When I dipped into John Hopper’s The Textile Blog  this morning, I hadn’t visited in a while, and found this timely article on the Tentmakers of Cairo.  This beautiful textile art is basically handstitched direct applique of brightly coloured Egyptian cotton onto a canvas base, in intricately detailed islamic and pharaonic designs.

And if the Tentmakers textiles are new to you, I recommend you take time to read this article, marvel at the striking beauty of the pictured works in it , and give thought to this exerpt by John  – “The world of generational craft seems to be constantly hanging on to that of the contemporary world by its fingertips. I don’t endorse projects lightly, but anyone who is a regular visitor to this site knows that I have always underlined the fact that a robust creative world, particularly in the crafts, is an infinitely better one. We should feel that we have contributed, whether through personal creativity or deed, to the betterment of creativity generally, leaving the creative world a better place than when we arrived and in better shape for the future generations to come.” 

The article is timely – reminding us that the crowdfunding campaign on www.Pozible.com.au/tentmakers/ is in its last few days, with the level of interest and the pace of donations picking up well, but if you’ve been meaning to pledge a donation – please, do it now before you forget again!

Although  I have posted this pic of the 2m sq hanging on our bedroom wall and daily enjoy the rich colour combinations and fine workmanship, so too I hope you haven’t wearied of seeing it either.  In addition to the glorious colours, I guess because I particularly love patterns based on grids, this one really appealed,  and Mike certainly deferred to my judgement in such an important textile matter as selecting this one, just as I would with anything related to rocks and minerals…..