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.

Looking in the rear view mirror

We just parted company with two wonderful house guests from Virginia who are family of family ... what my dad used to call out-laws. It was our first opportunity to really get to know each other and we found much in common.

It was also their first trip to the Texas Hill Country, so we took them on a glass bottom boat to see the springs that form the San Marcos River ...

Texas-style brisket was a must ...

and while we did the obligatory tour of the Alamo and the San Antonio Riverwalk, I most enjoy introducing folks to the Missions National Park with its excellent introductory film about the land and people of central Texas ...

And of course, you can't leave without hearing some live music, preferably at Gruene Hall ...

We also walked the land, naming the critters and trees and wildflowers that are now so familiar to us. The cochineal (scale insects) that live on our prickly pear cactus came up repeatedly, as did some of the other dyestuffs I've experimented with. 

You can scroll down to the index and click on any of the dye links to see more, but for now here's a peace patch hand-dyed with commercially sourced cochineal. The words are used with permission from Gill in the UK and the accompanying book about cochineal was a gift from Anne in California ...

As with all the others, this patch will ultimately be seen from the back ...

Because I like being a little different ...

Addendum

I almost forgot ... here's my take on Caesar salad that N and ML enjoyed while they were here. This is the amount I usually make to serve two of us.

1/2 lemon, squeezed

1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

1+ tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 to 1/2 clove of garlic, microplaned

3 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs mayo

pinch of salt

Whisk and adjust seasonings to taste. Serve on chopped Romaine with grated Parmesan Regianno and croutons.

Joy Not Joy

There were many ripples on the pond today. And in thinking about my recent correspondence with Grace,

http://windthread.typepad.com/windthread/2017/09/how-its-all-the-same-how-its-just-love-just-life-as-in-being-alive.html

there has been Joy and Not Joy.

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

http://morewgalo.blogspot.com/2017/09/tooling-up-for-color.html

front ...

and back ...

Using (with her permission), Saskia's words, 

http://www.saskiavanherwaarden.com

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 ...

https://itscrowtime.wordpress.com/2017/09/16/mending-our-beautiful-broken-world-with-love-and-peace

and again ...

http://handstories.typepad.com/blog/2017/09/gifts-of-peace.html

and again ...

https://paperponderings.blogspot.com/2017/09/thursday-thoughts_14.html

Anticipating

September 21st is the International Day of Peace. In the week ahead, I plan to show some of the patches destined for the Peace Pin Project Shawl.

This one, stitched on Deb Lacativa dyed cloth, reads "a quiet web of peace," words used with permission from Judy in Pennsylvania ...

As with the others, it will ultimately be seen from the back ...

The secondary colors were inspired by this post over at Artisun ...

http://artisun.blogspot.com/2017/09/avanthis-big-day.html

Addendum:

In response to Judy's query (below), here's a post about "marking stitch"

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2014/07/history-continued.html

Some posts about "asemic writing" from the index:

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search/label/Asemic%20Writing

And responding to Jude's comment, this link about Pojagi:

http://www.quiltstudy.org/exhibitions/online_exhibitions/pojagi/korean_quilts0.html

What's in a word

I mentioned copyright recently in the context of using someone else's words. But can one copyright a single word or two?

Not wanting to take things to extremes, but also respecting whatever privacy may be reasonably expected, I've chosen to pluck individual words from the various Peace Pin Project comments without attribution.

And so these bits of Ulrike (Nemo Ignorat) dyed cloth gifted by Mo, carry individual words of peace ...

and will eventually be seen asemically anyway (ha, the autocorrect is having fits) ...

although some are more scrutable than others (I'm having fun with words today).

9/11

Rising (Don Ackert)

Word matters (part 3)

Note: This opening was written last Thursday ...

I started my morning, as always, with words. Reading the news, checking my email, looking at and commenting on Kindred Spirit blogs.

Then I picked up the phone, calling each of my members of Congress to lament the recent developments on DACA and urge them to support legislation that will give a secure path to full citizenship for Dreamers. At the end of each call, the staffers who recorded my comments asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" And I responded, "Not today ... thank you for taking my comment" as one snarky rejoinder after another flashed through my mind. Because words matter.

After which I wrote this, put down the portable word generator (aka the iPhone) and stitched ...

Now it's Sunday and this is the state of my nest ...

I need to say how much I appreciate that Don is (outwardly at least) okay with this. He is an extremely orderly person and I'm sure my opposite tendency is consternating.

Anyway, the tub on the ottoman is full of hand-dyed cloth (my own and others, both gifted and purchased). I am now in the process of liberating it and will be posting the results for the foreseeable future, the end goal being enough patches to create a peace shawl (or cloak, as Grace aptly called it). 

Each patch is being stitched with a word or words from the Peace Pin Project, as with this one on a piece of Deb Lacativa magic ...

Don't you love how it echoes the view out my window?

Each patch (this one on another Lacativa) is then joined at the top and the right with 5" strips of a thrifted cotton/linen tablecloth that I like to think of as "dove gray" ...

I'm not measuring anything except the strips, but eventually all these patches will end up "framed" in dove gray in some "to be determined" arrangement ...

Anyway, there will be much more to come on this, including close-ups. Meantime, please join me in keeping Deb in your thoughts as Irma heads up the coast toward Georgia ...

http://morewgalo.blogspot.com/2017/09/pre-storm-still.html

May she be blessed with gentle rain for her land and spared the devastation of wind as we were during Harvey.

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

Seriously ...

adorable ...

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.