Project-ing

I've been re-working the flowers from the baby quilt debacle, adding thrifted ballet pink linen and trimmings from my mom's 40th anniversary linen dress ...

with the aim of collaborating on a project Don has underway ...

The end product, requested by Meg, is destined to be hung over Parker's crib ...

We'll keep you posted on progress. Not that I expect to get much done over the next few days as our younger daughter Meliss (seen here with our St Louis grands), is heading our way tomorrow ...

to meet her new niece ...

and go swimming with her nephew ...

Just in case there's a bit of free time, I'm bringing along the placket cloth which has progressed ...

And while I was hoping to follow directions in Jody Alexander's book The Boro Aesthetic to create a bag ...

I'm chronically incapable of following "recipes," so I started folding ...

and folding ...

and folding ...

Hmmmm, interesting ...

Or not. I'm never quite sure how things will turn out until I get there.

Continuing

Eight more peace pins are going into the mail today ...

Two are cochineal-dyed linen backed with cochineal-dyed silk for Anne in California and Coco in Washington (state) ...

The silk was slippery, to say the least, so I backed it with a fine, stiff linen, which reminded me of a novel entitled The Pink Suit. While I'm not usually a fiction fan, this book held me with its fictionalized description of the lining of Jackie Kennedy's iconic Chanel knock-off ...

Jude Hill's invisible basting stitch, aka glue stitch ...

Two more for Laura in New Hampshire and Peggy in Colorado, were dyed with cochineal on linen pre-mordanted with alum and tannin, then backed with windfall lichen dyed linen ...

The next two were a green/madder peach pairing for Sue in Illinois and an earthy lichen/croton pair of linens for Apronista Winona in New Mexico ...

Last, but not least lavender linens for Shelly in Washington (state) and bold reds for Sandy in Hawaii ...

Life lessons

This isn't what I expected to post for Mothers Day (so there will undoubtedly be more later), but this article in today's paper called out to be shared ...

http://www.mystatesman.com/entertainment/music/jimmy-lafave-transcends-cancer-teaching-through-the-magic-music/kohOXtjmk9xrVrFYBgpSDJ/

It's about local singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave, a native of Oklahoma, but long-time Austin dweller. We heard him play, memorably, with Gretchen Peters and Kevin Welch, at a coffeehouse in Wimberley.

More recently, when we traveled through Oklahoma, we stopped at the Woody Guthrie Center ...

where we saw not only the iconic original lyrics to This Land is Your Land, but also these peace-full lyrics for a song unfamiliar to me that even so caused me to click the shutter ...

There was also art ...

and musical instruments ...

not just Woody's, but also iconic artists associated with him ...

And so, right after watching a piece about Woody Guthrie's life and music in the small theatre, I spotted this on the chair right in front of us ...

which led us to talk to the young guy at the front desk about the unexpected (to us) connection to Austin. Oh yes, Jimmy LaFave was well-known to him, would be playing a concert at the Center in late April, we should come. 

Not likely, we demurred. A new grandchild would be keeping us in Austin. Little did any of us know what was to come, detailed in the article above. The lesson writ large in words that left me in tears ...

Life is short. Make something of it ...

You've got (real) mail

How long has it been since I went to the mailbox with any sense of positive expectation? Rather, I've dutifully picked up bills, catalogs, and unwanted solicitations ... sometimes waiting days between mailbox visits unless deliveries of medications or other heat-sensitive materials were expected.

But now ...

I find hand-written notes and cards, some with added treasures tucked inside. There have been thanks for peace pins, congratulations for our new grandchild from Marti, and a love letter from our daughter Meg.

My hands opened to let go of tiny bits of cloth and I received in turn a hank of cotton floss to add to my next dye pot (thank you Beth) and parachute silk (!) from England to add as well (thank you Louise ... and thanks too for the wee collaged box that accompanied it). All of it unexpected.

But it was the words, handwritten and heart-felt, that I most appreciated. As Judy wrote, "I loved getting real mail!"

It's a lesson I won't soon forget. 

The secret of life

I am stitching memory into this cloth ...

trying to hold on to each moment ...

witnessing joy ...

homecoming ...

happiness ...

wonder ...

bliss ...

peace ...

And what of the peace pins? Well, they will have to wait a bit. But meantime, their light has been reflected back as even more joy, more peace ...

I begin to count my blessings and realize they are beyond numbering ...

