Lisa Woolfork 0:05
Hello friends, and welcome to the Stitch Please podcast. I'm your host, Lisa Woolfork, a fourth generation sewing enthusiast and I am delighted to be with you today. This is a bonus episode of the Stitch Please podcast, we've been taking a bit of a hiatus from production, just to allow new voices to come in, to allow for space and rest, and all of those things. And so starting next week, we will return with our regularly scheduled episodes with a fantastic one. I don't want to say, so I will not say, but trust me, you will absolutely not want to miss next week's episode. I'm incredibly excited to start off our 2022 with next week's guest.
For this week, we're going to talk about Word of the Year. And that is something that I started doing, I know people have done it for quite some time, but I didn't start doing it I think really seriously, maybe until last year. So let's take a few minutes and talk about Word of the Year. And you can hear from a few community members in their Word of the Year. And then we'll close with a few notes on my comforter coat. I'm making a coat from a Marimekko comforter that I purchased from overstock.com. I made a coat out of it, and I'm really excited about that too. So let's get started with our Word of the Year conversation.
I am really excited about the Word of the Year this year. I had a really great one last year that really was very fortifying. The word came to me based on some reading that I had done. I've read a book by Octavia Raheem R-A-H-E-E-M, first name Octavia, like Octavia Butler. And the name of this book is called Gather G-A-T-H-E-R. And I was so taken with this book. I felt like it was written just for me personally, as if she who had never met me wrote this book just exactly for me. And what the book is, is a series of meditations and guiding principles and questions and just a really beautiful study of one's interior life. One, it really allowed me to observe things. I think that's one of the things I talk about in meditation, which is to observe your thoughts without judgment. And so it was just a really beautiful book. It still is a really beautiful book. And I believe that she's expanded it to include either a sequel or a workbook or something like that, that goes along with it. And I'm really just very excited about the book itself. And I found it very helpful to me personally. And last year, it made such an impression on me that the word "gather" became my Word of the Year.
Now for 2022. I've decided to go with a word that would also be a good reminder, something that can help me help center myself, help me just remember, I don't know, I'm not sure exactly. It's hard to put a finger on it exactly, but my word is "abundance." Abundance, abundance, abundance. Abundance works well for me, because it covers or because it's such an abundant word. [laugh] It covers a variety of concepts and practices in my life. So abundance is linked to Christianity and the New Testament especially. So that's something that's important to me. It relates to the very useful and important critique of capitalism, because capitalism relies on scarcity. And if there is abundance, and if you believe that there is abundance, then there is no scarcity. And also "abundant" is helpful for me as a reminder of my possibility, the things that I am limitless. To quote Beyonce in Homecoming, that I am limitless, that all of these things are available in abundance, goodness, joy, love, all of these things. There's plenty. There's absolutely plenty. I really do believe and hope to practice as an ideal community over competition. Competition is a scarcity mindset. That there's only one person who can do the one thing, and if you're not number one, then you're, you know, you're second place or whatever. And that's meant to be bad. That's not true. That doesn't operate when there is abundance, and with an abundance mindset and an abundance philosophy, and so that's the reason why "abundant" is my word for 2022. Because I definitely get in positions sometimes, where I feel overwhelmed, I feel like [sigh] "I just can't do this," or "it's just too much," etc, etc. And to rely on, to kind of pull back, to step back and to look around and say, "You know, I have, what I need. I have abundance. There is abundance. I don't have to hurry and rush to get this thing before it vanishes." All of that- the rush, the hurry- is something that is not necessary when there is abundance. And so that's just a concept that I'm really excited to practice, and remind myself of, and hopefully, I can hold on to it [laughs] when things kind of, you know, get rough. I also think about the show "Pose", which I really love, the show "Pose". And Alektra's house is the House of Abundance. I don't want to give any spoilers or anything of the sort, but Elektra has been a character throughout the series, who has had an abundance mindset and abundant practices and belief systems. When she had nothing at all, she had herself. And that was the key to the abundance. And I think that's true for all of us. So that's why "abundant" is my word of the year. And now we'll hear from some community members.
Cindy 6:55
Hi, my name is Cindy Coleman. I'm from the Midwest. My word for 2022 is "courage". I officially start treatment for breast cancer next week. And yes, I am scared. But I am having to dig deep in my soul and stand solid in a world of uncertainty. So I have to continue to be courageous even though I'm afraid and I want to shrink back. I cannot because I am worthy of treatment.
Tishea 7:32
Hey, Lisa, it's me, Tishea, just twist and turnin'. Hey, I figured out my blooper dooper. And I think you asked at one point, the word for the year, "kujichagulia". I am defining everything for myself, especially myself. It's so good to see your puff coat. I can't wait to see it get done. I imagine doing it. I'm never gonna do it. But thank you for doing it. Bye!
Lisa Woolfork 8:00
Thank you so much, Cindy and Tishea, for sharing your Word of the Year for 2022. With us. We are grateful to learn about your commitment to courage and kujichagulia in the 2022 year and stand with you as you do so. After a short break, we'll talk a little bit more about that comforter coat. Stay tuned.
Hey, friends, hey. What are you doing on Thursday around 3pm or so? You got 30 minutes to hang out with Black Women Stitch? You got 60? If so, come through for Thirty Minute Thursdays. Thursdays 3pm, Eastern Standard Time. You can chill with Black Women Stitch on Instagram Live or talk with us through the two way audio on Clubhouse at 3:30pm, Eastern Standard Time. That's Thursdays for 30 minutes. Come hang out, chill and have fun with us. See you Thursday!
We conclude today's episode with a conversation about the comforter code. We had a couple questions about it, including this one from Sonja.
Sonja 9:18
Hey, Lisa, it's Sonja. I'm wondering if you could tell us about how you sourced your down. That seems like a major part of this amazing coat. I'm not saying I could replicate it, because I don't think I could. But I have no idea where I would get down. And I would love it if you'd share that. If you're up for it. Thanks, bye.
Lisa Woolfork 9:44
Well, it turns out, y'all, that I am up for it. And of course y'all already know that I can talk the ears of corn, but I will not do that. I will answer this question with a very simple answer of how I sourced that down. Birds, yes obviously, but also, Adrienne, my friend, Adrienne. She and I were talking, and I mentioned something about my comfort coat. And she said, "Oh, this would be really fun. If you could add down to it, and I have a whole bunch of down if you if you're interested." And I was like, "No, thanks. I'm gonna make this really simple. I don't want to add anything extra out. No, nevermind, that's fine." And then, I thought about it for maybe 10 more seconds. And I was like, "Oooh, that actually would be a good idea." And not only did Adrienne give me the down, her husband said, "Oh, you know, you could make tubes and then put the down in the tubes, and then do the stitching and cutting," which I tell you, shout out to Rob as well as Adrienne, because that idea saved my bacon, because trust me when I say I would have had 27 individual index card size pillows, and stuffing each and every single one and it would have taken way longer than it did. So that is where I got my down. More specifically, that down is an upcycled or recycled project. They had a huge settee type cushion that was really long, like a bench and it was, you know, done in sturdy fabric and very comfortable. But also apparently when you would sit on it, it was so dense that it left like little butt imprints, and so they decided to take it apart. And because the down is something that is...it's a resource, right? You don't want to just throw it away. She's also an artist and so she saved it. And that is how I came to get down.
Thanks again for listening to the Stitch Please podcast. Come back next week and we'll help you get your stitch together.
