Tag: Stitch: Lettering and Asemic Writing

Iron-y

~ Liz A ~ 19 Comments

I gave this piece, continued from here, a very light pressing, not wanting to smash the stitching …

There’s a back story, of course …

I’ve been using Rowenta irons for over 20 years, ever since being introduced to one at a B&B when I needed to iron a cotton Laura Ashley dress that hadn’t traveled well. I was smitten by its weightiness and by the scorching heat it generated.

Unfortunately, I have a habit of knocking irons off the board, thereby bouncing them on the concrete floor, which tends to scramble whatever electronic impulses are necessary to make the darn things work. After the most recent drop, I went to Target and grabbed the first Rowenta I saw off the shelf. Alas, I did not read the box labeling, which touted a new feature: no temperature control button. Rather, the damn thing promised to automatically adjust to whatever fiber I was pressing. I call BS on that.

So I went back to Target, bought the cheapest iron I could find (a Sunbeam) and have been happily ironing away ever since. And yes, I did scorch one piece of cotton cloth by using the linen setting … but hey, I like to live dangerously.

All that by way of saying I eased back on the throttle with this cloth, using a wool setting so I wouldn’t overdo it.

Deb Lacativa’s so-called Dirty Threads served me well, as always. Shades of grey for the initial wording …

“what if words are like shadows … like dreams that fade away with barely a trace left behind … leaving thoughts in their wake … ”

Followed by sea blues and greens …

“… and a new understanding of how we might go … in the words of Old Man Crow: we dream of a world where live is the answer, when the question is how do you get through the day?”

And finally, sky blues and violets …

“Stitched by Nana (Liz Ackert) for Griffin in 2019”

with an asemic bit that can only be read on the back …

“keep on dreaming, keep on believing you can make dreams come true.”

With thanks to Hazel at Handstories for telling me about the book Pockets by Jennifer Armstrong, which put the idea of a hidden phrase in my head (while I await receipt of my own used copy, ordered from abebooks.com for $3.99 with free shipping).

And with thanks to Griffin for loving this cloth into being. Soon enough ’twill become a pillow for his bed.

P.S. This project has gotten my rusty stitch lettering back up to speed. Now I’m looking forward to revising this bit of patchplay.

Secondary education

~ Liz A ~ 7 Comments

I wanted to play with secondary colors today: orange, green, and purple …

So I used my rust-dyed muslin along with green-dyed damask (from Ulrike aka Nemo Ignorat) …

and wild peace threads from Deb Lacativa (my preferred go-to of late) …

One of these will be flying to Mo’s friend Liz in Australia, while others are headed to Julie in England, Pam in Colorado, Sarah in Missouri, and Kendall in Texas.
I also called my members of Congress to leave a comment about the proposed tax reform. Unlike past calls, this time I reframed my explanation of how health care has impacted our budget and how tax reform will add a further burden. I told them that we live on x number of dollars from pension and IRA income, but that it costs us an additional 35-50% to pay for our health insurance and potential out of pocket deductibles … that 35-50% is counted as taxable income, which is only partly relieved by itemizing our deductions. The new tax reform proposal would wipe out the health care deduction. And the failure of Congress to reform health care will likely increase our premiums and/or deductibles next year.
“Wow,” said one staffer on the other end of the line. “Can I get your name and phone number? Someone on our policy team might want to get back to you for more information.”
I don’t know that our story will make a whit of difference, but if enough of us tell our stories maybe, just maybe, we might begin to change minds … 
speak your truth

Meanwhile, I’m beginning to see these shreds of cloth thoughts as a new daily practice … responses to Mo’s call to stitch for our beautiful broken world.