Other Stuff

While ninety plus percent of my creative energies end up here at the project, I thought you might like to see some of the other things I work on in my sewing studio. I finally got back to my flikr site to add a few more things and some labels. It's still a work in progress, but isn't that life?

WBUUC

Friends from MQC and I hung our art work at White Bear Lake Unitarian Universalist Church yesterday. The church has a beautiful new sanctuary and common areas that are so welcoming for fiber art.

Thanks to everyone who has sent in blocks recently!!** I hung 11 panels of the project. It hangs on the wall opposite the entrance to the sanctuary, and is beautiful. The people from the church were very excited to have it there, and my friends from MCQ have been so helpful and encouraging. It was nice to be able show off how far we've come.

There is a table with the blog address, and blocks so folks can help.

What a good time we had hanging this and all the other beautiful work. Here are some photos of us hard at work.

This show will hang at the WBUUC until February 10th. If you're nearby it would be a nice stop. There's a great little drive in diner down the road for lunch.





**UPDATE!!! I have received a couple of blocks that have the knots in a peace symbol pattern. While I am ever so thankful for help, but, I do have a caveat. I want this piece to be more abstract, and allow each person viewing it to be free to feel and think whatever they need to feel and think without ideas being put in their heads. Any abstract design is fine for the knots or beads. Just nothing dogmatic. It's the dogma that I believe gets us into these nasty situations to begin with. I live in a big "red" bubble in a "blue" state. I have learned that whispering is sometimes louder than shouting.

I am going to keep the peace symbol blocks on my design board as my inspiration, because that is what this project means for me.

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beginnings

Ideas. I have lots of ideas. Some ideas are just a function of brainstorming. Some ideas had their beginnings in some other thing that inspired me to think and ponder. It may sound a little silly, but, I can tell when I've hit upon a good idea in a couple of ways. Some ideas just won't leave me alone. They haunt me until I succumb to doing something. My favorite ideas also make me jump up and down and do a little dance. I don't realize I even do it.

This blog is going to be about is going to be about one of those jump up and down ideas that haunts me.

Not long ago, I was perusing the internet, when I came across some photos of a display at Reed College out in Portland Oregon. Flags had been placed in the lawn. A red flag for every American who has died in the war, and a white one for every six Iraqis. There were 3055 red flags, and 112,000 white flags. I was overwhelmed.

I don't live in a hole, I consider myself moderately well informed about the world, but seeing the visual representaion of the consequences of war was so much more powerful than hearing, or reading the numbers.

Thus began the haunting. That visual was thought provoking without telling one what to think. It was something to raise awareness about something that is far to easy to ignore on a daily basis. But it was also impermanent. It would most likely be picked up in a few weeks when the lawn needed to be mowed.

Haunt. Haunt. Haunt.

Wait! I'm an artist, what can I do make something as a visual reminder? My chosen medium is quilting, so it would obviously have to be a quilt of some sort. The rest of that particular brainstorming happened so fast, I can't describe it for you, except to say I was jumping up and down and dancing the dance of good ideas.

Here's the idea - A small quilt for each American who has died and on that quilt small french knots to represent each Iraqi. Using the numbers from the Reed display, that's 3055 little quilts with 212 french knots on each one. The quilts will be made and bound with solid color fabrics. Any color is fine, they represent the soldiers who repesent us and we are of every color and ethnicity. The 212 french knots will be made with black thread. I've been using 2 strands of embroidery floss, and starting in the center, make a spiral of french knots. Each little quilt will be connected to the next with small brass safety pins. I am putting a purple bead on the safety pin between the quilts to represent the wounded. It's no where near the actual number of wounded, nut, they need to be represented as well. .

I am going to need help.

I have spoken with a few folks and have had really positive feedback I am hoping to find people willing to volunteer to donate the materials and time to make the quilt blocks. I will also be needing help with funds for the fabric, batting, beads, postage for shipping, etc.

I will post photos and a tutorial soon, but this will be the basic structure - the quilts will be 6" square finished. Each square will be made from a solid fabric on the front, any scrap of batting and backing is fine. The binding details are specific, as they need to be strong enough to support the grommets. So, I will wait until I get home to do those photos, and directions. (I'm on vacation in NYC, but, you know how it is with those ideas that haunt you.)