Crafting for Change

Is there anything more adorable than an Obama-inspired baby outfit? We don’t think so… This one was appliqued by Becky in New Mexico for her daughter to wear when they volunteer with a Mamas for Obama group. Becky titled this photo “I Voted Today,” and you should too. Check out your earlier voting location here, and if you’re in Oregon, like we are, mail or drop off your ballots today!

Yes We Can!

And back to our regularly scheduled programming…

In the flurry around the screen printing party, we neglected to post this colored pencil on watercolor paper drawing by Chicagoan ComicNurse (you can check out more of her work here). When you reflect on the meaning of this quote from Obama’s Super Tuesday speech, it couldn’t be more timely. (Andrew Sullivan’s analysis of this oft-derided statement is outstanding, if you’re interested.) “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” is a Hopi saying that has been repeated–in various forms–by a number of people, including as a 2006 title of a book by Alice Walker. It also reminds us of this famous quotation from Gandhi,

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Either way you look at it, it’s a perfect sentiment to remember as Election Day draws near.

Yes We Can!

This video epitomizes the spirit of what we’re trying to articulate with the Obama Craft Project site. (And it’s definitely the only “Crafty” YouTube video that that Obama Campaign has uploaded.) By posting your projects to this site, we try to celebrate Barack Obama’s positive message, and crafters’ response to that message. We love that a virtual community of makers of all types that have come together to support the Campaign for Change, and have articulated–via knitting, sewing, printmaking, collage and many other mediums–the belief and commitment to transforming this nation.

We’ve had some “issues” the last few days or so with the site and our Flickr pool with folks who feel the need to tear us, and other Obama supporters, down for whatever reason. We’ve received some vicious comments on this site, angry photos hae been uploaded to our Flickr pool and mean comments have been left on our–and others’–Obama-related images. There’s even the possibility, according to our web host, that there may have been some nefarious attempts to get gain access the admin area of the Obama Craft Project site. That means that there’s been significant periods of time when we’ve been unable to access the site ourselves, which means less posting of your wonderful work.

We’d be lying if we said it didn’t upset us just a bit. We’d like to think that even if we disagree, that we’re all Americans and that we can work together to solve the tough challenges ahead. It’s disappointing to realize that not everyone feels that way. It’s frustrating to realize that the mere existence of this site makes people so angry–”appalled” as one individual wrote.

But, we don’t dwell on the negativity, we know it’s often a part of these long, emotional campaigns that are the reality of modern American politics. Instead, we remember these words from our candidate on what seemed to be a disappointing night after Barack’s close loss in the New Hampshire primaries,

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

Election Day is in one week.

This is one of the most ingenious Obama-inspired projects we’ve seen. Aneel made his bike wheel light up with the Obama logo using a Spoke POV kit, an electronic kit top that turns bike wheels into custom lighted displays. If you’d like to do this with your own bike wheels,  the links to the .dat files are available for download on one of the Flickr photo pages.

Yes We Can!

This morning, we thought we’d highlight some of the fantastic signs that folks all over the country have made to promote Barack Obama…

Lisa, from Madison, Wisconsin, spotted these very informative signs in her hometown. There are more images in this photoset on flickr.

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