Category: Social Commentary (Page 6 of 10)

Proud2Bee Wall Hanging Finished

May 2, 2018 / laura bruno lilly

As previously mentioned here and here, a few months ago I pulled out my stash of 2½ x ? fabric strips leftover from decades of projects and delved into a diversionary tactic* of piecing together a scrap version of the Dora Quilt**.

My ‘Proud2Bee an honorary Manc’ wall hanging

As I began piecing the scrap-blocks, I realized I preferred the non-calico blocks which included one made out of a bee print fabric scrap. The scrappy Dora Quilt soon evolved into my Proud2Bee an honorary Manc wall hanging with its sole purpose as a means to display my precious Manchester Worker Bee Badge***. A humble gesture by this everyday American standing in solidarity with those affected by that horrific terrorist attack at the Manchester Arena – on children – May 22, 2017.

Examples of quilting experiments

The top, ready for quilting, sat waiting for several weeks before I finally settled on the finishing details.
Using extra blocks as patches to experiment on, I explored a few of the decorative machine stitches on my Bernina and trying my hand at new-to-me methods of machine quilting using the walking foot attachment.
I really enjoyed finding designs from everyday sources and stitching with different types of threads.

Proud2Bee Block detail featuring machine blanket stitching & Manc Badge placement

Parallel to this experimentation, I found I had just enough of that scrap bee fabric to make into single Proud2Bee blocks to send to two compadres**** for use as a mini-wall hanging to display their own Manchester Bee Badges.

Completed Proud2Bee Block mini-wall hanging

corner pockets for hanging dowel

On my own Proud2Bee an honorary Manc wall hanging, I chose to use the machine blanket stitch for outlining areas of the pieced top and a wavy hand-guided stitch for the borders. Instead of a traditional rod pocket sleeve as sewn on the Proud2Bee mini-wall hangings, I tried out the corner method as shown in the photo to the left. I like it, but think it wouldn’t work as well with anything sized larger than 30 x 30.
As for the label…true completion comes with a label, IMHO (not that everything created by my own hands has been labeled). Signing and dating a quilt/wall-hanging piece are pretty basic and easy to slip in at the end of the project.

Proud2Bee an honorary Manc 2017 label

Personally, I like to add the name of the quilt/wall-hanging to the label also.
Thus piquing interest – starting conversations – priming the imagination.
Here is:
Proud2Bee an honorary Manc LBL 2017

(examples of other named projects here, here, here, here and here)
*I needed a breather from other projects
**from: “3 Times the Charm!” by Me & My Sister Designs
***sent to me by my Manc buddy…for basic info on the Manchester Worker Bee as symbolic of the city and as honoring those killed go here
****you two know who you are!

3 Days, 3 Quotes, 3rd Time #3

April 25, 2018 / laura bruno lilly

Here I am doing my favorite blogger-tag game again: The 3 Day Quote Challenge. Half the fun is getting nominated, so I thank you Heather and Dizzy for the nomination.

The Rules:
– Thank the person who nominated you
– Post a quote for three consecutive days (1 quote for each day)
– Share why this quote appeals to you so much
– Nominate 3 different bloggers for each day

3 Days, 3 Quotes, 3rd Time #3

Quote written on the wall at the entrance of the Women of Abstract Expressionism exhibit, Denver Art Museum 2016 (click on photo for details)

“I’m always going to be Mrs. Jackson Pollock – that’s a matter of fact – but I painted before Pollock, during Pollock, after Pollock.” Lee Krasner

Lee Krasner Abstract Expressionist Artist: 10/1908-6/1984

Lee Krasner Abstract Expressionist Artist: 1908-1984 (click on photo for credit/source)

(From this article here) “Abstract Expressionism is largely remembered as a movement defined by the paint-slinging, hard-drinking machismo of its poster boys Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. But the women who helped develop and push the style forward have largely fallen out of the art-historical spotlight, marginalized during their careers (and now in history books) as students, disciples, or wives of the their more-famous male counterparts rather than pioneers in their own right…Throughout her career, Krasner, one of the earliest and most innovative AbEx practitioners, would struggle against the marginalization of women artists, even changing her first name from Lena to the gender-ambiguous Lee in the 1940s. While she introduced her husband, Jackson Pollock, to the ideas and key progenitors of the movement for which he would become the posterboy, her relation to Pollock often superceded her own reputation as an artist.”

