A flag a day for a year

A huge welcome to Liz Pearce of New Zealand. She writes "In March this year, I read an article about The Prayer Flag Project. Its simplicity; its compassion; its power to heal, all appealed to me. I decided to commit to making one prayer flag a day for a year. Here is a record of my humble efforts. Often they reflect events in my own life. I hope they bring blessings to yours."


Click here to see her 52 flags so far, and click here to see her blog about each flag.
We are inspired by you, Liz!! thanks so much for joining us.
Here are just a few of her flags:

Florish

Interrelated

Fly

Reach

Heal

Cindy Cooksey joins us in making prayer flags. She writes "I've been making prayer flags for my sister-in-law's birthday, as per her request. This is the first one, entitled "heal." The hands will make sense to her because she is a sports massage therapist."

faith and hope

Nikki Milner joins us. She's created this flag for a very dear family who is battling cancer.

Butterfly flags

Sue Bleiweiss joins us with these butterfly flags. She writes "Over the last year I’ve watched several friends deal with more than their fair share of grief and health issues and so today I decided to honor their grace,strength and courage through all they’ve been through by making these prayer flags."

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun

And find your shoulder to light on,

To bring you luck,happiness and riches

Today,tomorrow and beyond.

~Irish Blessing

Peace

 

Marilyn Hayes created this flag for PEACE for Leanne, created from silks given to her by Leanne.
 

Peace and Love

Love is all around us, which is a great reminder, in life. This is from a vintage piece that was hand sewn by the quilter - "Kansas Dugout" is the block.  I added the embroidery and buttons. 

and Peace.  God's sweet peace when every day is done.  I really enjoyed the hand embroidery.  It was so relaxing and a good part of my healing process in grief.

The two prayer flags look great together - Love and Peace.  Wishing you some today!

Series in Progress

Although I'd been watching The Prayer Flag Project for some time and found the flags inspirational, it was not until January of this year that I actually began to make some flags.  The idea was to make one, maybe two flags a month.  Somehow, the whole thing got out of hand.  I think I've made 20 now.

The latest series of flags are based on the yamas (ethical practices set forth by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras).

Ahimsa - nonviolence, in word, thought, or deed- uses eco dyed fabrics.

Satya - truthfulness with oneself and with others (with the exception that using truth to hurt is not acceptable and fails to follow the first principle of Ahimsa).

Asteya - non-stealing; don't take what is not offered freely, whether time, attention, or ideas.  Don't claim someone else's ideas as your own; give credit.

I have two more yamas to go.  The yamas cover the precepts of social/community discipline, and when I finish them, I'll decide whether or not I want to go on with the niyamas which cover individual discipline.

Each prayer flag that I've made has been a meditation, and I'm especially enjoying making flags for the five yamas.

I'm grateful for this project, for the inspiration the flags of others have offered, and for the time and contemplation involved with each flag.

Flags in progress

i hadn't wanted to post my latest prayer flags so that others from around the world could also post a few of theirs in between.  but jane (one of the coordinators of this wonderful project) contacted me today to ask me to upload a few pictures of some of my other flags.  most are finished but a few are still in progress since i often switch mediums to break the routine a bit.

as you can see, i love the sacred heart motif and use it quite a bit in my fabric work.  both of these are still in the making: just need to mount the second one on a background fabric and add some wording.  the previous is still waiting for some black stitching for the detente of which i am out of at the moment.

hope you enjoy them and get some inspiration to make your own.

here is a more whismical prayer flag i created recently.  what was i thinking?  or was it that extra glass of wine at bedtime?

constanza berger from chile

http://www.poramoralarte-folklorista.blogspot.com/

Speak Your Truth

Rebecca Ivcic join us, and writes "For several years now I have had this mantra "Speak Your Truth"  I'm not even sure I know what it means; i think the meaning to me changes over time."

Grief and Healing

My parents passed away within four months of each other.  I've been putting collections of their things, and photographing them in groups.This one is to honor my dad - his tools and pancake flipper, made into a quilted prayer flag.  Sort of like his tools of trade now enveloped into my work of fiber art, bonding us together. -- Jamie Fingal

and in my grieving, I need my house to be blessed with love and joy and healing

My prayer flags are hung in my studio, so that I can look at them everyday.  This project has been good for me, since it is hard to focus on large works during my grief, and I can concentrate my efforts on working small. 

Cherish, Grow, Inspire

Elizabeth Woodford joins us. 

Elizabeth created these with  bits of my hand dyed fabric, sun prints, and then added some bits of vintage linens. 

a flag for peace within

Peg Ashman joins us. She writes "This flag is based on my notion of PEACE. The painting is of a place I use in my mind for meditation. You may notice a subtle structure at the lower left edge near the water. It is a place where I retreat to to regain my sense of self, serenity and receive the occasional message from Spirit. It is my solemn belief that is placed at the top of the piece that PEACE within created PEACE for all.
All of us, every last one of us, deserves peace in the very seat of our soul."

Poetry flags

Jane Smith created these Prayer Flags to celebrate both Spring and National Poetry Month. They are paper collage. She writes "Our Prayer Flags, like the lovely butterflies, do transform the world around us with goodness."
The flags were  inspired by this small stanza from a poem for children:  
 " Butterflies take wing in the first morning rays,
Transforming the world with brilliant displays. 
That's why butterflies fly."
 (author unknown)

back of the flags

Paper and cloth prayer flags

Sarah Fishburn made these prayer flags for a swap with the theme  "It takes courage to practice peace." The lettering was done with black marker, the background of fabric was layered with world maps and the images were stitched onto painted die cuts, and die cut flowers were attached with brads.  

Dream

Helen Percy Lystra joins us with a flag for 'Dream." She writes My prayer is to help me "Dream and then DO; I know I'm the only one who can make my dreams come true."

Renew

Marlynne Joy Snare  chose the word "RENEW" for her first flag in honor of Spring and the newness of life enjoyed with my grandson Davey and great grandson Eli. 

another prayer flag

Stacy Hurt created this flag for Dr. Who.  He's a character on a sci-fi BBC show. 

heart healing flags

Shelia Ross writes "Making these prayer flags, and sharing them has been the best therapy I can imagine. It has helped heal my heart by sending their messages on the wind."