Let your peace flag fly

Please note: we are playing with our grandkids for the next week, so I won’t be responding to comments and/or email for now. The new project will re-commence next week, but you are welcome to comment any time!

Today is the International Day of Peace, a fitting time to start a new take on last year's Peace Pin Project.

This time around, I'm sending shreds of repurposed linen clothing stitched with words of peace ...

miniature peace pin/flags inspired by Fiona Dempster's Daily words ...

which you can find in her shop. My goal is to send all of her words out into the world paired with peace.

If you wish to receive one of Fiona's words and a miniature peace pin/flag, please leave a few words of peace in a comment at the end of this post. 

And then, please send your current mailing address to lizackert@gmail.com (even if you think I already have your address, it is ever so much easier if you send it to me in an email as I'm somewhat scattered).

There is no catch and no charge. It is my humble way of spreading a little bit of peace in a world that very much needs it. That said, if you wish to send me an email or link with a picture of where you hang your peace pin/flag once it arrives, I will happily post it in the Works in Progress page, found in the sidebar to the right.

Addendum:

And here, as a perfect example, is Marti's peace pin from last year ...

Earth Prayer
made of cloth hand-dyed with plants gathered from her land in New Mexico

May it soon be joined by new images of this year's peace pin/flags. 

 

Teach peace

September 21 is the International Day of Peace and this marks the second year I have the privilege of joining with two Australian artists in sending pieces of peace out into the world ... 

Weather-grams by Fiona Dempster and ...

silver-plate peace tags by Barry Smith

As I considered how best to participate this time around, teachers became the focus of my intention ...

It was a challenge with so many teachers who have been, and remain, a part of my life. In the end I decided to choose two new teachers, two art teachers, two writing teachers, and the one person who, more than any other, inspired my own journey into teaching.

To each of them I am sending …

• a repurposed silver-plate peace tag made by Barry Smith
  http://rustnstuff.blogspot.com/2018/07/process-of-pieces-for-peace.html
• a letterpress peace weather-gram made by Fiona Dempster
  https://paperponderings.blogspot.com/2018/07/printing-for-peace.html
• and two teach peace pins stitched on shreds of repurposed linen clothing,
  one to keep and one to give away

In the spirit of Tibetan prayer flags, any or all of these pieces of peace may be placed outside. According to Wikipedia, '"prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The flags do not carry prayers to gods, which is a common misconception; rather, the Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion ... to all"

Note: You can read about last year’s International Day of Peace here: http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2017/09/ripples-of-peace.html. 
And for those of you who recall last year's Peace Pin Project, there is more to come.

Of mothers and daughters

A note before posting: It is an honor to be invited into someone's personal story. I will be forever grateful that I was entrusted with this story and its telling here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My older daughter's close friend, Danielle, asked if I could make something for her brother's wedding.

The bride wanted to have a label made for the groom's tie with something from his mother's wedding gown. A request made more poignant as Danielle and her brothers lost their mom when they were quite young.

Danielle wondered if I could do that, and likewise make a label for the bride's wedding gown. 

Yes and yes ... although as the project progressed, the bride's label became a handkerchief instead, the project written about in Past is prologue.

As I stitched, I asked Danielle if she could send a picture of her mom wearing the wedding gown I was working with ...

A gown so much like my own ... vintage 1970s chiffon, long sleeves, and simple lace. Her mother's smile.

Next I asked the spelling of her mother's name, to which Danielle replied ...

Jackie carried daisies, as did the lace on her gown ...

a gown edged in lace that magically morphed into a "J," the groom's first initial ...

And so I stitched a bit of lace to the fragile chiffon, turning under the edges and securing them with silken overcast stitches for the groom's tie label ...

Then attached lace daisies to the bride's handkerchief and stitched eyelet initials and the date to commemorate their wedding ...

And finally, for Danielle, stitched the name she shares with her mother and her daughter ...

onto a handkerchief for her to carry when her 6 year-old son and 1 year-old daughter serve as attendants in their uncle's wedding ...