Lee Krasner, The Seasons, 1957 (click on photo for credit reference)

My three nominees for day #3 are:
– Deborah at Living on the Edge of Wild
– Annika at Annika Perry’s Writing Blog
– Ms Zen at NorCalZen

Virtual Brownie Sharing Circle #3

April 6, 2018 / laura bruno lilly

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him
Psalms 34:8

Inside view of my ‘loaded brownies minus one ingredient’

This edition of the Virtual Brownie Sharing Circle answers the question presented in the first VBSC post: What exactly is the missing ingredient in my ‘loaded brownies minus one ingredient’?
In a word: Lavender. In a story?

—Ooo-La-La Lavender Brownies—

was the number one fav vignette of my little list* for 2012. Since then, I figured out the proportions to be 1/8 cup crushed dried lavender buds added to the Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie mix, using a large egg in the prep. (see recipe here)
Personally, if I eat more than two, I’ve found that they don’t settle so well on my tummy…kind of reminiscent of their alluded to ‘cousin’ edible. Continue reading

Giving Voice: Walkout Wednesday (The Rise of the Next Generation of Change)

March 14, 2018 / laura bruno lilly

In an effort to reflect solidarity with students in today’s walkout, I am pubbing this post at 10AM local time on March 14^th.

ash wednesday 2018 parkland school shooting

Parents wait for news after a reports of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Joel Auerbach)

Just one month ago on Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday 17 students and faculty members of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were violently killed by Nikolas Cruz with an AR-15-style rifle.

war is not healthy for children and other living things

As with the Manchester Shootings, teen aged ‘children’ were victims but unlike Manchester, this is an internal ‘war’ waged by American citizens against itself.
I am proud of the students of Parkland – but not proud of the reasons behind this desperate need for change. They have somehow been graced with the gift of channeling anger and grief into a rational and highly visible form of social activism.
Finally, a palpable ‘changing of the guard.’
Hubby says this is their Vietnam…and I’d say they’re rising to the challenge.

The following are snippets of articles gleaned to read as a single narrative (sources are referenced in highlighted links) to document this living history of a rising “Next Generation of Change.” Continue reading

Played Well with Orange

December 25, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

‘proud 2bee an honorary Manc’ quilt top wip

As mentioned in a previous post, I needed a diversion from my Goat Suite (Saga) and Puffin Grant related tasks. I pulled out my stash of 2½ x ? fabric strips leftover from decades of previous projects and delved into piecing a scrap version of the Dora Quilt.
Happily sewing together strips into blocks I discovered the fabric scraps ordered themselves into a cohesive quilt top based upon print design rather than color.

a sampling of calico type scraps – oranges galore!

design-print fabric scraps, with bee print in middle

design-print fabric scrap blocks, with bee print in middle

While I got to play around with color possibilities using the color orange, most of the oranges occurred in the calico/flower type scrap fabrics. No matter how I arranged the blocks, those calico/flower prints just didn’t ‘play well’ with the more abstract, thematic and graphic scrap fabric prints.

I preferred the non-calico blocks and focused on the bee print fabric scrap. Placing it in the center block of the quilt top, it will be the perfect resting place for my precious Manchester Worker Bee Badge* pinned in the middle once completed. A humble gesture by this everyday American standing in solidarity with those affected by that horrific terrorist attack – on children.

Kohl’s stock photo, not our bedroom!

Meanwhile, my taste for something orange had been awakened and needed to be satisfied ASAP. Instead of me creating something orange, I searched for something in a ready-made quilted coverlet. I found a luscious well-constructed one from Kohl’s. On sale, I also used coupons and Kohl’s cash and purchased it for a song…Extra bonus? It looks better than the marketing picture!

Through it all, the edits on the Goat Suite Saga vignettes are almost completed, the actual musical recording of my Goat Suite is ready to send on to be mastered, and the Final Report for my Puffin Grant got written and in the snail mail.

I am so ready for the New Year – how about you?

Note: Gonna be off-line for a while, so responses to comments might be delayed.
Will see ya in 2018!

* sent to me by my Manc buddy…for basic info on the Manchester Worker Bee as symbolic of the city and as honoring those killed go here

Peace Post: early christmas greeting

December 12, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

Manc worker bees & musician Minions united for Christmas Greeting: Peace on Earth, Goodwill Towards Man

Manc worker bee & musician minion Stuart – Christmas Greeting: Peace

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.’ And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe, lying in a manger.”
Luke 2: 13-16

Buon’ Natale, tutti!

