Friday, September 15, 2017

Joy Not Joy

There were many ripples on the pond today. And in thinking about my recent correspondence with Grace,
there has been Joy and Not Joy.

I have been stitching the latest peace patch using Deb Lacativa cloth and floss

front ...


and back ...


Using (with her permission), Saskia's words, 
here shown with the gift of her cloth, front ...


and back ...


"all this makes me so happy ... not the politics, the community"

But much as I love the community, the politics are also my/our reality ... Joy Not Joy.

And so I actively seek Joy, finding it again ...

and again ...

and again ...


8 comments:

  1. (((Liz))) our world feels so very fragile at the moment, this sharing helps me hold on with hope for peace & I am looking forward to stitching with some of Deb's magic thread which is on it's way!

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  2. So fragile, so many needs ... it is overwhelming. Stitching this cloth I sensed both the gentle order of the words spiraling out, but also the unpredictability of what was happening out of sight on the back

    I'm sure you will delight in how Deb has captured color on thread ... there were single stitches on which I counted two and three colors. Amazing stuff and I'm looking forward to seeing what you make of it

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  3. yes...i agree...what will Mo make of it?????? How we all are
    captured by the magic of Deb's thread and all make our own distinct
    Joy with it....this gives me a Big smile.....looking forward

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  4. This shawl with its words and spirit of peace is truly amazing, Liz. I love seeing the variety of ways you are expressing each quote. Imagining what it will feel like to be wrapped in the love and strength of so many souls.

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  5. Peace posts? I listened to a marvelous podcast (well most of it) entitled "Radical Hope is our Best Weapon". And it made me think of you. How you are working at peace. Manifesting it in whatever way appears to you. And how that connects us and helps us to get through all the shit, which for now anyway, is unceasing and overwhelming and alarming and almost impossible to even describe to ourselves, never mind to sensibly resist.

    https://onbeing.org/programs/junot-diaz-radical-hope-is-our-best-weapon-sep2017/

    I will follow your links later as I am sure they will act as salves or inspirations.

    Tonight I photographed the peace leaf in the evening light and it grounded me in the ineffable. Something about how it caught the light. Something about how it came from the other side of the globe, through you, reconnecting the quilting sisters that stitched our grief for Charleston together.

    Being grounded in the ineffable strikes me a parallel to how your gentle words look on one side, while appearing as barbed wire on the other.

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  6. Grace - thank you for joy

    Hazel - the sweet bit of indigo you sent me now holds your words ... I have only to write the post that will accompany it

    Dee - your example has inspired me ever since Hearts for Charleston ... thank you

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  7. so the journey continues, back and forth the exchanging of ideas, support, words, thoughts, feelings......actions
    we do what we can

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  8. Saskia - doing what we can doesn't seem like much, but it brings comfort nonetheless

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Thank you for taking the time to comment!