The first block, created on August 6^th, 2006, by “Charlie Brown”, Italy

Our world
seems to have
neither hope or peace:
we can try making
them more real
working all together,
(as if we’re)
making a quilt.

Idea came in August 2006, while the last war in Middle East was at its beginning.

I was reading a novel by Whitney Otto, How to Make an American Quilt.

I’ve always loved hand-made art: I like cross-stitching and occasionally painting and drawing. I’m not very good at sewing or knitting, but I appreciate quilts.

My grandmother, when she was young, used to sew in circle with other women a kind of quilt called cuttunina.

Quilts are beautiful to admire. But, as I have already experienced before, making a quilt is the real, deeper experience:

it’s the art process in itself that change your vision of life

What I most liked in Otto’s novel (and in the movie) is that different parts become one. They still remain different, but make another sense all together.

The other thing is that you make a quilt to tell something, to send a message. It tells something about the quilter, for sure, but it also is a message.

Moreover, quilting is seen as a women’s craft: it’s been a way to express oneself for people who weren’t allowed to speak aloud.

For these reasons, I’d like to start a HOPES OF PEACE QUILT: everyone is welcomed and invited to contribute, making a quilt block, using hands, hearts and mind. You can use whatever technique you like, but use your hands at least a little bit: make a collage, crochet, knit, draw, paint, handwrite, sew, cross-stitch, make a silhouette, sketch… whatever your hands can do. Then take a picture of your square block and send it to me. Follow the instructions!