25 million stitches

The second panel is finish. I showed the first half here.

Third quarter

Final section

Interesting how just a bit over overlapping- cross stitch and couching - makes the colour brighter.

25 million stitches

Halfway through the second panel.

Using the old hoop from my 7570 Pfaff for shape.

25 million stitches

making progress  on the second panel. Because I used a circular embroidery hoop on the first one, I thought I would use a somewhat square hoop from one of my machines. That wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. 😅
So I decided it would be ok to draw light lines with a pencil. So the second attempt looks a bit better. Keep going... I am going to try a few different designs within the shapes.

25 million stitches

I posted a few weeks ago about a hand stitching project I am taking part in called 25 million stitches,

A new public art engagement project that aims to raise awareness about the global refugee crisis. (it could quite easily be more, depending on the source, but that is the number they are going with.)

I have finished the first length of fabric, they call them panels.

Trying to show you closer with a video. Pardon any wobbles! I haven’t done much with closeup videos.

I like working with the variegated crochet cotton.
The circles are inspired by my hoop.😁 I don’t usually use a hoop, but this is one layer of fabric, so I knew the stitches would not stay flat if I didn’t use a hoop.
I have started another panel. I am working with a more colourful variegate crochet cotton now. I have a squarer hoop this time, but I’m going to have to work at it more if it is going to look good enough to do not quite squares all across the length.

More Stitches

I recently heard about another stitching project. 25 million stitches. ONE STITCH FOR EACH OF 25 MILLION REFUGEES

Jennifer Kim Sohn asked What do 25.9 million people look like? and then set out to answer as she grappled with the enormity of the world’s refugee crisis. 25 million people across the globe have been forced to flee their homelands as a consequence of genocide, war, poverty, natural disasters, targeted violence, and other grave threats.

Sohn began asking volunteers to hand stitch on fabric panels. thousands of embroidered panels, each representing 100 refugees. The final result will be displayed in a 2020 exhibit that will coincide with World Refugee Day on June 20. 

The two objectives of the project are:

1. To engage as many people as possible to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis and

2. To amass 25 million stitches to visually represent the sheer volume of this astronomical figure of refugees.

So, as this is also something that is heavy on my heart, I decided to join in on the project. Something that can keep my hands occupied, as well as helping to raise awareness.

Ramshackle - But is it Safe? Finished!

On Thursday last week I completed the work I have been doing about refugees. It is in my Ramshackle series, but I am just calling it But is it Safe? Follow the link to see the processes and development.

On Friday, I was able to get the photos done so, it is about ready to wing its way into the world.

Here it is completed and the story which goes with it.

But is it Safe?

Hearing news of refugees fleeing has made me think.

It appears that refugees in Country no.1 flee to Country no.2 because they are in danger.

Meanwhile, in Country no.2, refugees flee to Country no.3 because of the dangers they have faced.

Then in Country no.3, they flee to another section of their Country,
because they have been invaded and their homes have been destroyed.

In addition, I hear that from any of these countries, refugees head to the sea hoping they can get to a different place altogether where "no one" is in danger.

So, I ask...Who will break the cycle? What can I do?

Left side detail

Right side detail

Technique: Raw-edged, fused, reverse appliqué. Separate sections bound, inner edges joined with herring bone faggoting.
Material: Cotton, fusible, wadding, rug yarn, sewing thread

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The 31st October would have been the deadline for this work if I entered it into SAQA Forced to Flee. But although the theme seems just made for me, there have been too many things that kept me from working on it as much as I like.
I have been doing the machine stitching, even though suffering with my back. and to be honest, was really stretching myself to my limit.
However, I know there must be another venue waiting for it, so I am going to carry on. I did take a few needed days off...well, they were full of other things!

But, here is a little more of what I was doing the past week.

Since I am not overlapping the sections, I needed to fill the space I had left. So, Extra houses for the desert section. The bits that look like croquet hoops are meant to be housing set up for refugees rescued from the sea.

I have given them doors of a sort to look more like a house. A bit like I have done for the housing in the forest for other sea rescuees. (That should be a real word!)

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Design dilemma...
Now that the sea section is cut out, the dilemma is the fabric underneath that shows through the openings. Basically, I haven't got any more of the spotted fabric I used for the rest.

Here are some options I considered. I hadn't cut out all of the houses because I was afraid they would be lost!

underlying fabric choices

Left - the reverse of the wave fabric I bought for the project and realised it was too not going to work. It gives a light grey look which gives small glimpses of the waves.
Middle - the fabric I am using for the backing of the work
Right - a blue fabric with small print of curved leaf branch...could read as waves.