Giving Voice: It Was Children – and – It Was Intentional

May 27, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

My blogger-poet-friend, Andy, is a native Mancunian. These are excerpts taken from his account of and reactions to this attack of the innocents.
Around the time I went to bed the bomb went off.
I was totally unaware of what had happened until around 3.00am, when my wife woke me. Friends from around the country, indeed the world, had messaged us. Then, bleary eyed, we tried to process just what had happened.
There was footage of the panic; people searching for lost children; a distressed woman rang our local radio station with a horrific account of what she had witnessed; friends of ours announced that they were safe.
The friend of my little girl was at the concert with her family. There were other people attending that we know. My daughter herself was at a concert in that same venue just a couple of weeks ago. The arena can be accessed through the train station which I have been commuting from. Not so long ago I attended the Young Voices competition as a staff member with my children’s school choir. 8,000 children were present that day. Suddenly the horror that regularly unfolds throughout the world was on our doorstep…
…Manchester is no stranger to such atrocities. There was the IRA bomb of 1996 which utterly devastated the town centre. The Manchester we know today rose from the ashes of that day. But back then everybody had been evacuated, miraculously nobody was killed. Last night it was people targeted.

It was children. Continue reading

My SwS Project: from there to here

May 22, 2017 / laura bruno lilly

My blogger-buddy Anna visited Las Cruces, New Mexico for the first time a few weeks ago and posted a few photos and thoughts on the desert. What a treat to see the familiar through her newbie eyes.
How serendipitous!

Final Goat Family Portrait: Larry, Terry Scape, Mama Goat and Tater

I’ve been immersed in that period of time during our between homes journey lovingly referred to as living ‘on the compound in the desert outside Las Cruces, New Mexico’. Place where my Goat Suite Saga was born.
In less than two weeks portions of my Swimming with Swans project are going to be presented for the first time to the general public. MamaGoat, Tater, TerryScape and little Larry along with all of us humans and critters of the compound will be introduced to a group of locals as far away from life in the desert as one in the US can get. I often joke that we came from a Mile High here to the Swamplands…but we also came by way of the High Dry Desert.
Most readers of this blog know that I received a Puffin Foundation Grant for the recording of my Swimming with Swans: the music. One of the requirements for gaining the grant involved the pre-securing of a venue in which to present completed grant-proposal material.
Here’s the thing, The Goodwill Cultural Center found me.

Goodwill Parochial School with restoration sign

Goodwill Parochial School becomes The Goodwill Cultural Center

If not for Camden Writer and author, Brenda Bevan Remmes, I would have never known of this special spot nestled within an isolated area between Mayesville and Sumter, South Carolina*. Steeped in a long history of struggle, nurture, and yes, healing – The Goodwill Cultural Center aka The Goodwill Parochial School was recently restored to serve as a local heritage and arts center – offering historical, cultural and educational events to the public.

Brenda introduced me to this gem in the swamp about two years ago when the GCC held one of their first sponsored events by the Magnolia Singers from Charleston – shortly after the Emanuel AME Church shootings. I was amazed at the group’s desire to reach out in their hurt and offer insights into their culture while spreading a healing balm through their talented singing.

WINDOW TO THE WORLD

REFLECTING ON OUR PAST AND ENVISIONING OUR FUTURE, WE AFFIRM THE RICH HERITAGE OF THE GOODWILL SCHOOL THAT OPENED DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY IN 1870, AND THAT IS A WINDOW TO THE WORLD TODAY THROUGH THE GOODWILL CULTURAL CENTER.
(mission statement)

I don’t pretend to understand the South. However, I have found a slice of something I like to call the ‘true spirit of a southern community’ in the Goodwill Cultural Center.
Over the course of these two years in attending various events at the GCC, I’ve observed the interactions between the locals. It’s obvious to this outsider the love and commitment these individuals have towards each other and towards working through its own healing-path. A sort of living reconciliation rooted in historical interconnectedness which touches me deeply.
This is a slice of the South I admire; a slice of the South not often seen by outsiders.
As such, I am both humbled and honored to be a small part in the GCC’s continuing legacy as a featured guest on Saturday, June 3rd.
*about a 45 minute drive SW of FloTown

3 Days, 3 Quotes, 3rd Time #3

Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day 2018 (begins – sundown 4/11)

Governor McMaster: You Should Be Ashamed

In an effort to reflect solidarity with students in today’s walkout, I am pubbing this post at 10AM local time on March 14th.

The following are snippets of articles gleaned to read as a single narrative (sources are referenced in highlighted links) to document this living history of a rising “Next Generation of Change.” Continue reading

I am so ready for the New Year – how about you?

Buon’ Natale, tutti!

It was children. Continue reading

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Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day 2018
(begins – sundown 4/11)

In an effort to reflect solidarity with students in today’s walkout, I am pubbing this post at 10AM local time on March 14^th.