Holiday Stitching & Unsung Heroes of 25 Million Stitches
Stitching: The number of stitchers and the regions from which new participants join the project continues to grow. Many thanks to you all for spreading enthusiasm for the 25 Million Stitches project! We have well over 2200 panels out and more mailed every day—please return them with your unique stitching as soon as possible! It delights us to picture all of you stitching while sharing and enjoying your holidays with friends and family.
Your stories connect and support us all. In this newsletter, we’d like to highlight some “Unsung heroes”--those of you who have been supporting the project quietly in the background. You are the ones who will make it possible for us to reach that big number, 25 Million Stitches. Your stories inspire us and remind us that each and every stitch is an act of giving. We hope that these stories will inspire your circle of friends and family to join our growing stitchers.
You can find all our previous newsletters as well as blog posts of our stitcher's stories on our website. https://www.25millionstitches.com/
One of the gifts of organizing this project is learning about people who are saving the world with their own art and way of life. Yoo-Mi contacts local Vancouver fabric recycling stores, obtains the cotton remnants which would otherwise end up in a landfill, and patches together various multiple panels for her circle of friends who stitch for the project. Her local sourcing also reduces overseas shipping and improves the carbon footprint of the project. Her efforts are examples of intentional art and activism that help fight the extreme weather trend that is one of the biggest causes for the increased number of global refugees.
Beth went from fabric shops to yarn shops to art centers the day prior to one of the 25 Million Stitches sewing circle events armed with flyers that she created to make sure that the event was fully attended. She was one of the artists whose work was showcased at Chico’s Museum of Northern California Art. We had just learned of her generous support and then were mightily touched when we received a large number of completed panels back from stitchers in Chico.
There are a number of you who have stitched more than half a dozen panels each since the project was launched in April. Deble, for example, is one of the most prolific stitchers for the 25 Million Stitches project. Her completed panels (which now number over twelve) are filled with happy energy whether they are ones with straight running stitches or motifs of crazy quilts. She travels everywhere with her panel-- whether it’s a local Burning Man meeting, cruise or overseas trip --and ends up recruiting people from all walks of life.
Joe, a set designer from Los Angeles, contributed installation designs to show how our 2020 show at Verge Center for the Arts in Sacramento would look. These renditions are on our website for all of you to peruse and share with your friends and family. Please visit https://www.25millionstitches.com/community-news-1
Ellen recently traveled to Tanzania with many panels, thread and needles. She learned that the operations director for the tour company, Zubeda, volunteers to help young women learn to sew. Ellen and Zubeda shared stories and Zubeda is now stitching and has recruited many women from Tanzania for the 25 Million Stitches Project.
Barb who organizes The Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival with over 1000 attendees is hosting a "Stitch-In" at their event, March 20, 21, 22, 2020: https://pghknitandcrochet.com/ In addition to classes, demos, a Maker Space, Fiber Studio, Creative Open Studio, Fabric and Fiber Exhibitions from around the world, a Market, and an evening Block Party, attendees are invited to participate in the 25 Million Stitches Project with the Embroidery Guild of America’s local Pittsburgh chapter members.
Stories: As you can see, we love sharing your dedication for the cause and stories of stitching, recruiting and organizing sewing circles. Please also help us sustain dialogues about refugees and their challenges and ways we can help the refugees. You can send your stories via email to 25millionstitches@gmail.com or write on any threads of Community News blog on our website, https://www.25millionstitches.com/community-news-1
Staying Connected. As our tapestry grows so does our global community. We've grown our social media followers to over 1000 people recently. We hope that the website can reach a larger audience. https://www.25millionstitches.com/
If you have website administration skills and would like to help us manage the stories, please let us know! Please share your stories so that we may collect them and consider publishing them on our website, or in the newsletter to share with our community and/or as part of the final exhibit.
Please also continue to share the images of your panels while you are stitching and your completed panels on social media: #25millionstitches, #25millionstitchesproject