September 3, 2020

From Katie: “I started this project having never cross stitched a day in my life. I’ve always been known for my doodling, but in recent months my chronic illness led me to lose feeling in my thumb if I doodled too much. Art has always been an anxiety reliever for me...

I’ve enjoyed SO MUCH the opportunity to learn a new skill and make something beautiful that represents so much more. Recognizing that each stitch represented a person—like my brother and many of my friends—who have had to struggle through COVID to varying degrees was impactful and motivating. Recognizing that 1,070 precious lives were lost on my day, and that those numbers were soaring far higher as I stitched was heartbreaking.

This project saw me through a lot. I stitched as I watched a group of terrorists storm the Capitol. I stitched as Kamala Harris became the first female, Black, and South Asian VP of the United States. I stitched through weeks of the worst anxiety I’ve had for years—through loneliness, friends’ diagnoses, my grandparents’ vaccines, the new hope blooming through our country and world.”