Welcome to the world

Parker Mae arrived at 4:32 in the afternoon on Thursday, April 27, 9 lbs. 4 oz., and 21.5 inches ...

She was welcomed into the family by G ...

who has fallen in love ...

along with the rest of us ...

Reader alert: there's more to come

Joy-full

I went to a dyeing workshop a couple of years ago and brought home sample pieces that then sat unused because they felt too precious. My recent reorganization brought them together with other dye, rust and discharge trials ...

Then the peace pin project opened my hands to start letting them go. The truth is I find so much more satisfaction now seeing them out in the world rather than hidden away.

In fact, I'll be choosing from this lot in order to make a pin for a long-time friend from Virginia ...

who has since moved to California and started (yet another) design business ...

http://akinderspace.com/

There has been a new peace pin sighting in New York, from Jude who is most responsible for my journey into slow cloth:

http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/2017/04/only-puzzle-pieces.html

Which triggered an email requesting a peace pin from Laura in New Hampshire. Laura also sent a picture of a beautiful saori weaving she made for Earth Day, which I'm posting here with her permission ...

There was also this post about a peace pin landing on Hazel's Word cloth ...

http://handstories.typepad.com/blog/2017/04/peaces-pieces.html

that inspired my Remember 2016 cloth

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search/label/Remember%202016

That in turn generated a comment from Shelly requesting a lavender pin ... but with no contact info, so I'm hoping she'll read this and send her mailing address to lizackert@gmail.com.

While I've been busy making pins, Don has kept busy, too. He found a funky duck in a Johnson City Gallery ...

which he has since stained and painted ...

He also scored a couple of pieces while we were antiquing with Williamsburg friends who stopped by for a couple of days ...

Love the business card, which reads in part, "raw materials for creative living" ...

I spotted some indigo Ikat while we were there, but it was a tad pricey. If it's still there next time, I might try to dicker them down. 

Lastly, we found a cool mixed media roadrunner painting at a Wimberley art show last weekend ...

which displaced the clock up and to the right in order to make room for it on this wall ...

So I'm thinking it was no coincidence that this fellow showed up when I drove into town today ...

No doubt about it ... roadrunners are aptly named!

To be continued ...

The final round (for now) ...

From the top and moving clockwise, one in coral and gray ikat for daughter Meg, fuschia and teal for younger daughter Meliss, prairie tea dyed and cochineal for Gill in the UK, orange thrifted shirt linen and cochineal for Gale in Georgia, black and white for Anna Lisa in Rhode Island, and last (how did it take me this long?), a green and madder dyed coral pin  for myself (note: the colored links lead to posts about the dyestuffs used to make them).

B-sides ...

And while I always intone "imagine peace" as I stitch, this batch had a decidedly pink/peach/coral vibe that had me hoping to be interrupted by a call from Austin. No such luck.

So. There have been 30 pins so far, but I will happily do more if anyone regrets not having put in a request at the outset. Just leave word(s) and color(s) of peace in a comment on any post in the blog, then send an email to lizackert@gmail.com with your mailing address. 

I've remedied some omissions by going back to all the posts, which are now grouped under the Index heading "Peace Pin Project" and created a photo link in the right column. I also added links to all the Kindred Spirit mentioned in the posts and addenda where those blogs have featured posts about the arrival of the peace pins ...

In Australia 

https://itscrowtime.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/manly-artists-book-award-2017

New Mexico

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2017/03/kindred-spirit.html

Massachusetts

https://deemallon.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/imagine-peace

England 

http://louisemaywatson.blogspot.com/2017/04/peace-pin-arrives.html

and Washington (state)

http://handstories.typepad.com/blog/2017/04/peaces-pieces.html

If I missed anyone, please let me know!

With thanks to all who have participated so far ... and those yet to come. Because  there can never be too much peace, nor can it ever be too late to imagine it.

P.S. Barry Smith, who started it all, has a wonderful post over at Rustnstuff today
http://rustnstuff.blogspot.com/2017/04/pieces-for-peace.html

Green peace pieces

Two pins in green heading out on Earth Day to Kristin in Montana and Beth in Illinois ...

Both backed in indigo on vintage linen.

Interesting to note that two thirds of the pins have been blue and/or green by request.

And a love letter to the land ...

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N.B. There are a few folks who haven't sent mailing addresses. Margery, Janet and Annalisa ... please send me an email if you're still interested (lizackert@gmail.com).