Back on track for the moment

I've been working on a project that just didn't work out ... a baby quilt knockoff of something my daughter saw and liked. "I can do that!" I said. Wrong.

So I'm back on the peace pin track ...

sending out watery blues (indigo dyed linen, above) and greens (not shown because the camera could not capture it to my satisfaction). They are headed to Hunter in Hawaii and Carol in Indiana.

With especial thanks to Carol who reminded me of this New York Times article from last November 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/fashion/safety-pin-ally-activism.amp.html

that first put the safety pin idea in my head.

I received in turn a "care package" from Fiona Dempster in Australia (who hopefully has not been affected by the recent cyclone) ...

Even the envelope was a joy to behold! If you haven't already, I very much commend her blog to your attention:

http://paperponderings.blogspot.com/2017/03/celebrating-and-giveaway.html

I also heard from Dee that her pin arrived in Massachusetts ... her email arriving on a day when I had lost sight of finding joy. Reminding me when I needed reminding.

On the brighter side, Spring has drawn us out of the house for many more hours, in spite of the pollen counts. And it's not all work, as we introduced G to the gentle art of kite flying last week ...

being sure to point out the perils of kite-eating trees ...

And here's the latest view of the mealy blue sage bud that I've been photographing for the past few weeks ...

Imagine them by the hundreds ... drought and deer resistant, blooming in spring and fall ... they are a true gift of the land. Once they make a mass appearance, I'll try to capture an image of them to share here.

Life changing?

Whatever else I might think of Marie Kondo's book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I would not recommend it to anyone without the caution that some of the sentiments are cringe-worthy.

That being said, I do think her ideas about folding clothes for storage are well worth considering. So much so that I applied the technique to organizing my cloth stash with happy results ...

which isn't surprising considering much of my cloth is thrifted linen clothing. Now the question is, can I follow Hunter's good example and use what I have rather than looking for more? The jury's gonna be out for a while on that one.

Meanwhile, Spring has sprung in the Hill Country, complete with a mega-dose of pollen ...

That's a black (not a green) truck, in case you were wondering. Aka "the little black truck," which ably picks up various gardening necessities ...

Don got a half-yard of soil to prepare new homes for some of the plants that self-propagate throughout the property. Here's his work in progress, with a wheelbarrow to show scale ...

I confess that transplanting is not my gift, although I did transport some of the rocks shown above. I simply don't have the patience to prepare the soil, water in the plants, and then look after them the way Don does. And never would I have thought to put buckets on the west side of each transplant to block the afternoon sun, which has been warming things up into the high 80s this week ...

No, my fortes are more along the lines of cactus whacking, pruning, weeding, and other "destructive" activities. Still, I have my constructive moments, as with this series of "baffles" ...

strategically placed to slow the flow of flood waters that barrel through our yard during heavy rains. Composed of the aforementioned whacked cactus and topped with dried grasses ...

these rows of debris will eventually decompose, at which time the newly created compost/soil will be carried through the yard by future rains. Fortunately, the aesthetic in our neighborhood allows the time necessary for said decomposition.

Finally, here's a follow-up on the nascent bud of mealy blue sage I photographed a week or so ago ...

Now I'm waiting on the thimble flowers ...

which are looking like they'll make quite a show this year.

Out of order

Addendum: Link to peace pin arrival here ...
https://deemallon.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/imagine-peace/

The latest peace pin is ready to go to Dee Mallon ...

because I came across some thimble-flower dyed indigo (above) and a bit of onion-dyed cloth (below) that had the faintest trace of a heart ...

which matched up with Dee's recent post on Pattern and Outrage

https://deemallon.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/blood-and-money/

What happened was I've been organizing (read kid-proofing) in anticipation of Easter visits from some of our favorite little folks (and their parents). As a result, I took a large load of stuff to Goodwill today ...

making room for a new cloth organizational method (more on that later).

Anyway, in the course of going through my cloth stash I also came across this asemic practice scrap ...

from my Hearts for Charleston contribution ...

So, for those of you who came before Dee on the peace pin giveaway, fear not. You are not forgotten, but sometimes cloth calls for one's attention sooner rather than later.

