Every day in June #s 13, 14, & 15

The streak is still going. 25 miles on Monday with Coty, and then two short days, squeezing rides in between thunderstorms or at the end of a long day. I am finding that the first few strokes on the pedals are like a deep breath. Riding a bike makes me feel like a kid sometimes. Pedal, breathe, coast, lean into a turn, stand up and pump going up a hill, lean way down gripping the lower bars, back parallel to the ground, fly downhill. I finish each ride coasting down the street and then a few pedal strokes to shift to a higher gear so the next day's start will be easier. I turn into the driveway, a slight uphill, and stand up on my bike over the bump and down the driveway, like a jockey at the end of a race. I am that ten year old girl who dreamed of race horses and pretended to win the Derby.

******

I was very sad today when one of my students, an Afghan woman who wears a hijab, explained to me that the reason she hadn't come Monday or Tuesday was that she was afraid to walk from her apartment the half mile to the center. Someone might be angry with her because of the gunman in Orlando, she said. I am afraid, she said. Drivers passing by would not know, of course, that her husband has a Purple Heart and that he fought shoulder to shoulder with American Marines in his home country, the country he had to flee because he fought with the US. I couldn't tell her not to feel afraid because she is right, her fear is not irrational. Someone might see her hijab and be angry. There could be some backlash. I could only say I'm sorry you feel afraid and tell her that I pray for her protection. She asked if I could give her some fabric so we pulled out bags of brown and purple, her choices. She will make beautiful headbands with embroidery and earn money for her handwork and be delighted that she is able to help her family with the skill of her hands. When I was leaving the building, she saw me and waved and smiled and blew me a kiss. I wanted to cry for all the crazy, terrible, unjust, beautiful, messed up, sweet, tender things in this world.

I came home with two teenagers - one from Congo, one from Burma. They are beautiful, bright, thoughtful girls. They swam for two and a half hours, laughing and lounging in the pool.

******

We are reading aloud again. Coty reads and I cut fabric or press quilt squares. Deep jewel colors - purple and teal - and goldenrod in simple squares are the start of a new quilt. I am working at it slowly, but reading together in the evenings will speed it along.

******

It's morning now, after a night of storms. The air is cooler and fresh. I hear a wren. The coffee is brewing. I will sit on the porch for a bit and read. It's a very good way to start a day.

Every day in June #9

Today ...

H, from Vietnam, wondered aloud why her life is so hard. Why did her husband leave her? Why does her 21 year old son have kidney disease and have to go to dialysis every week? Why did she have stomach problems two weeks ago and go to the emergency room and then get a bill for $4000? Why did she have to leave her home country?

F, from Afghanistan, brought her brother's paperwork and we looked over the Department of Defense form that will have to be filled out in order to try and locate his American supervisors. We came up with a list of things she will have to find out from him in order to complete the forms. His life is in danger. He just wants to bring his family to this country to be safe. F is desperate for any help she can find to help make that happen.

T, from Nepal, told me about her husband's friend's mother who died yesterday from blood cancer at age 52. There will be a three day wake which, she said, is very hard on the family.

How little it seems our sewing can do in the midst of problems like these. What a small thing it is to sit beside a woman and show her how to thread a sewing machine. And yet ... I have a waiting list of many more beginning students than we can accommodate in the new classes we'll add in September. Women who want to be in a sewing class  for two hours in hopes, of what? 

Full time employment at a living wage? I can't promise that.

Their own business to provide a fair wage income for their family? I can't promise that.

Solutions to the problems like the ones I heard today. I can't begin to promise any of that.

 But there are things that after three years of teaching sewing classes to refugee women I can offer ...

Teachers that will share the love of Christ in word and deed; who will offer not only their knowledge but their hearts.

Teachers that will patiently walk beside students as they learn new skills and show them over and over and over again, as many times as it takes, how to thread the machine, where to put the bobbin, how to sew a simple seam. As many times as it takes.

Teachers that will go beyond the classroom into their homes and become friends. Teachers who will walk beside them, trying to learn and understand their struggles and helping with needs as we are able or pointing them to others who know better than we do how to deal with their problems.

Laughter. I can offer them laughter. Plenty of it. And smiles. And hugs.

Creativity. I can offer them the opportunity to stretch their dormant creative wings, to try new things and not have to worry about judgement. I can offer encouragement support, and applause for their efforts.

