For the last few months, I've stepped away from my keyboard and let sleep knit the raveled sleeve of so many cares.
Practicing Resurrection
I finished it just before midnight; the final stitches were my Easter vigil. As I draped the cloth, I was forgiving my body for her failures, forgiving my God for His delay.
Texts & Textiles: John Updike
Make no mistake: if he rose at all It was as His body; If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit, The amino acids rekindle, The Church will fall. It was not as the flowers, Each soft spring recurrent; It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the… Continue reading Texts & Textiles: John Updike
Red Threads & the Feast of the Annunciation
As a scholar of literature, I find rich meaning in Mary's engagement with her Book, but I can't help mourn the disappearance of the spindle. While Mary's reading calls our minds to the invisible work of the Spirit as we hear the Word, her spindle affirms that the Incarnation transforms the daily work of our hands into worship -- work with eternal consequences.
Beeswax Food Wraps
Each participant took home four wraps, with a supply cost under $5 for each set. Considering that commercial beeswax wraps can cost $18 for a set of three, it was well worth the time it took to make them. And when add the quality time we spent together, we gained far more than we spent.
Texts & Textiles: A Celtic Blessing for the Lambs
I've posted before about the Carmina Gadelica, a wonderful collection of folk prayers and blessings from Scotland. Today, as spring visits Texas, it seemed right to offer one of the Carmina's prayers for flocks, especially the sheep, whose wool is so beautiful and useful. The sheep with their lambs, like so many animals and plants,… Continue reading Texts & Textiles: A Celtic Blessing for the Lambs
Texts & Textiles: Utility Quilts
I found this wonderful line in a book on Mary Lee Bendolph and the Gee's Bend quilts. Like the improvisational nature of utility quilts themselves, this quote captures the tension between wanting to create something beautiful and craftsmanlike, while bearing the burden of urgent family and work needs. Where do you feel this tension? What… Continue reading Texts & Textiles: Utility Quilts
Texts and Textiles: William Wordsworth
Happy Valentine's Day from WholeCloth! May your love be as trusty, fine, and kindly as the thread from faithful hands.
Texts & Textiles: Thomas Love Peacock
They also weave, with gentle art, Those stronger nets that bind the heart.
Texts & Textiles: Henry David Thoreau
Even a little bit of sewing will make you more mindful of your clothing: its source, its fit, the value of the labor that produced it. I think that learning to sew at least one garment can be a life-changing way to change your relationship to the purpose of clothing.
