When I was 9 I joined 4-H and I had chickens, goats, sheep, rabbits, a calf, etc. My Mom said I had to take one girl thing. UGH! Sewing or cooking, she said. Both of which she was very accomplished in doing. So, I gritted my teeth and picked sewing. I ended up loving it and making my own wedding dress. Lo, these many years later, you name it, I’ve made it and patterns are just suggestions to me.
Now I’ve joined the Prayer Flag Movement. I first heard about it in 2011 when Vivika Hansen DeNegre and other fiber artists found an outlet for expressing their hopes, joys and love of using cloth according to Quilting Arts Magazine.
The idea is based on the Tibetan Flags “A prayer flag is a colorful rectangular cloth with writings and prayers often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside.” From Wikipedia
My inspiration happened like this: My friend from church has her birthday in January. I thought it would be nice to give her a gift every month of the year. She is going through a tough time of being a caregiver and I thought this would give her something to cheer her up. Also, she and I pick our One Word (see blog) together. For her birthday I gave her a metal wall hanger (about 12 inches wide) with a prayer flag. I told her I would give her one every month with one encouraging word on it. My take on the flags are not cute little quilt squares or matched and finished edges. Most of them are raw and bight and loud. The words I use are as varied as the choices for our “One Word” of the year, are usually religious and always uplifting.
I’ll share more of my monthly flags in the new year.
Never Alone 