"Peace" is a wise word.

Finally I get to post something!  "My 'peace' piece."

 I've been working on different projects every evening and all weekends, but everything takes so long to complete.  So: Hurray!

It's not like this has been some last minute challenge; I've known about the Minnesota Contemporary Quilters "Words of Wisdom" Challenge since last summer.  One of the hardest parts for me is coming up with my plan.  What inspires me?  I think the word Peace is a wise word.  Not too many of us can figure it out, and spend our whole lives not figuring it out.  It didn't take me long to know how I wanted to do it and since the entry form was due back in April, it was at that time that I had to decide the size. 

I knew I wanted blocks of grey for the background.  I printed the 5 letters in outline on paper for a pattern...I can't remember what font size this was but they are about 6 inches tall. 

Often at MCQ meetings Mimi Holmes brings handwork to do.  She sits there cheerfully putting stitches on her surface using embroidery floss.  She uses all sorts of colors and gets a fabulous effect.

So that is how I was inspired to get my word on my piece.  You can see in the picture above that the fabric in the middle of the photo is grey with black and white stitches, yet the grey looks like a darker shade behind the black stitches than it does behind the white stitches.  Optical illusion!

Peace can mean different things to different people but to me the quote "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" stirs deep in me.

Bullying has to stop.  If we can't teach kids to stop bullying how can we expect them to know how to deal with it when they are adults?  Little bullies turn into big bullies.  And intimidated kids turn into intimidated adults. 

An easy solution is to teach kids to all come to defend another child when they are being bullied.  Safety in numbers and the power of the people!  Evil cannot triumph when good men do something!

And then there is some poor, mentally unstable kid who is so unsatisfied with his life that he already gets satisfaction from hurting others.  I don't believe that is easily solved but it can be solved.

To me "Peace" is black and white.  You're either for it or you're against it.  There is no thin grey line.

The entire grey background of my piece is only an optical illusion.  We've accepted that there are all these "grey areas".  If anything is grey to me, it is the millions of solutions that are possible.  For peace the only thing that matters is black and white, and that forever changes the illusion of the grey areas.