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TIME TO SHINE! Inspiration for Crystal Rain in Namaqualand

My inspiration for this Art Quilt 


Ideas and tutorials for your next glamorous sewing adventure

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A bit of background 

Every year after the winter rains over parts of the Karoo, Namaqualand and  the west coast of South Africa, the arid desert area changes into a mass of colourful flowers. As far as the eye can see it is green with millions of little daisies, vygies and other shy flowers that sometimes lie dormant for years.

It’s raining!

Often the people who live in those areas look full of expectation at the threatening skies just to be disappointed when the rain does not fall. When those first drops fall, it looks like diamonds falling from the sky! The drops pick up the sun’s rays as if it is the different facets on a polished diamond! Everything shines!

Tha Art Quilt made using Crystals

TIME TO SHINE….CRYSTAL RAIN IN NAMAQUALAND

Transformation 

The greys and browns from a year and sometimes from a number of years, turn into a colourful carpet of flowers overnight. People from all over South Africa as well from all over the world rush to go and admire all of this. It is the only site in the world where a huge dry area transforms into flowerbeds!

Short-lived Colour Carpet 

However, this is very short-lived and lasts for only a couple of weeks before everything turns back to the usual dry riverbeds and dusty sand dunes. The only plants that survive the drought and heat are hardy desert plants like the quiver trees, aloes and certain succulents.

Opening my Box of Crystals 

When I opened the box of crystals, the first thing that I thought of was that glittering shine of the first rains over Namaqualand.

A Beautiful Tin with a Promise of Something Shiny Inside!

The drop shaped crystals were the inspiration for the quilt that I will be showing my creative process of in the next couple of blogs. Don’t forget to check every day so that you can see the progress of Crystal Rain Over Namaqualand and join me in my creation! You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram to see other interesting creations as well as where I get my inspiration from.

Best regards. 🙂 

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    • tillydeharde EditEditing comments on the BERNINA blog is only possible after logging in with a blog user account. Sign up now or create a user account if you do not have one yet.

      Hi Sharon, yes, I thought I’ll show the world a bit of our wonderful country! One day I will go to Namaqualand and see this wonder with my own eyes! In the meantime, it’s all imagined and inspiration from photos.

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