Highlights from 2025 part 4

I participated in the  EQA Challenge Contrasts.

The European Quilt Association is the collaboration between 19 national European Patchwork Guilds and issues annual challenges and selected exhibitions for the members of all guilds that then travel throughout the continent.

This year the European Quilters Association (EQA) called for small size quilts with the topic Contrasts for the annual member challenge 2025. Multiple interpretations and types of contrasts appear in this exhibition: techniques, traditions, various cultural approaches, fabrics, topics, color (straight use of only black and white was not permitted)– and overall, we see that European unity prevails!

The quilts of all European Countries were shown in September at the European Patchwork Meeting in Alsace, France.

Part of the Dutch entries.

The Apple Tree

The Apple Tree, detail

Also shown at EPM was the GULDUSI collection The Afghan Amulet.
This new exhibition project also aimed to bring together Afghan and European cultures. Unlike the previous EU competition, the inspiring embroideries this time come not from Laghmani, but from Shahrak near Herat—specifically, from the Neswan Women’s Center. These women’s embroideries are crafted with great delicacy using silk thread.

Amulets are also used in Afghanistan as protective objects. There, every child wears an amulet: a Surah from the Quran is wrapped in a small piece of cloth and either pinned directly to a garment or worn on a cord around the neck, close to the body. A striking feature of Afghan amulets is their triangular shape. While not mandatory, this form is rooted in a long tradition; triangular motifs can frequently be found even on ancient artifacts.

The main requirement for participating in the "The Afghan Amulet" exhibition project is to incorporate at least one triangular embroidery piece from Shahrak into your own textile work. You are free to choose the orientation of the triangle within your piece (point facing up or down, right or left, rotated, or at an angle).

Your textile art piece based on the theme "The Afghan Amulet" should draw upon the amulet's protective function. This theme offers a vast array of possibilities. An amulet is meant to protect—whether it is the individual, the family (especially children), or men heading off to war. An amulet can offer protection against evil spirits and forces. Lands, rivers, and seas can be safeguarded by an amulet so that they continue to provide us with sustenance. And what about that small mascot dangling from a car's rearview mirror? Is that not also a contemporary amulet intended to protect us while we drive? Furthermore, why shouldn't an amulet be designed to protect our planet from adverse political and social developments or environmental catastrophes? There is no country in the world where one cannot find traditions—whether ancient or modern—surrounding the use of amulets. Let your imagination explore every possible direction.

The Precious Gift

The Precious Gift, detail

 You can see the entire collection here The Afghan Amulet 

 Highlights from 2025 part 3

My quilt  The Red Sea was selected for the exhibition Poisson d'Avril, Nantes, France,
organised by Gudusi. The work needed to include embroidered fish by Afghan Women.

"Weird, weird, fish in Afghanistan! At first glance, this idea may seem odd. This resolutely mountainous country has no sea, yet it is the combination of different ideas that lead me to propose this theme.
During archaeological excavations, small glass bottles in the shape of fish, probably for perfume, were discovered less than 20 km from Laghmani. Ancient Rome had made it that far! One of these fish is displayed at the Musée des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet in Paris. These glass fish bottles, along with many other objects (in gold), make up the treasure of Bagram, dated from the first to the second century AD. 

There are the tumultuous waters that flow down from the Panjshir Valley with the Hindu Kush in the background, not far from the Shomali plain where the embroiderers live. This mountain river doesn’t provide the fish recently offered on the capital’s stalls. Those come from two aquaculture sites to the south of Kabul. But who can afford to buy these fish? Not the embroiderers, for whom this animal remains an unaffordable exotic. Several small ponds are scattered across the villages. These water reserves bring a bit of coolness, and in their green waters swim orange fish: the only fish the embroiderers have ever seen.

This animal is somewhat known, largely invented, and reveals to us the fabulous imagination of embroiderers, a field—probably the only one—where anything goes! Our subject is called Poisson d’ Avril that will be held in April 2025 in Nantes."

 

The Red Sea

Under the hot water, the world seemed strange. The light bathed everything in a blood-red glow. The fish swam silently. The seabed, covered with black, burning sand, seemed as if the ocean was in the grip of a secret fever. The corals bent and twisted, as if struggling to survive in the unbearable heat. The sea carried within it a raw power, an energy that could explode at any moment, like a dormant volcano waiting to reach its peak.

The Red Sea, detail

My work was shown in the Summer Exhibition Insecten Uitvergroot in Musum De Koperen Knop in Hardinxveld-Giessendam. 

 

 Highlights from 2025 part 2

Interview published in the Dutch Magazine Stitch & Quilt

My coat It's a Jungle out there was published in Botanicals in Fiber Art Now Magazine.

My quilt Connections was accepted into Stoffe aus Ferne Lander, Germany.

Fabrics Tell Stories

The exhibition "Fabrics from Distant Lands" showcases textile artworks that incorporate fabrics from Asia, Africa, and beyond, offering visitors a glimpse into cultural diversity.

With this exhibition, Barbara Wartenberg brings textile works from across Europe to her studio and gallery in Bad Bellingen, inviting the public on a fascinating journey into the world of fabrics.

The exhibition presents textile artworks that highlight fabrics from distant, non-European cultures. The project aims to creatively integrate the culture, history, and symbolism expressed in the textiles of other countries and ethnic groups into European artworks.

Here the exhibition is shown at Nadelwelt 2025.

Connections

Connections, detail

Our SAQA Europe exhibition was also shown at Nadelwelt, Karslsruhe, Germany.

With my quilt Dutch Landscape.

Inspired by the traditional Dutch landscape which we need to conserve for the future.
More and more cities expand, more and more of this landscape disappears.
Holland. The green fields, the black-and-white cows, the blooming flower bulbs, the golden-yellow grain waving in the wind, the fields full of windmills. May it all exist for ever.

Dutch Landscape

Dutch Landscape, detail

My quilt Magic Garden was accepted into the HEDVA brocade challenge.

 

Each participant received 4 pieces of Czech luxury brocade fabric sized approx. 40x 30 cm, all can be used from both sides. Any further fabrics can be added according to the intended pattern or design. The collection is sponsored by BPM Brno.

Magic Garden

Magic Garden, detail

 Highlights from 2025 part 1

Connection with Fabric (SAQA Virtual Gallery)

SAQA virtual gallery Connection with Fabric

In our daily lives we are surrounded by fabric. Many of these fabrics are mass-produced and bypass the more traditional ways of working with cloth. Old world handicrafts, such as weaving, hand-dyeing and hand embroidery are being lost.

Countries around the world have a rich history of textiles, from the kimonos in Japan to batiks in Bali and mud cloth in Africa. Many fabrics are unique depending on the history, techniques and cultures of a region. Drawing from the textile history and materials of a region, artists have transcended time and place through the creation of a new artwork.

My coat Synapsis was selected.

You can see the entire Gallery here SAQA Gallery Connection with Fabric

Our Group Talkten exhibited with Mancuso Quilt shows, USA

TalkTen is composed of a group of 13 International female textile artists who share a passion for design, art quilts and creativity. The group first started during the Covid period, so that the artists could share and inspire each other while in isolation. As a group, they decide upon a design challenge and the women build art quilts as a response to the prompt

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2025

February 27 – March 2, 2025, at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza (PNQE) 2025

September 11–14, 2025, at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. 

We exhibited two of our collections: Health on our Minds and In the Pink.

“Health on Our Mind” features art quilts that reflect an ever-present concern for older women. These 18” x 18” quilts explore themes of healing, medical processes, and the intricate tapestry of the human body.

“In the Pink” is a challenge in which each member created an 18” x 18” abstract quilt using cut-up pieces of an old pink rayon bedcover mailed to every member. At least 50% of each quilt’s material had to be pink. 

You are always on my Mind

Cracks in the Surface

 

Highlights from 2024 part 2

Off the Wall (SAQA Virtual Gallery)

Art quilters have taken the traditional form of a quilt and moved it to the wall.  Artists were asked to explore pushing the form off the wall into three dimensions. Create art that can stand on its own, hang from the ceiling or has added dimension on the wall.

My coat A Pride of Peacocks was selected.

detail A Pride of Peacocks

A Pride of Peacocks, back

You can see the gallery here Off the Wall

Highlights from 2024 part 1

Exhibition Coats and Quilts at the Patchwork&Quiltdagen 2024, Rijswijk, the Netherlands.
Patchwork&Quiltdagen 2024

Human Being Human
An Exhibition curated by Flox den Hartog.
June 29-July 7 2024, the Netherlands

I had two pieces in the exhibition, my coat Seam*Stress and my quilt It's not Fair.

Seam*Stress

Seam*Stress

Cutting, cutting, cutting.
Scissors on fire.
Stitching, stitching, stitching.
Gears are grinding.
The clock is ticking.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
Time is running out.
Time is up…

It's not Fair

                                                    

When we look at human rights there is a lot of unfairness in the Fashion industry.
We love buying new clothes and marvel at how cheap they are.
But when we look closer to where they come from and where they end up when we don’t want them anymore, we should think twice.
Is it really worth it?
From the violation of human rights of the fashion workers to the violation of human rights in the countries where our unwanted fashion waste ends up.

It’s not Fair!

Carrefour European de Patchwork 2024, France

I had a small piece in the EQA exhibition: Imagine a Bird

My bobbin was part of The patCHquilt «Round Bobbin Invitational Challenge

patCHquilt celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2024. To mark this event, they launched a very special challenge.

“The patCHquilt «Round Bobbin Invitational Challenge» invites members of all European guilds to participate and celebrate our anniversary with us. Given the many events taking place in Europe, it is time to work together on a common project. We plan to host the entire unjuried collection von Bobbins at several European quilt shows and then make them into a European traveling exhibition.”

Each participant received an identical 12 cm wooden spool and a list of 35 themes to create small works using thread, embroidery, mixed media and textile techniques.

The creative challenge brought together over 500 participants from 16 European countries, who created over 15.000 miniature textile blocks

 

my bobbin

West-Oestliche Inspiration in Textil

August 31- November 3 2024, Germany

                                                   

Snowflakes   Shawl

The embroideries of ZARIFA made me think of Snowflakes.
I decided to make this shawl. The woolen fabric represents the snow.
I started with Zarifa’s embroideries and I added lots of snowflakes with fabric paint and stencils, machine embroidery and free-machine embroidery.

Sacred Threads Travel Exhibition (ongoing)

My quilt Whispers on the Wind debuted at Houston Quilt Festival in November 2024 in the special Sacred Threads exhibition. It is still travelling.
see: Sacred Threads

Whispers on the Wind, detail

A gentle breeze can bring us seeds that grow into beautiful wildflowers or a bird’s feather suddenly floating across our path.
It brings us messages from the spirit world and will tell about prophecy and insight.
Listen to the whispers on the wind.

Whispers on the Wind