Quilting and stitching - the Magical Art of Stitches: Nairobi 7-9 October 2016

The Magical Art of Stitches exhibition at the Sarit Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, from 7-9 October 2016, displays a range of embroidery and quiltwork by local artists. Organised by the Kenya Quilt Guild, in collaboration with the Kenya Embroiderers’ Guild, there are over 300 embroidered pieces and 200 quilted items.

Themes vary from flowers, animals, birds, geometrical designs, landscapes, and daily life – most with a distinctly Kenyan focus: lions, elephants, zebras, rhinos, flamingos, giraffes, monkeys, and people.

The Kenya Quilt Guild formed in Nairobi in the mid-1990s, and was registered in 1999 with about 30 members. The Kenya Embroiderers’ Guild was established in 2007 with two women. The quilting and stitching on display are both traditional and contemporary.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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