And for those who are relatively new to the blog, you can learn more about Dee's Hearts for Charleston project here:

https://deemallon.wordpress.com/category/hearts-for-charleston-quilt/

as well as my own contribution to the Hearts project here:

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search/label/Hearts%20for%20Charleston

Kindred spirit

There is only one thing better than getting a comment from Marti and that's getting an email from her. With Marti's permission, I'm posting the photos she sent documenting the arrival of her peace pin, here framed by her gentle self ...

We share a love of green, so I especially appreciated the picture of the pin attached to her cloth Earth Prayer ...
 

seen here in its entirety ...

Marti's cloths are dyed with what she finds on the land in New Mexico, then thought-fully stitched, brimming with story.

And her words (as many of us know and love) are spun from a lifetime of experiences woven into thoughtful reflections. She is a treasure.

By the light of the silvery moon ...

Addendum: Link to peace pin arrival here ...
https://itscrowtime.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/manly-artists-book-award-2017

Or not ... as the sky is full of clouds here in the Hill Country. But still, as I stitched the first three peace pins, I thought of Mo in Australia who gets to see the full moon first ...

Hers is the indigo dyed linen back stitched and wrapped with pale silvery thread.

The green halo of Marti's pin was dyed with red onion on linen and split back stitched in variegated green. 

And as Grace requested, her pin was "dyed" with rust.

The flip sides ...

reveal an indigo shibori for Mo, 

blanket flower dyed cotton made with my granddaughter on the Outer Banks for Marti, 

and the tiniest split back stitches I could manage for Grace in a floss named desert rose on prairie tea dyed linen with a Saxon blue dye extract overlay.

As I stitched each pin, I repeated the words "imagine peace" over and over in my mind. It was a soothing mantra and I look forward to repeating it many more times over the coming days.

Thanks to each of you who left words of peace ... for your presence here, for your patience as this process unfolds, and for the community we share.

Last things first

I still need to write a post about our return from St Louis, but more recent happenings call out to be written first.

Like these wonderful wee quilts ...

that were gifted by Sue McQuade ...

whose blog Blessings of Thread is among the Kindred Spirits 

https://blessingsofthread.blogspot.com/

I spent some time gathering addresses for the peace pin giveaway (finding there are still some missing). Oddly, I feel a strange sense of inertia about stitching, so I'm limbering up with some mending of socks ...

and worn upholstery ...

and a repurposing of denim shirt sleeves into pockets for the knees of my jeans ...

into which I insert washcloths as padding to provide a cushion whilst weeding ...

And after weeding, I made time to ramble about, making note of spring's progress.

The arrival of golden eye phlox ...

bitterweed ...

Blackfoot daisies ...

blue-eyed grass (which oddly has golden eyes, but I guess that name was already taken) ...

prairie verbena ...

crow poison (sorry Mo) ...

and dewberry blossoms strewn like snowflakes ...

with their promise of sweet berries to come.

Likewise, the promise of more flowers in the graceful arch of nascent mealy blue sage ... 

the star-like leaves of bluebonnets ...

and buds of antelope horn milkweed ...

Then last, but best, a heart of flint within a heart of stone ...

with thoughts of Dee at Pattern and Outrage

https://deemallon.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/blood-and-money/

Peaceful easy feeling

My peace pin giveaway began the process of regaining some balance in my life and I'm looking forward to starting on making each pin.  [Note: for those who have not yet done so, please send a mailing address to lizackert@gmail.com]

Anyway, I say "looking forward" because right now we're in the middle of a visit to ...

where we are immersing ourselves in simple joys, such as ...

a (cow)boy and his dog ...

and a Seussian wannabe (complete with "wig" on the far right side of the photo) ...

We also made a great stop on the way here... the Fred Jones Jr. Art Museum on the campus of Oklahoma University in Norman

http://www.ou.edu/content/fjjma.html

In addition to a substantial display of historic Native American art, I was impressed by this contemporary piece by Olinka Hrdy ...

so much so that I couldn't resist getting the exhibit catalog ...

We also spent a good deal of time looking at the Abbreviated Portraits of Poteet Victory ...

And contemporary Wyandot potter Jamie Zane Smith's work inspired us to look up his website ...

where we learned he is represented in a gallery that will enable us to see more of his work when we head home via Tulsa. 

Too soon.