Hope from Deckle Edge Press

this beautiful message of Hope arrived in the mail from Fiona and Barry of Deckle Edge Press

Love is the Answer & the next day a beautiful Amulet of Hope from Marti

Barry Smith made this beautiful talisman for I dream of a world where love is the answer
The ripples of love continue to grow as we slow down in the face of this global pandemic, the air is so clean here in Sydney with hardly any traffic on the roads and everyone is being so courteous & kind to each other, this time out is giving our beautiful broken world time to heal and time for us humans to recalibrate and find new ways of working towards cleaning up the mess we’ve made!
This morning Marti sent these photos and words from New Mexico
“With all of the caring, kindnesses, creativity that is being shown all around the world during this time of crisis, I woke up this morning and knew I had to do something beyond staying at home.  One of my favorite raggedy cloths was dyed last year with a few leaves from the trees out in our front yard, Chinese Pistache. Along with those leaves, some red and yellow onion skins were also added to  the copper dye pot.  I found a small yellow Spanish broom dyed strip of cloth so I wrote the word LOVE with an indelible ink pen and stitched it to this cloth, Cut out a portion to make tabs.
At mornings’ light, I tied it to one of the trees out in front.  It is very, very windy here this morning and I like the notion that the wind, dancing with my little cloth, will carry my message of love, not only to the people in my neighborhood but across  the airwaves, reaching out to all…
Stay safe,
Love,
Marti

PS March 30th Marti made an amulet filled with love and the hope of spring:

“There is a collective sense of the need to make amulets and talismans. This morning I too felt a strong pull to make one and I had the perfect cloth to do so; the  square that I had cut out to make my cloth of Love yesterday to hang in one of the  trees in our front yard.
Laid out the cloth on the kitchen  table and placed sprigs of dried rosemary and lavender from our garden  plus salt in the center of the cloth as well as red chile powder from Chimayo.  Chimayo is a holy place for many here in New Mexico, pilgrimages are made to the church because there is a room that has dirt said to have healing powers.  Pilgrims come with their tiny bottles and containers and fill them with the holy dirt.
“The finishing blessing was a round green bead from a necklace that my granddaughter Rowie had made for me when she was 4 yrs old.  The amulet is on my dresser, next to one of my candles.  When I lit the candle to do my daily blessing ritual this morning, I held the amulet in my hands for a few minutes, and gave protection blessings to you and Rod, to my family, to other friends, and to everyone in the world.  May we all be safe, may we all find levels of comfort and serenity, may gardeners be considered essential for in my world, they are and most of all, may we love and help each other as best we can.”
Marti

namaste

Hoya celebration!

We have lived here in our beautiful old lady of a house for 11 years, the Hoya is celebrating with Fiona & Barry’s Imagine Peace weathergrams and Bronwyn Berman’s beautifully beaded and bound river stone
with so many flowers happening this year!
and we have privacy from the upstairs bedroom window at last!
love how Madeleine set up Holding the Moon at the Collectors Choice show at Artsite
moonsong sold to a museum curator & conservator of textiles and paper from Western Australia,
last year she bought Once in a Blue Moon & the chicken & the egg in 2017
hoping there will be photos of the opening to post soon & thanks to everyone who came along
but the sad news is my beautiful sister in law Debbie had a stroke just as she and my brother Mike were getting ready to go to my Mom’s for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, she is in ICU, x fingers she will make a full recovery!

International Day of Peace

weathergrams in the garden from Fiona Dempster and Barry Smith for the International Day of Peace 2017-2019
Barry’s Peace Bowl
Fiona and Barry give so much love and hope for our beautiful broken world
yesterday we attended the school student’s Climate Strike in The Domain, our friend Richard Whitfield caught this photo, there is great hope for our beautiful broken world but we all have a lot of work to do!

The Mother Talisman by Barry Smith

The Mother Talisman by Barry Smith fits in the hand so perfectly with a delightful weight
at the opening Old Man Crow offered this talisman to each visitor to hold one on one
Barry makes such beautiful magic!

namaste

the opening moved the air with the power of song and love and beauty

Lizette Campbell’s husband Peter took this beautiful photograph of the starry details on the gloves
The opening for I dream of a world where love is the answer moved the air with the power of song and love and beauty
here’s some photos that just came in from Bronwyn Berman
lots of of wondergood conversations
surprise and laughter
Fiona Dempster and Barry Smith sent these photos & will post more on their blogs tomorrow
Nanette Gilbert sent photos & a big hug from Grace in northern Californialove this photo of Dotti and Bronwyn
my brother Paul & Old Man Crow getting ready to play
I dream of a world where love is the answer
after the Hon. Dr Meredith Burgmann opened the show (photo courtesy of Artsite Galleries)
with deep gratitude to everyone who made this dream come true
namaste

PS  Fiona Dempster of Paper Ponderings, Barry Smith of Rustnstuff, and Nanette Gilbert of Stitch and Sow have written beautiful reviews of the opening with lots more photos!
PPS Sharmon Davidson has written a wonderful post for the dream on her blog

a talisman from Doris Perlhuhn!

Doris Perlhuhn’s talisman is filled with love for our beautiful broken world
love the colours, textures and beading in the binding
settling into place in the dream
Judy Lemezis
Tina Zaffiro
Barry Smith
Nanette Gilbert
Bronwyn Berman
Deb Gorr
Kathy Dorfer
Els Snieder
The Gathering
you can see more of Doris’s beautiful work on her blog and on Instagram
Magic Days!
namaste

Peace from Fiona Dempster and Barry Smith

Fiona Dempster and Barry Smith send Peace into the world every year for the International Day of Peace
Their generosity of spirit inspires hope for our beautiful broken world
old and new weathergrams at the front door
and out the back
with deep gratitude
Peace & Love guide the way!

Barry Smith’s talismans of love for our beautiful broken world

Barry Smith sent all 8 of his Talismans of Love for our Beautiful Broken World!
a few weeks ago Barry wrote about making these talismans over on his blog and they blew me away, now that they have arrived I am even more blown away in real life! Old Man Crow reckons the one with the beads embedded is like finding a treasure in an archaeological dig, like a future foretold fulfilling the dream – Love Is The Answer!
here’s Barry’s talismans stitched into place
and talking of good magic
we went to Barangaroo Reserve to participate in the 4000 Fish project for Australia’s Invasion Day
to symbolically return 4000 fish to Sydney Harbour
“For the artwork, Emily McDaniel brought together the talents of four Indigenous artists who created visual, audio and sculptural elements responding to the story of the fisherwomen. 
Visitors to the site at Nawi Cove have been invited to scoop water from the harbour and create fish-shaped ice sculptures using cast moulds.
Once frozen, the ice fish are then placed on a large canoe moored at the end of a pontoon.
The warmth of a flame and the setting sun melts them, symbolising their return to the waters of Warrane (Sydney Harbour).”
carrying the cast fish back to the canoe
a way of giving back
a beautiful ceremony of healing for our beautiful broken world
deep magic is afoot
on so many levels

mending our beautiful broken world with Love and Peace

Liz Ackert sent a Peace Leaf made by Barry Smith wrapped in her hand dyed cochineal cloth along with peaceful words hand printed by Fiona Dempster, her finely stitched Take Heart safety pin and stitched my mending words into the blue for our beautiful broken world !