I can offer a place that is safe and warm and welcoming, where hurts can perhaps be salved for a while to the rhythm of a sewing machine. I can offer that balm, and hope for healing for women who have experienced traumas I can barely imagine. 

Classes are over for this term for Make Welcome. We need a break to refresh and recharge, to plan and prepare, so that we will be ready for a new term of classes come September, when the learning and loving and growing will continue, Lord willing.

We can't pay hospital bills, or heal kidney failure or cancer, or bring families fearful for their lives to safety. But we can show up with fabric and scissors and sewing machines and instruction and love.  That's what we'll do and we'll wait, expectantly, to see how God will work in our midst

Every day in June #7: A week in

It's been a week, friends. Strava tells me I've ridden for 6 hours, gone 90 miles, and set 4 personal records in the last seven days. Woohooo!!! I can tell you that the commitment to a streak is a great weapon against inertia. Today, for example, I left home at 8 in the morning and returned at 5. Then Coty and I went out to vote and then home again to make dinner. In the past, inertia would have kicked in after dinner and I would have begged off exercising for the day. Tonight, I changed into cycling shorts, tied a bandana around my head, donned my helmet, and headed off for the Caldwell Biz Park hills It was a short ride, slightly less than 6 miles, but it met my streak required distance and I enjoyed it. I'm kind of pumped about this streak-thing. We'll see how long I can keep it going!

I'm also pumped about Make Welcome being included in the article, "Made in America" in this month's issue of the online magazine, Seamwork. Betsy Blodgett interviewed me a couple of months ago for the article and I was so pleased to see how she framed our conversation. It was exciting for Make Welcome and Journey Home to be included with Raleigh Denim, The Makers Coalition, and others in Blodgett's piece about the return of sewing manufacturing to America and they ways in which companies and organizations are working to bring sewing back. After reading the article, I felt so encouraged and inspired to press on in our work!

I get to do interesting things most every day. In my part-time work now with Upcycle Life at Project 658 now, there is so much variety! Today included organizing the assortment of plexiglass pattern templates and figuring out fabric and hardware requirements for items that Upcycle Life sews; corresponding with the Director of the Recycling Business Assistance Center for the state of North Carolina; talking with an intern about new product photography; and spreading out discarded billboards to inspect the vinyl colors and cut into usable sizes. All of that was interspersed with a lot of conversation and laughter with the Nepali and Montagnard women who sew for Upcycle Life. They are the ones who know the sewing end of this business and I am working hard to learn from them.

Today also included corresponding with No One Left Behind on behalf of one of our Afghan students who is trying desperately to figure out a way to help her sister and brother-in-law, who worked for the US military and whose life is now in danger, get a Special Immigrant Visa to come to the US. She and I also talked about the napkins she is embroidering and trying to sell. The stories make me want to weep; the courage, persistence,creativity, and beauty in the face of it all make me thankful for the opportunity to teach, befriend, and learn from such incredible women!

Pictures ... as promised

SA's apartment was full of activity as Julia and Daniel's children, SA's children, and T (who also received a machine) and her son all talked, played with legos, watched cartoons.

While everyone visited, SA cooked samosa for us.

Opening her new machine!

Trying it out, and ...

getting a few instructions.

Finally, because Julia's husband is an amazing filmmaker, a little documentary filming.

Funds raised! And more ...

Friends,
I was going to tell you more about the fund raiser that we launched over at Rally.org but with delight instead, I'll just tell you that our goal has already been exceeded!  I am so grateful to those who gave to underwrite the cost of sewing machine ownership for our Make Welcome students.

The sewing machine ownership/sponsorship program works like this: each class that a student attends reduces the cost of her machine by $5.  When she has attended enough classes so that the cost has gotten down to $20, the student will then pay that amount and we go and purchase and deliver her machine to her at home.  The surprising thing is that each of the three women who have purchased machines have been so eager to get their machines, that they have paid amounts ranging from $50 to $65 dollars, some of which was earned through their sales of items at the ARTwalk.  Yesterday, I had the pleasure of purchasing two more machines and today we delivered them!  I'll show you some pictures tomorrow because I am heading to bed very soon.  It was a full and wonderful day and I am happily tired.

