May 11, 2021

From Anonymous:

I am brand new to cross-stitching but read about your project on social media and immediately volunteered to become involved. Why? To carve out time each day to meditatively create something with my hands while praying for all those affected by the pandemic (i.e. everyone). Having a focused way to productively reflect on what I and everyone else was going through helped me immensely during those scary, uncertain, anxiety-filled days/weeks/months.

Some days I would focus on groups of people (first responders, health care workers, service industry workers, sick patients in hospitals, sick patients unable to get care, parents of school age children, school age children, young adolescents, elderly, etc.) Other days I would pray for needs (help with feelings of isolation, food insecurity, overwhelm, loneliness, worry, etc.). So any reasons to pray. Such a productive way for me to keep my hands busy and feel like I was contributing.

The other beautiful aspect of this project is that it helped connect me in a special way with my godmother. She was an avid cross stitcher and we each have a  treasured cross stitch Christmas stocking from her. She is no longer with us and I miss her every day. But somehow, engaging in STS helped her feel closer. And I know she was smiling down as I made my many stitches, and frogs, and stitches, and frogs. [for non-stitchers, ‘frogs’ are when you have to undo stitches, often referred to as “ripping out” or “rip it” —> sounds like “ribbit” or a frog croaking]

I created this design to be as simple as possible but yet not just an entire square of solid color. I chose a series of hearts to represent love in all its many shapes, forms, and variations. All love. And when everything else is stripped away from us, we can always hold onto love.