The middle was too yellow. The right was very good and would work in another situation, but it doesn't work with the colours in the desert, mountain and forest sections. It is quite a bit too different than the underlying fabric on those sections.
What I chose was the left one.

ready to fuse

When I originally chose it, thinking to use it for the sea section, one of the reasons was that it worked colour-wise with the other colours. (Later I found it was just too bold compared to them and the houses would blend into the waves.) So, what I mean is that the colour works. It gives a similar colour contrast in value as the other fabric does in the other sections. The waves aren't so overwhelming when glimpsed through the openings that make up the sketch.

So, by now I have also decided not to overlap the sections. So, I need to finish off part of the desert.

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Now for the sea or water section

The chalk drawing


one of the capsized boats.

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So, we are getting there!

The forest section ready for fusing.

some of the different houses
Normal houses, refugee housing, angry (militant?) houses, attacked village

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2 parts of the forest section have been cut.

parts will be tweaked before fusing.

This is the destroyed village I showed the other day when it was just a sketch on the fabric.

a bit overexposed
I am trying to decide what to do about the windows. I had in mind a small solid line. But I have used that for villages attacked but not destroyed. On the photo above, you can see them on the right of the section... windows not cut yet. I am debating the idea of drawing the 'window' for that with thread.

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one of the villages cut out and the pieces put in place.

The houses in the forest section are on stilts...like in some of the rain forest areas of the world. I hope when you can see them altogether they don't look like TVs!

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some of the trees which have been cut in the forest section.

  

wondering why I decided there needed to be so many!

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So to the forest section...drawing the houses in chalk.

The villages are surrounded by various trees.

This part represents one of the villages which has been attacked.

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and the desert section pretty much there.

The refugee tents in the desert near the top and the places they fled from in the bottom.

The gap on the left side is still there while I am considering if another section will overlap. I can rub that house out with a cloth, or go ahead and cut it out...I left that area unfused. maybe a few more smaller houses further up.

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and so, some of the desert city houses

and some of the damaged houses and villages

and then fusing

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Getting an idea of what the houses in the desert will look like.

The desert background will be there, but I must cut the rest of the houses out first.

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So, the next step...
The desert section.

I decided to put a break between top and bottom...a place for the sort of refugee camps where people fled from the IS extremist militant group. Seeing images of the endless rows of tents, side by side off into the distance, really moved me.

At the top is the refugee camp. I may want to add more, but I need to see how the bottom part looks first.
I am working on the houses, but I have been doing 'adventures'.

I went to London last night with 2 friends to the Anniversary celebration of an organisation called Release International. They are one of the groups we support who help Christians who are persecuted, imprisoned and attacked for what they believe.
They help to support the ones who have had to flee extremist groups and are either internally displaced or have fled to other countries.
Our church helped to buy tents through one of those organisations when the thousands began to flee IS.

So, anyway, the meeting was very challenging. One church leader from Nigeria spoke about what was happening there. He has had a gun to his head before. Last Sunday, their church was attacked...the day before he came to the UK. When he gets back this weekend, they have to work out where they will meet even this week.
Not sure if you readers go to church, but just imagine if you were in a meeting and suddenly you all were attacked. All your equipment and things you need for the group are broken up and thrown outside or looted. You fear for your life.   Or perhaps you have to have guards because there are suicide bombers trying to blow the place up. Taking advantage of the openness of your meeting - anyone is welcome to go to church - to destroy people.

Anyway! this is one of the reasons I feel passionate about trying to tell some of these stories with my work.
Also why I went beyond my physical capability to trek into London and get back after midnight! Today has been rough, but actually I am blessed. I don't have to worry about being beaten and chucked in prison. 😱 It gives you a different perspective!

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and then all of them are cut out...

checking to see if that was enough to tell the story.

I decided to add more houses in the refugee camp on the right.. oh, one got away!😃
You need to be careful leaning across or the fleece cardigan you are wearing picks up a house and loses it somewhere.

and more who are fleeing on the left.

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So, just a glimpse of what happens to make these.

lots of cutting out of lines and keeping houses in order so you have a better chance of getting them in the right space!

Then careful carrying to the work

finding out where they came from

and filling in the blanks!

These are so fiddly that I will use stitch to show the emotions that will tell the story.
I got clever and drew some of the houses without a hillock. That made it so I could cut out the lines and leave the house there. I was dreading having all the houses go on walkabout!