“When we love we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
-Paula Coelho
HeART cards rise out of my sense of joy in slow stitching. The function of slow stitching honors my busy hands as well as gives a bit of myself during the holidays.
The free-form HeART of hand-dyed silk represents a core symbol for me. I treasure heart and the biggest emotion it represents: love. So this year I gave myself over to the joy of slow stitching notecards, an activity that values process over product. When I slow stitch, I sew by hand, often pausing to reflect on what I’m making and for whom.
In a previous post I focused on how original greeting cards change time. Yet a different post, wishing you the happiest of New Years, discusses my practice and propensity to send cards at the holidays.
Each of my 2019 hearts are from hand-dyed silk. Each contains the word love in sequins or hand embroidery. The fabrics beneath the heart are upcycled from fabric pieces in my stash. It was pure play to concentrate on different colors, textures and presentations for the same theme.
How fascinating that the energies of the creatives who’ve stitched before us are captured in some of these creations. I enjoyed culling threads from a friend’s collection of her mother’s and grandmother’s stitching bags. We found a card dated 7-22-22 as well as a tiny, incredibly sharp embroidery scissors.
I chose to stitch only one symbol and one word. I completed thirty of the hearts and have a few more in my stitching bag. In addition to sharing as gifts from me, they built precious memories. I was able to share one with my nephew’s wife who wanted to learn the blanket stitch which I used as the closing trim for each card. I finished another on Christmas Day and handed it to my mother.
It gives me hope that if each of us acted with love for ourselves there would be a ripple of compassion in the world. If we changed only one relationship with love, how perfect would that be? If love were the primary focus of our lives, we would talk with each other and uncover commonalities that connect and uplift us. If ever one word could solve the problems of our time and manifest peace, the four-letter word LOVE could do it.
Why HeART cards?
I’m inspired by this quote:
“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
How are you bringing love into this season?