The morning was spent sewing with my niece. Annsley made a shoulder bag while I worked on her prom dress. I've learned a lot about sewing on satin and I've tackled a redesign of a pattern in order to create what Annsley envisioned.  It's been a fun challenge.  All that's left is the sash and hemming ... and it will all be done in plenty of time for her early May prom.

Then the afternoon was full of seeing evidence of progress and joy in the lives of some of our refugee friends:

-the N family from Nepal (fruitful friends of my sister) have purchased a lovely home with an amazing back yard which I expect will become a bountiful garden.  Their tiny apartment terrace are a was so productive.  I can't wait to see what they do in their new large, sunny, flat yard.

-little Ruth, from Burma, is learning so many new English words.  We read books and played hide and seek during a short, impromptu visit.

-SA and Th, two of our Make Welcome students who now have their new machines.  It was so much fun to visit them in their apartments when we delivered the machines, to meet the rest of SA's children that I hadn't met yet, eat her homemade samosas, and witness the joy that both students expressed upon receiving their hard earned machines!

Home in the evening for a simple field peas and sauteed kale supper with Coty, a little sewing, a little basketball, and now, rest.  I go to bed with a happy, thankful heart.

Pictures tomorrow!

Christmas days 4

For the second year in a row, my sister and I invited some of our little friends to bake and decorate cookies. It was a flour flying, color mixing, cookie painting, sprinkle spilling good time.  In addition to cookie cutting and decorating, we passed the baby around, read books, ate fish and rice and corn dogs and cookies and thoroughly enjoyed sharing this tradition with our friends.

Baby David from Burma with T from Vietnam

My sweet sister, Anne
with the kids

Ruth has learned what to do when we hold up the camera!

Kandyce and Lia

Serious business, this cookie decorating...

My beautiful niece, Annsley

Needle and ThREAD #31

Monday was my sewing day this week.  I spent about half the day playing with a rice bag and sari fabric, coming up with ideas for our Make Welcome women to sew.  

Did you follow that link?  How about that?!  We have a website.  We're so small right now, but we have high hopes for these dear, dear women that show up to learn to sew on Tuesdays.  They've been bringing their rice bags and we're thinking of wonderful things to do with them so stay tuned!

Anyway, that Monday sewing has been the extent of it this week.  I'm hoping for some time with my machine tonight, since book club got postponed.  We'll see ...

On another note, I have packaged and shipped all but four of the quilts in the Sari Bari auction and raffle.  I am now an expert at Paypal Multiple Order Shipping, but no, I have no desire to exercise my expertise again any time soon.  The little Matrix was filled to the brim with quilts this afternoon and the nice lady at the Post Office wheeled a cart right out to my car and we loaded 'em in and wheeled 'em into the back room at the PO.  They are on their way!  I'll probably be peeking at the shipment tracking and imagining happy people finding those packages on their doorsteps in the next few days.

As I said yesterday, I was sad to see them go, but I am also very glad to have that task behind me.  I may actually go out in my garden one day soon and see what's still out there among the weeds!

Surprisingly, I finished several books I've been slowly working my way through AND started and finished a couple of others in the last week or so:

The Summer of the Great Grandmother by Madeleine L'Engle - a re-read for book club.  This is a wonderful book about aging and death and family.  This is the second in L'Engle's Crosswicks trilogy.

and ...

My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman

and ...

Little Daughter by Zoya Phan

and ...

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher

I just started Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping this morning.  Another re-read.  I'm going more slowly the second time around, savoring her sentences.  

Needle and ThREAD #30

I have spent hours and hours in my sewing room in this week.  One major project was started and a small project completed.  I can't show you the big project, but I can show you the small one.  It was for the "Swap for Someone You Love" for my quilt guild this month.

Here's the description of the person for whom I was sewing:

"Just diagnosed with breast cancer.  She's a massage therapist and works in Florida ... a beautiful, good spirit.  Loves: blues - sky, water, the day, things that hang on the wall and sparkle."

So this is what I made, using ... what else ... sari fabrics and some other Indian fabrics in my stash from our trip there in 2009.

I didn't know when I was ever going to use those sparkles in the fabric, but if you hold on to something long enough, eventually you use it, right?  That's what most of us with growing fabric stashes think, anyway!

