Medlar Fruit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graft-chimera

This stuff gets really interesting.  The graft-chimera page is one of my favorite places to start surfing the internet.  I'll save you the trouble of looking up the word, "medlar" ~ a medlar is a rare fruit that will remind you of a crabapple or a pear.

I ate a few medlars while we were in Istanbul.  I don't remember it too well, but I think there was one fruit that was delicious, and the other ones not so good.  I must have eaten the other ones on the wrong day.  I found several medlar trees growing around where we lived.  An expat American friend there says they need to do a botanical expedition to Turkey.  He says that there are lots of rare plants, especially old garden plants, fruits and maybe vegetables.

My plan for this blog is to just work backwards through my notebooks and post anything useful that I have collected.  I think that there's a lot of material that I want to share.  It's going to be all mixed up and random.  I'll try to be brief, and to only post useful or interesting stuff.

Assiut Cloth

I don't know what to write, but I want to share what I found in Istanbul.  I was trying to research nalbinding while we were overseas for my husband's sabbatical.  I did not find any nalbinding in Turkey, but I found some other exciting and high-quality crafts.  One amazing craft that I found is called Assiut Cloth in English, and it's called tel kırma, or Asyut, in Turkish.

I found a fantastic needlework school, just by chance while I was wandering Istiklal Caddesi.  There was a piece of embroidered net/tulle fabric in their shop window, and I eventually figured out that it's Assiut Cloth.  I think that Interweave Press is getting ready to publish a book on the subject.  This could become a new trend in American crafts.

Assiut cloth is very beautiful.  It's sparkles.  It looks to me like it's meant to be worn by fairy-princesses and ballerinas.  But the only references to it that I can find in English say that it is for belly-dancing.  I found it strange that the women who make Assiut Cloth in Turkey seem so respectable.  There must be something here about Turkish culture that I do not understand.

I want to contribute an article to Piecework Magazine about Assiut cloth.  But I do not write.  I mean, I can write but I just don't want to.  I'm not sure if I would even write to save my life.  Mikdat Kadioglu says that I am lazy.  I do not write because I am still angry inside, many years after battles with my parents about homework.  It would be lovely to overcome my emotional problems.

The magazine article is due before 15 December 2012.  I hate deadlines.  I am not writing this article!  But maybe a friend will write something.  I will help translate it.

Assiut cloth is one of several techniques for making cloth of gold.  I used to think that cloth of gold was only in fairytales, but in Turkey it is quite real.