Needleworkers can lend a helping hand through the Internet.
In the spring of 1992 I was going through a really difficult time. I was 22, my marriage was ending, I was living on my own in a strange city and wondering what had happened to my wonderful life. Being newly single and broke, I needed something to do to keep my mind off my troubles. Nothing worked. Then a friend of mine driving home from Louisiana stopped to visit me. She said she would teach me how to cross stitch so that my mind and my hands would both have something to do.
We went to the cross stitch store and I found a pattern for a picture of three flower pots underneath the saying, "Bloom where you are planted". Since I felt I had been planted in full shade with really poor soil it was the perfect first project for me. It took me until the fall of 1995 to finish it and by then my life was back in "full bloom." My husband and I were still married and happier than ever. I even had a beautiful little girl and was expecting another. The saying still holds a lot of meaning for me, though, and my first project is framed and hanging above my kitchen sink where I see it every day.
Is there a point to this? Sure. I was "planted" in a really bad place and by using my hands to create something out of a piece of fabric and some thread I made a real difference in my life. It saved me while I was doing it and it inspires me every time I see it.
It occurred to me that a lot of people are mis-planted, transplanted, or have no where to put their roots down at all and a project like mine might be just the thing to inspire them or even save them. So, I have been browsing the Internet looking for ways that I and other needleworkers can use our craft to help others. I have found several and have links to them below. Some of them are well-known outside of the Internet, others are not. If you cross stitch, quilt, crochet, knit, machine sew, WHATEVER!, there is a way you can help and make a big difference in the lives of people all over the world.
If you have comments or would like to suggest a site to add to this page, you can e-mail me at heather@heatherharvey.com.