We made fabric flowers in our sewing class this week.  Easy and lots of fun.  We'll be doing more of them.

Something else that made me really happy is that this precious woman brought in a large piece of fabric that her daughter in Thailand sent to her.  It is a traditional Burmese wrap that is worn in dress-up type situations. SA brought it to class to finish it by sewing on the top border strip and then sewing it into a long tube.  SA has probably had the hardest time of any of our students with using the machine, but on Tuesday, she was full of confidence as she sewed her wrap.

Of course, we made her model it when she was finished.  I find her t-shirt poignant.  On one level, it cracks me up.  Most women her age would not choose a t-shirt with that wording, but she speaks very little English, so she probably has no idea what it says.  It was free, though - probably from a clothes closet somewhere -and she chose it because it fit and she liked the color.  Every time I'm with them, these women make me want to laugh and cry.  

The Sari Bari 2013 Quilt Auction preview is up now.  I'll be back later with a link!

Reading, reading ...

Finishing Little Daughter

Started Pen Wilcock's latest, The Breath of Peace and Christian Wiman's My Bright Abyss

and perusing David Tanis's A Platter of Figs

Needle and ThREAD #29 in which many, many fabric related happenings ... happen

Happening #1:  Our Sari quilt gets bound

Some people think I am crazy.  Others totally understand this love of hand sewing the binding on a quilt.  I dearly love doing this final task by hand, putting in the tiny stitches to secure the binding to the back of the quilt, moving slowly around it until I finally meet up with my starting place and the quilt is done!  I am very happy with the green sari fabric we used to bind this one.  Just perfect!

Happening #2:  Our refugee sewing class continued this week with a new student.

 She had never sewn before and went from learning how to thread the machine and control the speed with the foot pedal to sewing and then wearing her first headband!  (Thank you, Elizabeth!)

After three weeks of work, M finished this little quilt.  It is backed with a waterproof fabric and can be used as a changing pad.  More of these to come!

Happening #3: The Sari Bari 2013 Quilt Auction photoshoot 

in which ...

Kay goes to great heights to get just the right shot ...

and I apparently need someone to hand me some scissors (they did).

Wow!  I have never done anything quite like that photoshoot before.  It look us 9 nine hours the first day and 5 hours the second day, not counting all the time after the shooting was done to take everything down, load up the car with 40 quilts, unload the 40 quilts at home, and then go to load up all the props and deliver them to the gracious people who loaned them to us.  When I finally got home this afternoon, I did not want to move.  I'm quite sure I will sleep really, really well tonight.

I'm so very thankful for my hard-working, creative, generous friends and daughter-in-love, Kay, who graciously gave of their time, talents, and energy to pull off this photoshoot.  I could NOT have done it without them.  

I can't wait to show you the pictures.  Once they're up on the Sari Bari auction site, I'll give you the link.

Reading this week - which has not happened except for a very few minutes before I sack out at night ...

Little Daughter by Zoya Phan.  Continuing this memoir of a Burmese refugee woman ...

and 

The Language of Sparrows by Rachel Phifer, a first novel, recommended by Pen Wilcock, author of the Hawk and Dove series, which I love.

That's all.  Now I'm taking my photoshoot weary self to bed.  Good night.

Needle and ThREAD #27: The top is done

It's finished!  

Well, the top is.  And the back gets done today.  

It has been intensely satisfying to finish this quilt.  We traveled such a distance from our initial dislike of the saris we received, through growing appreciation of the look of small bits of the fabrics cut from the whole juxtaposed with other small bits, to the first WOW! moment when the first green strip was assembled, to growing excitement and eagerness to see the whole thing put together.  And then it was done.  And it worked.  And we love it!

I love this woman.  She hardly speaks English and she struggles at the machine.  But she's learning.

I practiced a few new things yesterday while working on a quilt square for my guild Block in a Bag project.

-Using spray starch before cutting.  You can make your own spray starch from corn starch and water.  Spraying your fabric with it before cutting makes cutting more precise and also makes sewing those small pieces more stable.  Here's the recipe I used.  Such a simple, useful trick.

-Chain piecing.  This wasn't new to me, but I haven't done it much.  It really does make putting blocks together faster and is so easy to do.  It also eliminates that ornery bunching that sometimes happens at the beginning of a new seam.  The link is very helpful so if you want to learn how to do this, read it!

