Monthly Archives: March 2014

A pewter sky and hope

Another snap of cold, waggling branches, and a pewter sky can mean only one thing: MORE SNOW!!! I can take it. Knowing temperatures will rise into the 50’s by week’s end really helps.
On Monday, in order to apply some machine-stitching on one of the Global Warming panels, I bundled up. The basement has been very cold this week.
Originally, part of the motivation to ‘white-wash’ the surface with quotes of climate change naysayers was speed. As much as I have re-engaged with these panels, I want them done. The cold kept me upstairs, however, and hours of hand quilting ensued.
This was starting to have a paralyzing effect. Would I scrawl the machine-stitched words OVER the embroidery floss? Would I RUIN carefully applied textures?!
And then there was this recent discussion about Hope (a few posts back). If I accept that it is incumbent upon us as moral and spiritual beings to find a way to HOPE, what was this stitching doing to me? Is it healthy to be spend so much time with the sentiments of people whose destructive idiocy makes my blood boil?!
So I really had to get down there and keep going.
Some new idea about pairing the bad shit with good stuff is forming… ideas as antidotes or something. What would happen if I scoured the internet for innovations or movers and shakers and reported about them in tandem with these gems from Fox News. Would that at least neutralize the blood-boiling effects of these nay-sayers?

cyber and fiber

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By now, many of us know how real, satisfying, and long-lasting cyber-friendships can be. I have long stopped putting “friends” in quotes when referring to people I “know” online (I don’t put “know” in quotes either).
There is something natural and compelling about sending something three-dimensional and tactile to one of these friends. These wishbones are somewhere between here and Australia at the moment.

Morning light

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A busy weekend and a happily quiet day ahead. Dinner with two friends last night. Conversation ranged from global warming, the NRA, flight 777, our children’s relationships to aging and hope. This from Doris: there is a moral imperative to cultivate and maintain hope — no matter what. This has me thinking. Especially as it was uttered by someone who has never shied away from the ugly truths (eg. She represented one of the Guantanamo detainees pro bono and one year attended an interfaith ceremony of healing at one of the death camps in Europe). The morality of hope. The imperative of hope.

Any thoughts?

In the meantime, apologies for first reblogging this from an old blog. Decided to cancel out and redo. Here are some pix of morning light from last week.

Swirling and stillness

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Storms abound in this quilt.

But there is sanctuary, too.

One window still in progress

There’s that wool challis from a scarf my mother wore

there’s a piece from those childhood curtains

rayon overalls with scenes from NYC

one corner of this roof was dipped in my indigo pot

Adding stitched lines is new.

Committed. And aware my efforts may not work how I want them to — do the added lines unify? Or create more distracting patterning? I shall have to wait and see.

Spring!

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It rained hard during the night and was still sprinkling when I took these pictures, but it is supposed to be 50 degrees today, and look at what I found.
The creeping sedum — ever so humble, but ever so bold!
On the south side of the house, an early crocus – though that is redundant, isn’t it? Soon this bed will be crowded with them, and with elegant snowdrops.
Even the ignored pot, so recently piled-high with snow, brings on a sense of spring. I can’t wait to see what ‘s emerging under those leaves.

If you’re in the mood to celebrate the Equinox with a smile, take a quick listen (less than 2M) to the Detroit Elementary School’s cover of Pharrell’s ‘Happy’.

Happy Spring, fellow winter survivors!

Pattern and Outrage : Dee Mallon

cloth, justice, writing, and food