The dawn of a new day

Beto may not have made it to the Senate this time, but hope springs eternal.

Meantime, the Dems have a majority in the House, there are many diverse new members, and I have an appointment for what turned out to be a moderate-bordering-on-severe ruptured (or was it heriniated?) disc.

I feel good about the future!

Won't get fooled again?

We donated to the cause.

We put out a yard sign.

We voted last week.

And now we wait and hope.

Meantime, my sciatic nerve pain has worsened. So today an MRI. More waiting and hoping.

Enchanted

We love New Mexico. So it's not surprising that Don was inspired to make a memory montage of our last journey ...

A bit of rusted license plate served as a (partial) title ..

while the Zia sun symbol found a home in the first nook of this one-time screen door frame ...

A bit of scrap wood and some wood burning recall the petroglyphs we saw in Santa Fe ...

While this bit of broken pottery from a recent kitchen misadventure morphed into an imagined sherd ...

Don's been playing with acrylic painting, this being his rendition of the New Mexican tradition of ordering both red and green chile sauces by requesting "Christmas" ...

We were both gobsmacked by the work of Robert Rivera displayed at the Torres Gallery, which inspired this gourd and turkey feather homage  ...

And while we didn't spend any time under a full moon, Don's imagining feels true ...

I did get to contribute a bit more than broken pottery as Don contrived a cunning 2" x 3" loom upon which I wove ...

And in the final nook, a tiny canvas purchased at Taos Pueblo ...

A bit of iron hinge on one end ...

and a rusted bit of we-know-not-what on the other ...

completed and hung over a door in the dining room ...

Perfect!

Back to it ...

The past two weeks have been all about physical therapy and working on Moon Myth ...

Happily, both have been going well and a final draft of the book (sans front cover), can be read here:
http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/p/moon-myth-final-draft.html
with special thanks to Don for commenting on the (countless) iterations, and to Nancy at Pomegranate Trail for her input.

Honestly

We are back, but long story short, I'm dealing with sciatic nerve pain that is distracting me from stitching and blogging. Today I will begin the process of physical therapy to remedy that.

For those of you who have left word in comments and emails, please know that the peace project will proceed once I can give it proper attention.

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. 

 

Beside myself

I hate losing sight of the back of a cloth ...

which is inevitably what happens when one turns to the front ...

making something of it ...

So many stitches, some intentionally visible ...

others not, here because Deb Lacativa's thread slips from light to dark, making Jude Hill's invisible baste true to its name ...

still others becoming hidden when they don't make the final cut.

Then there are the stitches that have been undone ...

No trace left, and no clue yet about what, if anything, will replace them.

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.

New moons

Up until now, the Moon Myth bases have been made before the moon patches. Now, as the moon wanes, I have turned the process around ...

The waning gibbous is thrifted white damask (50 cents) and Deb Lacativa  dyed cloth (priceless) reverse appliquéd with thrifted charcoal gray linen ($2).

The last quarter moon on the right is worked on indigo shibori cotton dyed at Maura Ambrose's workshop several years ago, sandwiched around a thrifted white damask hem ($1).

There were a few also-ran moons which may or may not make the final cut ...

And good news: we have been in a long spell of no rain, but ever since Fiona's peace weather-gram and Barry's piece of peace (more on that later) were hung on our porch thermometer ...

it has been raining ...

Sadly, but true to the land of flood and drought, the almost-bone-dry Blanco River, home of these rock cairns down the road from us  ...

has now risen and washed them all away ...

If you have Facebook, you may be able to see (and hear) video of the Blanco River.

Moon rise

Page 9 of Moon Myth is another memory cloth of a golden full moon rising over the trees on Cascade Trail ...

Once again, Deb Lacativa's dyed cloth and threads have a starring role ...

And this time I did a turned-edge reverse appliqué lined with a row of split back stitch worked with two strands of floss, while a single strand of detached back stitch danced around the edges of the dyed cloth marks.