Annabelle Serendipity: Some Crafty Moments

A Bit Of This And That

aneleh:

Before I begin this poem, I’d like to ask you to join me in a moment of silence in honor of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001.
I would also like to ask you to offer up a moment of silence for all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes, for the victims in Afghanistan, Iraq, in the U.S., and throughout the world.
And if I could just add one more thing…
A full day of silence… for the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of U.S.-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation.
Six months of silence… for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result
of a 12-year U.S. embargo against the country.
…And now, the drums of war beat again.
Before I begin this poem, two months of silence… for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa, where “homeland security” made them aliens in their own country
Nine months of silence… for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin, and the survivors went on as if alive.
A year of silence… for the millions of dead in Viet Nam—a people, not a war—for those who know a thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives bones buried in it, their babies born of it.
Two months of silence… for the decades of dead in Colombia, whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues.
Emmanuel Ortiz
Before I begin this poem,Seven days of silence… for El SalvadorA day of silence… for NicaraguaFive days of silence… for the GuatemaltecosNone of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years.45 seconds of silence… for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas…1,933 miles of silence… for every desperate bodyThat burns in the desert sunDrowned in swollen rivers at the pearly gates to the Empire’s underbelly,A gaping wound sutured shut by razor wire and corrugated steel.
25 years of silence… for the millions of Africans who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky.For those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore treesIn the south… the north… the east… the west…There will be no dna testing or dental records to identify their remains.
100 years of silence… for the hundreds of millions of indigenous peopleFrom this half of right here,Whose land and lives were stolen,In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of TearsNames now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness…
From somewhere within the pillars of powerYou open your mouths to invoke a moment of our silenceAnd we are all left speechless,Our tongues snatched from our mouths,Our eyes stapled shut.
A moment of silence,And the poets are laid to rest,The drums disintegrate into dust.
Before I begin this poem,You want a moment of silence…You mourn now as if the world will never be the sameAnd the rest of us hope to hell it won’t be.Not like it always has been.
…Because this is not a 9-1-1 poemThis is a 9/10 poem,It is a 9/9 poem,A 9/8 poem,A 9/7 poem…This is a 1492 poem.This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written.
And if this is a 9/11 poem, thenThis is a September 11th 1973 poem for Chile.This is a September 12th 1977 poem for Steven Biko in South Africa.This is a September 13th 1971 poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York.This is a September 14th 1992 poem for the people of Somalia.This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground amidst the ashes of amnesia.
This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told,The 110 stories that history uprooted from its textbooksThe 110 stories that that cnn, bbc, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored.This is a poem for interrupting this program.
This is not a peace poem,Not a poem for forgiveness.This is a justice poem,A poem for never forgetting.This is a poem to remind usThat all that glittersMight just be broken glass.
And still you want a moment of silence for the dead?We could give you lifetimes of empty:The unmarked graves,The lost languages,The uprooted trees and histories,The dead stares on the faces of nameless children…
Before I start this poem we could be silent foreverOr just long enough to hunger,For the dust to bury usAnd you would still ask usFor more of our silence.So if you want a moment of silence
Then stop the oil pumpsTurn off the engines, the televisionsSink the cruise shipsCrash the stock marketsUnplug the marquee lightsDelete the e-mails and instant messagesDerail the trains, ground the planes.If you want a moment of silence, put a brick through the windowof Taco BellAnd pay the workers for wages lost.Tear down the liquor stores,The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses, the Penthousesand the Playboys.
If you want a moment of silence,Then take itOn Super Bowl Sunday,The Fourth of July,During Dayton’s 13 hour sale,The next time your white guilt fills the room where my beautiful brown people have gathered.
You want a moment of silenceThen take itNow,Before this poem begins.Here, in the echo of my voice,In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand,In the space between bodies in embrace,Here is your silence.Take it.Take it all.But don’t cut in line.Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime.
And we,Tonight,We will keep right on singingFor our dead.

Artist unknown

While away visiting The Red Art Gallery a charming coffee shop and art and craft gallery, I found some unusual baby boleros among the goodies on show. They looked very simple to make and the design was very effective. One in particular really caught my eye with its soft blue wool and Japanese Kimono silk highlights so I bought it hoping to be able to copy it and make similar ones for babies in the family.

They were rather expensive (NZ$ 68 - about £30) but very pretty indeed and well made with good quality wool, silk and button. I have been unable to trace the maker other than "Deno NZ". This is a close up ...

My first attempt at a copy looked OK but was far too small and will only fit a small teddy. After much unraveling my second attempt was knitted all in one and on larger needles and with wool scraps and so far appears to be more successful. This is it at an unfinished stage - I shall post the finished article shortly once it is sewn together and the fabric highlights have been attached.

Unfinished bolero

Edging fabric

I think that from the third attempt onwards I may have solved the problems of sizing, shape and 'how to' and should be able to post a pattern later.

I have also been doing some simple embroidery, which I am not great at, but am overall fairly pleased with the results. I downloaded a couple of patterns from the net and have tried to accurately copy the pattern, the colours and the stitches. They have taken me forever and are still unfinished although tiny. I realize that I must try harder.

While sewing a friend (thank you K. x), sorted my silks and put them all onto card, which makes things so much easier not having to untangle threads before I use them. Such a simple solution and one I shall certainly keep to in future.

Cooking and baking have been high on my agenda recently; fairly ordinary stuff to help my family in NZ (children and vegetarians) ...

Savoury tomato muffins

Sweet banana muffins

Faaaar tooooooo many muffins!

Brownies

Tomato and broccoli quiche

Apple and cranberry and cinnamon tart - uncooked

Vegetable quiche

And jelly

Lots of jelly

Lots and lots of jelly

What is it with kids and jelly?

And faaaaaar toooooo much salad!

Salad, salad, salad

Now I am looking forward to being back in London and having a HUGE steak!

Knitting

Skein Rowan Creative Linen

I have also got back to knitting after missing my Knit and Natter group for several weeks. I found a lovely scarf pattern in John Lewis and along with some Creative Linen Yarn, made by Rowan, I have been knitting a scarf for a friend. The colour that I chose is Carmin a lovely coral red and the holey pattern was easy to do ... (knit one - yarn forward knit two together - repeat this pattern to the end on an uneven number of stitches). It grows at an alarmingtly fast pace and it should be possible to knit a simple scarf in a day with an 100 gram ball, on size 5mm needles and at a cost of around £9. This wool comes in a skein - something I have not seen for some time - and it was strange trying to rewind it into a ball when alone in the house (I wound it from around my knees!)

Easy scarf made in Rowan Creative Linen

Free simple pattern supplied by John Lewis

4 comments:

linda8 December 2012 at 19:38
think the scarf looks great also love the kimono jacket fab enjoy your steak :))))
Mrs Flying Blind...8 December 2012 at 20:10
That apple pie looked amazing (you are so funny about the steak!!).
Love the embroidery and scarf too; keep up the craftiness xxx
lindsey8 December 2012 at 22:19
Those baby boleros are lovely, I do like it when woollen items are bordered with fabric. Looks like you've been busy too with your beautiful embroidery and yummy baking!
Benta AtSLIKstitches9 December 2012 at 08:34
Bolero, embroidery, scarf, goodness you're busy at the moment!!! While I was shopping with Lisa yesterday we found an Osfam book shop on portobello road: Lisa's favourite shop. As she was browsing, you'll never guess what I found ... Gilead and Home!!! Just £2:49 each! Mshe took then straight out if my hands and tells me I have to wait fir Christmas, but how serendipitous is that?

If you like anything you see do leave me a message to let me know.

Saturday, 8 December 2012

Some Crafty Moments

4 comments: