Ranchos de Taos

We stayed just south of Taos proper, at a B&B in Ranchos de Taos ...

There we found tranquil beauty ...

and shelter from the sun ...

But best of all, we were close by the plaza where the San Francisco de Asis church has been the subject of Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams, among others ...

getting close enough to see this is not faux adobe ...

Then wandered on to "shop" at Chimayo Trading del Norte 

http://chimayotrading.com/

that was more of a museum than a gallery  (which is to say, far out of our price range) ...

and the Two Graces gallery next door 

http://www.twograces.com/

which was, by contrast, well within our means ...

Two boxes of metal later, it was clear we had fallen hook, line and sinker. 

Slow down ...

How has it already been a week since I posted? And I have so many pictures, so many thoughts to share, some from last month! So maybe this: several shorter posts, starting with this one. 

We wandered through one of our junking haunts, Broadway Paul's in Wimberley ...

but it was closed. One week later, it was still closed, so I texted this picture to the phone number on the sign ...

How much? And the deal was done by sliding some cash under the door.

It has been morphing since then ...

Don getting his milk paint on ...

ideas ebbing and flowing ...

Meantime, as I was looking through the accumulated pantry of rust, I noticed a clock work that had sprung its spring ...

I mean, I just love this ...

escapement.

Treasures

Mo's card arrived yesterday, along with a number of additions to our assemblage pantry ...

Merry Christmas to us!

US

It's done ...

and hung ...

the wonderful puzzle ...

that is US ...

a sampler in bits ...

and pieces ...

of love avowed ...

40 years ago come December 30th ...

Collaboration

We've enjoyed many house guests this year. In order to show why we've fallen in love with Texas, we take them on whirlwind journeys to favorite haunts and we've-been-meaning-to-see sights.

So it was that we found ourselves at Uncommon Objects

http://www.uncommonobjects.com/

(sadly no longer on South Congress Avenue in Austin) where we scored an old Post Office box door. It's been sitting in the garage since last spring, biding its time until the perfect assemblage opportunity presented itself.  

It didn't take long. Don is now in the process of creating a piece to honor our upcoming 40th wedding anniversary. The PO box door was a perfect fit. But what to put in the window?

After poring over old photos, we decided some rust dyed cloth and stitch might be a better fit ...

Can't wait to show you where it ends up ...

The tipping point

Dana's word, shown here yesterday, was and is open.

Dana is a lover of words and the words she shared in this post ...

http://ravenandsparrow.typepad.com/raven_and_sparrow/2017/09/imagine-peace.html

speak volumes. And yes, her word is there, at the end.

Read it and read it again. Then vow to answer the call.

Because the world seems to be at a tipping point on this equinoctal day. We need to do all we can to tip it in the right direction ...

What if less was more?

I've been wondering for a while now if the peace pins could/should be simpler.

So I tore a strip of rusted cloth, folded it over a pin, stitched around the edges, and wrote on it ...

Except that wasn't quite what I had in mind.

Next I tried folding some indigo-dyed shibori cloth, wrote out the words, stitched through both sides, then threaded the pin through the top and stitched it in place ...

Better.

So I tried another, this time with more of the rusted cloth. And I was happy enough with it to add my signature on the back ...

But it still wasn't quite right. 

Then it hit me: Deb Lacativa's magical hand-dyed floss ...

Thus was born the prototype for the Peace Pin Project, version 2.0 ... hopefully with many more to come.

Word matters (part 2)

So, I've never been a big fan of my own handwriting. Somehow the letters always end up different sizes and there's no consistency in their formation. A calligrapher I will never be.

But I did pick up one very useful tip in my middle school library teaching days: don't even try to align letters on a bulletin board ... stagger them instead.

Both these truths are realized here ...

Heck, even when I draw a guideline (here done in water-erasable pen), I can't manage to follow it. But at least the lettering is uniquely mine. And I'm very happy with my new set of permanent markers, purchased on sale from Dick Blick. They are 0.05 mm (half the width of an XS Pitt pen) which is fine enough to hide behind the single-strand split backstitching I favor (aka "splitting hairs" in Jude Hill's lexicon) ...

Speaking of Jude, I have to credit her "Flower Power" post 

http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/2017/09/flower-power.html

with pulling this peace patch out of my brain (where it's been germinating for a while) and onto a piece of indigo shibori ... not exactly tie-dye, but close enough. 

A couple of seams later, I had the latest peace shawl patch ...

which I like even better on the b-side ...

P.S. I always wanted to be a hippie, but I missed the boat by a few years. Still, my kids and grandkids might argue otherwise, especially after receiving the books detailed here: 

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2014/12/tis-season-continued.html

Word matters (part 1 of several related posts)

Words matter, but actions speak volumes.

In the heat of the #Charlottesville moment, I forgot a very important principle: that each of us has a copyright to our words. And so, I offer a public apology to Marti for using her words before seeking her permission.

Since then, I have reached out to many of you who left words in the form of phrases for the Peace Pin Project. Thank you to those of you who graciously gave me permission to use them for my peace shawl project ... especially Marti!

As it turned out, my initial peace patches turned out to have insufficient margins ...

so they are currently winging their way to their authors.

In their place are the latest versions, back ...

and front ...

Eventually, these will be stitched together, along with many others, to form a two-sided peace shawl. The seams are variously known as Korean Pojagi or French seams, both of which conceal all raw edges ...

I'm particularly liking the idea of wearing the shawl inside out, creating an asemic statement of peace (with thanks to Mo for that concept). Therefore, I am taking care not to use any knots and to clip all loose ends ...

This cloth came from Mo, part of a wonderful package that arrived early this summer with cloth dyed by Ulrike (Nemo Ignorat) in Europe ...

and Geminid birthday greetings to Don and me (our birthdates being one day apart) ...

a wondrous gift from Mo's Honesty/Lunaria series ...

Which is to say, I continue to be amazed by the love and care that come from the community of stitchers and dyers, writers and readers, who visit this humble space. One can't help but be hopeful, and for that I am most thankful.

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.