Progress at Ballarat

Intekhab has finished his side of the Indian stole, or "Patka". Having selected the blues from the pashmina and fine cottons he brought from India, he arranged them then patched them together to form a ground, to which he added off-white borders. Finally came the main feature, of stars cut to the same 8 point design as the original Eureka flag from which he drew his inspiration. There are four stars used as corner motifs, and a central star surrounded by dark blue cross bars. These were tacked down, then appliqued. The final result is very striking.

I finished my side of the Patka on the same day as Intekhab, but only because he obligingly slowed down and I worked late into the night on several occasions. At the beginning of week two when he was close to finishing I had hardly started stitching, because up till then I had been out and about seeking supplies for the residency. At the time, Priya told me that the rafoogars were waiting with great interest to see what I would produce. I suspect the truth is that they were waiting with bated breath to see if I would actually stay still long enough to produce anything at all!

I had started by patching together a ground using old mended fabrics from my collection, supplemented by fabric sourced from one of Ballarat's op shops, but now the time had come to commit to the major design decisions. Once again Dulcie came to the rescue, tracking down the fabric ink I needed at a local art supply shop, and finding me a source of local native plant to use for the printing. As is always the case, once the decisions were made, the rest was easy.

Now all that is left to do is for Intekhab and I to embroider outlines around some of my printed leaves. Then comes the excitement of joining the two sides together.