Indonesia

Yesterday I finished my last country quilt for the Aus/Nz Art Quilters group: Indonesia. Another country I haven't been to yet, but would love to visit one day.

As in my other country quilts, I have used the colours of the Indonesian flag (red and white) for the background, and appliqued a strip of burlap from a coffee sack on it that says Prod. of Indonesia. Indonesia is the fourth-largest producer of coffee in the word, but there is another reason why I have used a piece of coffee sack in this quilt.

As you probably know, Indonesia was a Dutch colony until it gained independence in 1949. One of the most famous books in Dutch literature is Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company, written by Multatuli (Eduard Douwes Dekker). It was published in 1860 and contains a strong protest against the abuses of the colonial system of that time. The name Max Havelaar now lives on in the Max Havelaar Foundation, which launched the world's first Fairtrade Certification Mark.



Here are my four country quilts: the Netherlands, Russia, Japan and Indonesia. It wasn't until I made this photo that I discovered that Indonesia is quite a bit larger than the others... :-( Will have to trim it a little, hopefully tonight... and then send them all of so they can be part of the exhibition at the Australasian Quilt Convention!