Traveller's Blanket for Zenobia

I have been making slow but steady progress on the travellers' blanket for Zenobia.It is a completely different mindset to work on the blue fabric, particularly in chosing the colours of the threads. I do like the quilting stitches in red, though as I look at the image on my screen it does seem to have the effect of purpling the blue. I always love the way the colour of thread interacts with the fabric it is placed on.Anyway there is still a lot more stitching to do, and more squares to be appliqued.

I have been trying to think of ideas for the on-line lino-cut and printing course I want to devise. So much of lino-cutting is about thinking in reverse- and thinking about the textures that can be created with the carving tools, which of course become interesting when stitched- so it isn't simply about creating an image but also about how the textures of the image can be stitched to make them more interesting.

Today is Australia Day , and an indigenous Australian ,Professor Mick Dodson from the ANU, was named Australian of the year.Mick Dodson has been a tireless advocate for his people in a society that often has a very racist and patriarchal attitude to indigenous people and a nation that until one year ago refused to acknowledge that there was indeed stolen generations of indigenous people ( how they could deny it is beyond me as I went to school with several children who were exactly in that situation). Mick Dodson has suggested that Australia day should be held on a different day as his people view it as the day their nation was taken away. Initially i thought that it was not a good idea but as I have been sitting and stitching I think it is the only way to achieve reconciliation- to acknowledge that the creation of the Australian nation was at the cost of taking away anothers' right to their nationhood and shifting it to a more positive mode. That we have to go forward together goes without saying and I think that joint decision should be marked by a national celebration which includes all of our people embracing equal rights and freedom.I think Australia day should not embody the past, but instead should focus on the future- what we might achieve as a brilliantly diverse community. And what better time than now when there seems to be optimism of an uplifting kind with the inauguration of Barack Obama- when Martin Luther King's words have some meaning again, when the Inaugural Poet, Elizabeth Alexander points to the power of words. Not cliches but the beauty of words and language- love , liefde, amour,amore, love for our fellow human beings.
Tell me your words for love in your langauge- make it your daily mantra.