Bangkok: Leaders and Enders

WINACA: Art Dolls May 27-31 2019

From May 27 to 31, we held a  doll making  training course for ten sewers and weavers at Narda's weaving facility in Acop, Tublay, Benguet Province called WINACA.  It  is a family-owned  company  into dyeing from plants found in their vicinity, weaving in both Ikat and traditional Cordillera styles, and garden farming. They grow lettuce, strawberries, anthurium flowers, and a facility for family fun: a 2.5 km eco-trail, weekend activities for kids, catering, and events planning.  I had the fortune to do the eco walk, well worth it amidst a trail of giant fern, Benguet pine, narra, and a host other indigenous and imported trees and shrubs. 
The dolls were constructed from recycled materials such as Tshirts, used electric wire, unrepaired costume jewelry:  how fortunate that they have cut offs of dyed weaving thread in all lengths, and remnants of beautiful handwoven fabrics!

:Baguio: Lower Quirino Hill Barangay May 5-11 2019

The Lower Quirino Hill Barangay, in cooperation with the Baguio CAR Dept. of Tourism, organized a training course on basic quilt blocks from May 5 - 11. We had fun with about 20 gals, from 80 to 18 and completed about 12 hand-sewn blocks, to paste on their Quilt Journal, together with instructions on how to construct them. It was some sort of "homecoming" for me, having grown up in nearby Magsaysay Avenue,  May 12th was Election Day so we had a stream of candidates to shake hands with the Barangay members.