Set the table, practice the art of living (be flexible)

The Cafe set up team

 Cute and cozy Calayx Community Art School's cob house was too small for the cafe.

This is a week of weather: all sorts of weather. On Friday a handful of friends came out to the South Whidbey Tilth to practice. What a day it was. BLUSTERY! The wind made itself present, and made some decisions about where and how to set the tents for The Safety Pin Cafe. Fiber Artist Pam Winstanley has helped with designs and support for this project since I first dreamed up the possibility of 'an event.' Jo Stevens, South Whidbey Tilth's Land Steward and Farmers' Market Manager was with us to choose a location for the setup and hold the tent down when the wind became bombastic. Pete made sure the chicken stew was hot and slices of whole wheat bread and butter were ready when we were too wind-blown to keep practicing. I cooked up the stew, made a batch of cinnamon toast and chanted a prayer of permission to be in this place.

The banner for The Safety Pin Cafe is done, stitched by machine then hand-embroidered to lay the script of the small letters on "the" and "pin." The detail and quiet work of hand stitching is one of my favorite parts of this art. Everything used to create the banner was found at The Good Cheer Thrift Shop. Purchased weeks ago, the table runner was washed and air to clear it of lingering scent; the bolt of fiber ribbon threaded with copper wire I cut and used to create the large letters (these were pinned and machine stitched using a wide zigzag stitch.) The edges of the ribbon was saved until I used them to drawn, pin and embroider script letters for "the" and "pin." The decision to use the edges of the ribbon came when it was obvious I wouldn't have room for capitals of all the letters in THE SAFETY PIN CAFE ... The "i" in pin is dotted with a red felt flower a sweet connection with the story, and the heart of the character Pale whose journey is mapped in this myth.

As I pull needle and thread through the ribbon anchoring it to the golden cloth memories of times past, and empty spaces fill in with solutions and transitions as the stitchery is a meditation. Between the wind and the stitches my mind emptied and art was the present. Between the hours of setting up and practicing on Friday and this afternoon when Pete and I hung the banner in our orchard, the meditation of stitching has allowed me to lose myself, letting my heart and soul cross the borders of imagination and play.

We envision a gentle breeze and temperate weather for the first of The Safety Pin Cafe storytelling times. Come with a heart to participate, layered for the season and flexible if necessary to enjoy being part of the borders of myth and creativity.*

The Safety Pin Cafe

Sunday, October 6th, 2013

11 AM - 1 PM

South Whidbey Tilth
Langley, Washington

*Flexible means we have a plan B to relocate to the Backroom of The South Whidbey Commons in Langley. Keep an eye out on Drewslist for a change in location at the last minute.

Here's the Langley Weather FYI.
Check in with us via email:
mokihanacalizar@gmail.com