There are two McDonald’s in Tbilisi. One is three stories and the other is two. I walk by the three story one almost daily. It doesn’t look at all like our McDonald’s but the smell that comes from it is the same. I understand when the three story and first one was being built there [...]
My first day in Georgia was the first day of school. Helen, Keti’s younger sister, and I had a running joke for my time there about when she was suppose to be in school. The first day she went on time (9:30) only to not have anyone else show up until 11. Second day she [...]
Georgia has taught me at least two things. Quiltmaking has power. Hope is fragile. For 13 years, Tata had a beautiful home with a wonderful garden. Her husband had a good job. All this has changed. Her husband lost his job with the wine company due to cutbacks. They were forced to move from their [...]
My friend, Nata, is an interesting woman. The title is one of her favorite sayings which makes us all laugh. Last night she took me to the ballet. Georgia use to have a world class ballet but it disappeared. Their most famous ballerina worked for the Moscow Ballet but she has returned to Georgia so [...]
Yesterday was a good day of lots of work. The group is putting together a fiber book to give as a gift. The personality of each person is coming through. I am excited about their work. We were gearing down when in walked Andrea Harris from the Eurasia Foundation. We had a great talk and [...]
Today I taught the quilt group free motion quilting. Lela caught on right away. I think she will dazzle the entire world with her quilts very soon. I am amazed at how far she has come in just two short years with limited resources. She does her own thing and it is wonderful! For many [...]
The workshops are going well. I had a brief reminder of times past when suddenly in the middle of the surface design workshop we found ourselves without water! Fortunately there were buckets of saved water for the toilet in the bathroom to tide us over and in less than an hour it was back on. [...]
Teaching here is always a challenge. At least this time I know what to expect. Although I was hope for a change. First, there was the challenge of actually getting to the workshop! They are now closing the main road each Sunday for programs for the public. Then we kept encountering closed roads. Fortunately we [...]
I spent the evening with an amazing graphic artist- Emir Burjanadze. He is 65 but looks much older. However, he has wonderful eyes which are full of life. He is an expert on Georgian ornamentation. Poor Keti had to traslate all the deep philosphical details which were not easy to understand. We were all tired [...]