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The
Friendship Tapestry Where does something
start? One thing usually comes out of
something else. In my paintings I find it
hard to let one
form end and another one start, so I usually blend the colors at the
edges. Maybe that’s why crazy quilting
sounds so logical to me. One connects
the forms with a lace or stitches that go between forms and all the
forms
interweave. So when I was trying to
find out where or how The Friendship Tapestry started I went back and
forth in
time, in my mind. I have always felt
that our little planet called Earth includes only one family. We, all people, animals and the rest of
nature, are connected. No one ends
before another one starts, we are all one family and all of nature
interweaves. And so it is also
with us three friends: Nancy
Claiborne from Tennessee, Susan Glatz Mikesell from California and me
Ragnhildur "Rags" Jónsdóttir from Iceland. We
have not met yet, only through the Internet but this project
is coming from our friendship. However
the project started, the effort and ideas come from all of us. We, together, made the Friendship Tapestry
idea, as it is now and it is up to you all to make it what it will
become. Last year in April, I
found nordicneedle.com when
browsing the net looking for something interesting to learn about
needlework. I saw something called
Brazilian Embroidery; I checked it out since my son once was an
exchange
student in Brazil. I fell for it
completely. I ordered some books and
contacted Roz and Sue concerning the products. Right
away I felt something special in the way they
responded to
me. They are so friendly and personal
even though they are running this big business. It
moved me. I love the
NN newsletters. After reading them for
a while I feel like I know Roz and Sue, their families and exchange
students ,
and the articles about other women and men that stitch some way or
another. I love those.
The world gets somehow smaller and smaller
and people feel closer. So when one day
I saw in a newsletter that Roz was talking about the unusually cold
weather, I
responded without thinking. I wrote her
a mail about the unusually warm weather here in Iceland last summer. I could even sit outside to stitch day after
day. I guess it sounded very strange to them how happy I was to be able
to sit
outside. Then
they
asked me to answer the questionnaire for the newsletter.
As soon as my article was on the web, mails
started coming in from w omen who
wanted to contact this strange woman in the north.
I could not believe it! Here
I was, at home, unable to work, because of my illness
and people
tend to give up on contacting people who
cannot always go places. All
of a sudden I was in contact with many new friends.
And now I have dear, close friends; Nancy and Susan, who brighten my day, every day. When I was corresponding with my new friends, I thought of how precious it is to be able to do that. This technology, computers and the Internet , is so precious. It somehow makes worlds within worlds with no boundaries. The world of stitchers was suddenly open to me. It was the fact that we have the same "fabric and thread addictions," that made us meet each other. Since I can’t work outside the home because of my fibromyalgia, this is extra precious. I can have friends in faraway places, without going anywhere. And the thought about this and the love I started feeling for my new friends possibly made way for the idea of Friendship Tapestry to "drop" into my head and from there to my heart. There it still is. I mentioned the idea to Nancy and Susan. They loved the idea too and we started talking and planning, back and forth and the idea grew and took the form it is in now. Here is
what Nancy has to say: “The
Friendship Tapestry and I were introduced when I
read Ragnhildur’s profile in the Nordic Needle Newsletter and I wrote
Roz
asking her to forward a message to her from me. My
health problems are similar to those that plague Rags, and I
understand the frustrations of physical limitations.
When she wrote about her idea of a tapestry open to
contributions
from all people of the world, I checked my computer to see if it was
actually
giving me the correct email with all the words in the right order....
Then, the
idea grew and grew until I could see it, too, all those small
postcard-size
cards knotted together to make of the work of our hands a chain of
friendship
that could possibly make some impact on the very unfriendly-seeming
world of
today! What an image!
The knotted structure seems
"do-able" by women who can’t undertake putting together a quilted
work.” And
Susan: “To be at somewhat
confined to the house makes a
person feel somehow disconnected from the rest of the world. When Rags suggested this tapestry, it
was a
way for me to get out of the house in a BIG way.
Even thought the piece of needlework is a small thing
really, it
is part of something that has the potential to be meaningful. It is so important to join hands in a
circle of peace. That circle of
peace
- from piecemakers - will hug the world and maybe, just maybe, it will
be
possible to demonstrate that there IS a community of people on this
planet who
are caring, supportive, creative, loving and hopeful that life can be
beautiful.” The goal of The
Friendship Tapestry is to reach women
in all corners of the world. Each woman
makes one piece (4"x 6", 10x15cm) of the tapestry.
Using whatever technique is your
favorite - any kind of needlework,
knitting, crochet, weaving, embroidery, quilting or whatever you can
think
of. You send it to Iceland (the address
is on the website) before April 15th 2005 and we will knot the tapestry
together and put on display. Hopefully
we can travel with the tapestry and show it in many countries. I really believe a simple act like this can
make people think of friendship and that we are all contribut or s to the family tapestry of the world. We are all parts of each other.
Each one a single, very special being but we
are all connected like patches of one big tapestry. No one knows how many
pieces will arrive. I hope there
will be many of you who will want to participate in the Friendship
Tapestry.
Our website www.internet.is/friendshiptapestry
will be kept up to date
and open
to corresponding. We will scan each piece that comes in and put on
display on
the website along with a name, state and country and some words from
your
heart, if you like. So keep watching the site, see how the tapestry
grows.
Everything is explained on the website but if there are any questions
or
comments, please contact us at friendshiptapestry@internet.is
we will
answer
every mail. We can all do this
together; make a friendly world,
even if it is just in our hearts. For a
little while we feel better and maybe someone catches that feeling. And in the end, piece-by-piece, and maybe
peace-by-peace, we have made a world of friendship. Come join us and make
one little piece of friendship
and we will, all together, make a big Friendship Tapestry. Ragnhildur "Rags"
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