Three gifts ...

made with love for a wonderful family ...

Danielle and Charlotte Therese

Miscellanea

There's not much new to show as I keep adding stitches to The Land as the Crow Flies ...

but it is slowly getting stronger, becoming more itself.

So I thought a little catching up might be in order. First, there's the matter of a breezeway newcomer crafted by Don ...

using old ceiling fan blades ...

and a repurposed wooden organ pipe ...

I must say, though, my favorite part is the woodburned and milk-painted eye ...

While taking pictures, I noticed a visitor in the Herb Garden ...

And if any of you were wondering where I've been, we had grandkids visiting last week ...

One of their projects was repainting some rusted metal airplanes (from a lawn ornament) and a  Kokopelli lamp stand (which are not going to remain together except for this photo) ...

Their efforts, supervised by Pop Pop, are worthy of close-ups ...

Of course, as I took these shots, my eye once again caught on something else: this time a metalwork roadrunner we gifted to each other that has found a home beside Don's pueblo assemblage ...

Lastly, a lovely gift appeared in the mail from Sue (Blessings of Thread) which my muddle stitching finger will appreciate (pun intended) ...

Sue had also gifted me with a delightful bag when she was last in Texas. It has since been made into a much-needed ukulele case ...  

I do love repurposing!

Feeling more like myself

I am grateful to India Flint for the insights I received during her bagstories project. And I will honor her request not to divulge the construction techniques provided in her private Facebook workshop.

That said, I do want to share part of the journey that led to the creation of this bag ...

As you can see, it is somewhat larger than the bag on the right, which was constructed following India's original instructions ...

But those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will most likely recognize its roots in the Remember 2016 cloth, which utilized Jude Hill's paperless piecing technique ...

Indeed, the first patches in this new bag were trial bits from Remember 2016. Others were remains of last year's Peace Pin Project. And some were made from cloth gifted by Kindred Spirits. Most are linen, either thrift store bought or vintage clothing and linens from my past.

There were even several abandoned slow stitch projects pulled out and finally put to good use ...

Speaking of which ... I recently went through my scraps, discarding many that were too small and/or too shredded to be of much use. But in going through the myriad bits and pieces, I realized that I recognized each one ... where it came from and what project it was used in. The memories that were triggered astonished me. 

So it is that this bag has become a holder of memory. Point to any patch and I dare say I can spin a story (or two or three). In the days to come, I may do just that. But for now, I will rest in the satisfaction of its wholeness and in sharing that here.

Addendum:

First Golden Eye ...

Agarita ...

and Bitterweed ...

On the eve of the lunar eclipse

I woke at five this morning, as I often do, to find moonlight streaming in our west bedroom window. Putting on my glasses, I found the almost-full moon too bright to look at directly.

Tomorrow will be different. As I write this, the sun is chasing the moon westward to Australia, where the earth will step between the two, thereby creating a shadowmoon that will dance its way around the world.

So my thoughts are much with the kindred spirits down under, where the summer sun reigns and the shadowmoon will be at its fullest. 

Mo, who so faithfully records the full moon on her blog

https://itscrowtime.wordpress.com/?s=%22Full+moon%22&submit=Search

Barry, whose peace gifts 

http://rustnstuff.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-circle-of-peace.html

are such a wonder ...

Fiona, one of whose letterpress postcards

https://paperponderings.blogspot.com/2017/12/postcards-and-peace.html

has flown here ...

to join with other paper treasures from her hand ...

And because I didn't want to mar the postcard with my less-than-satisfactory machine stitching, I opted to slow stitch this time ...

to much better effect methinks ...

And then there's India Flint, 

http://prophet-of-bloom.blogspot.com/2018/01/at-high-noon-on-february-one.html

who was a major inspiration in my eco-dye trials, some of which were more ...

or less successful ...

but which play quite nicely together ...

and will join these tea bag squares as I participate her upcoming online bagstories project ...

There's more, but I will keep silent for now except to note this sign just appeared next door ...