-Using a stiletto to guide pieces through the machine.  Like this.  (Not the best video out there.  She needed to move her hand so you can actually see the stiletto.  I've seen someone else do this in a teaching video but can't find the link ... but you get the idea).  I've done this a couple of times.  The first time I tried it I used a dissecting probe. Are you saying "YUCK!"  It was well cleaned, I assure you and hadn't touched a pig intestine for a couple of years.  But I digress ...  Yesterday, I used a #2 bamboo double pointed knitting needle and that worked just fine, too.  A little more aesthetically pleasing, perhaps.

 These techniques and tools are old hat for seasoned quilters.  I've been making quilts for three and a half years now and I love that there is so much to learn.  I suppose if I'd taken a class back when I started, I'd have learned these tips and tricks long ago, but hey, there were pig intestines to dissect back then so I'm a little slow to the party.

And for reading this week:

I finished So Brave, Young and Handsome.  I really, really liked it.  There was redemption for Glendon.  Monte didn't get back home, but it was OK.  This exchange sealed the deal for me:

"You are so different," she said.

I didn't try to explain that.  You can't explain grace, anyway, especially when it arrives almost despite yourself.  I didn't even ask for it, yet somehow it breached and began to work.  I suppose grace was pouring over Glendon, who had sought it so hard, and some spilled down on me."

Little Daughter by Zoya Phan is next.  Phan was an ethnic Karen refugee from Burma and now lives in London.  This is her memoir.

Welcome to the world, little one!

Yesterday morning, my sweet Burmese friend, gave birth to her second child, a son.

I had the privilege of visiting her in the hospital this evening and oh. my. heart.  That baby boy is beautiful!

It rather boggles my mind to think of what his life will be like here, growing up in the US, instead of in Burma (Myanmar).

I am incredibly grateful tonight to the people in my life who have led the way in investing in the refugee communities in our city (and others). Because of them (and unnamed others), I had the great joy of saying tonight to little David Thang, "Welcome to the world, little one.  I'm so glad you're here!"

There is ...

-my sister, who began volunteering with Refugee Support Services of the Carolinas a few years ago.  It changed her life.  She has introduced me to many of her volunteer and refugee friends and my life is richer for it.  Annie, you continue to inspire, as you pour yourself with infectious love into the lives of the children at the Help Center each week.  Thank you for inviting me along on this journey, bringing children to swim, introducing me to your friends, and sharing the joys and struggles of working with refugees with me.

-my daughter-in-love, Kandyce, who works for Ecumenical Refugee and Immigration Services in Denver.  When I have visited J and K, I've had the opportunity to go to Kandyce's refugee art therapy groups and seen her delight in the ways that her refugee clients and friends express themselves through their artwork.  Like my sister, she loves on these people, taking them to the doctor, the DMV, the grocery store, and so. much. more!  Her heart's been captured by quite a few adorable - and sometimes rather rambunctious - children.  I'm remembering a little boy named Prince!  What a character.

-my son, Matthew, who spent a summer working as an intern here in Charlotte, learning more about the demographic diversity of our city.  His efforts to understand the various communities went way beyond census data research.  He went to restaurants, barber shops, ethnic grocery stores and apartment complexes in the areas of our city where many of the immigrant communities have located.  He struck up conversations with people wherever he went and was invited into many homes.  People often asked me that summer if he was afraid.  What they didn't understand is that in the cultures of the Nepalis and others that he met, hospitality is key.  These newcomers were eager to talk with him, intrigued that he was interested in them, hungry for friendship.  His work that summer, plus the efforts of others in our church, have led to a greater awareness in our church family, of the needs and struggles of refugees in our city, and increased desire to share Jesus, and love in practical ways.

-my friend, Julia.  This young mother of four lives the Word.  She is an organizer, networker, tender-hearted servant, entrepreneurial-minded, compassionate, fun-loving, encouraging, deep thinking, lover of the poor.  I've had the great privilege of working with her the last few months to start a sewing class for refugee women called Make Welcome.  I cannot imagine trying to do this without her insight, wisdom, and organizational skill.

I am humbled by these people. They are giants to me.  They are some of my heroes.  They teach me how to love, how to practically care, how to be a friend.

Tonight, thinking of that precious new baby boy, I say thank you.