately the woven mats were unable to be prepared in time, partly due to the impracticality of collecting and drying the required palm leaves during a rainy time, and partly as they are so huge themselves – 3 mats each 2.5 x 5.6m! Hopefully they will be ready for Mid January when regular activities will be arranged at the Cultural Centre.
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