Friendship Tapestry

Clarice i am really impressed with all the Friendship Tapestrries , Bindings , ribbons .. i realy am ,, but aren`t there some people who freeze of cold who could use your donated time and energy , to give them an item of clothing ??? just a thought ??? mirjam

Mirjam, I felt your reply to Clarice's post about the Friendship Tapstry had a very elitist tone to it! Is there some rule that all needlework should be utilitarian! What about the sampler I might make or the fiber art you produce...are they without merit because they don't keep someone warm? I feel if someone gets pleasure from making something then that in itself is a worthy reason for doing it!

Mavia

Following up on Mavia's reply to Mijram (since I long stopped reading Mijyram's posts).

Perhaps, Mijram, you should stop doing your embroidered art and start making utilitarian items to clothe the cold -after all - to quote you

"but aren`t there some people who freeze of cold who could use your donated time and energy , to give them an item of clothing ??? just a thought ???"

As Mavia says, many of Mijram's posts have a very elitist/patronizing tone - one of the reasons I stopped reading her stuff.

I love the Friendship Tapestry - I love the idea of it, and I love the work. Thank you for sharing.

Marg

Mirjam..when you 'think out loud" in a newsgroup you expess your opinion about which other may chose to agree or disagree. You said you're "really impressed with all the Friendship Tapestrries " and then you throw in the big *but* word followed by, "aren`t there some people who freeze of cold who could use your donated time and energy , to give them an item of clothing ??" To me this clearly implies that those contributing to the Friendship Tapestry could have put their time to better use making items of clothing for people who need them. Couldn't this be said about most needlework?...yours and mine included? I didn't question whether your work "does warm somebody " but it does make we think that maybe the Friendship Tapestery will also 'calls out to people to coime together and think before they fight'. From the little I know about the project that is it's purpose also.

Thanks for telling us about the Friendship Tapestry, Clairce. Anyone interested can read more about it here:

My apologies Clarice, as it certainly wasn't my intent to promote controversy about the Friendship Tapestry! I think it's a wonderful project and wish it continued success! This isn't the first time that someone has implied that such projects lack merit and I take issue with that opinion. If you don't like certain forms of needlework then ignore them. There is no need to publicly denigrate them.

Mavia

I think Mirjam was asking a rhetorical question, reflecting on her own choices, too, about the value of doing something "purely decorative" vs "practical." And we each answer that for ourselves in our own lives. We face the choices every day of living in balance -- for ourselves and others, for the purely creative vs. the functional, for that which produces something tangible vs. that which nourishes us inwardly, for communication vs. introspection.

For myself, I try to make room for both. "All work and no play makes Sue a dull girl." So I will continue to sew "practical" things for the needy and people who experience cold and want, but I also will continue to "play" in fibres for the pure joy of participating in creation, and address the needs of people who feel "cold" in their lives in a more figurative way - warm them with art/ideas/sharing!

People have *all kinds* of needs, and it's not always "material" things for which they want. (*Please* don't ask me to diagram THAT sentence, LOL!)

I haven't sent in anything to the Friendship Tapestry (yet), but have looked at the website several times through the Nordic Needle newsletter. Thanks for the reminder, Clarice! And for (however unintentionally) prompting us to think through why we do what we do!

Sue

Mavia Beaulieu wrote:

Mavia Beaulieu wrote: >

Amen to that, Mavia.

When Nathalie came up with the World Peace Ribbon, it got the same insults from people who thought our time could be put to better use.

The Staten Island quilt group, who see the wreckage of the Twin Towers from their own homes, contributed dozens of segments -- many bearing the names of victims. They found comfort by making their segments at a time that they were too shell-shocked to think up a tribute of their own.

So many of the contributions arrived here with a note that the artist had sat in front of the TV wishing there were something she could do to reach out to the families, something more personal than sending a check to the Red Cross. We provided that opportunity.

Lest anyone think this was simply a "work of art" with no real meaning to the people we were trying to touch, the completed Ribbon has been taken to numerous 9/11 support groups, where victims' relatives have

*cried* over the thought that someone in England or Sweden or California shared their pain enough to spend time making a segment for the Ribbon. This may not keep them warm in the same way as a coat, but it gives them a warm feeling inside, which they remember months or years later.

The completed Ribbon hung in the main United Nations building for a whole month, signifying what it was meant to: that people worldwide were willing to give their time in this call for World Peace. Again, maybe not the same immediate benefit as a coat, but can a coat really replace a husband killed in war?

The UN thought enough of this Ribbon, which was disparaged here as a waste of time, to write us an official thank you letter. Nathalie's name as the instigator, and mine as the coordinator, are now in the UN's official records -- can the denigrators say the same?

Incidentally, the organizer of the UN's International Day of Peace Vigil has requested more works of art with peace themes -- a couple years ago, they had some fantastic lifesize fabric sculptures of angels. If you'd like *your* work of art on display at the Vigil and the UN next September, contact me offlist for the e-ddress of the organizer. Special donation procedures are required to make sure that it goes to the Vigil committee for display and not to the general UN storage unit never to be seen again. (Or you can simply loan it to the committee for return after the Vigil.)

BRAVO!

Cheryl

Clarice , i am sorry i had no intention of bantering about it , i was just thinking aloud. Just your participation in this project gave me some insight that you want to spread niceness and i wanted to understand it more ,, Many people here speak about their Chocolates and wines and i never suggested they send it toi the hungry in the world, But the kindness of Fibermakers intrigues me more,,, Thank you for taking the time to contribute to this taperstry,,,, And i am glad i could open this qurestion on a public place. mirjam

Now here is a difference Karen i tottaly understand the people in Staten island , As i understood the many Aids Quilts

This are private people or local people , or people who lost somebody they know....Memorial cloth have been through many generations a source for consolation, to the berieved and the hurt, And i am all for it, and particiapted in some and make and made some, as life progresses. Even though , i see no harm in pondering , time and again about the The `value` and `usefulness` of those projects. The moment i will stop pondering about their value , i will stop participating in them. The point in making /participating is JUST "TO MAKE PEOPLE AWARE" about something. Awareness is by discussing the values , ideas this project wants to enhance. If all the value will be put in the process of making it , aboput the materials that are used etc,, than it won`t be a project about Friendship or whatever it is about , but it will become a projevt about Materials and sizes and times people put into it, And it will loose it`s Original Idea somewhere in the process.

I am very glad to read that the ribbon was so appreciated , at the time i was impressed with the making of this ribbon and hoped to hear about it`s where about , thank you for telling this information. mirjam

Thank you Marg for thinking my posts have an Elitist /patronizing tone, and what a pity that you can`t distinguish, between posts of people who speak about life from personal experience, As to those who speak about those experiences from a front sit before their TV screen.

Due to out life , here and before we have been recievers of all kinds of `Wonderful Title` Project,,, We knew all makers , donaters meant well ,,,, We dutifull thanked everyone ,,,, could we use it ?feel it ? Did it change anything ? . Thus when i a, asked to join a project like this, i easily can go back to my experience, and relate to waht was more useful . Can you remember only Months ago , when Katharina Hit Florida? what some poeple adviced sending the people whose livelihood was destroyed?

Some things were wonderul ideas, some were not useful. I was /am sure Clarice meant well , and spontaneousely i voiced a question that keeps bugging me with every project , with every work , with every stich. Alas the reactions i got , showed me my ponderings are right, People didn`t react to the important question i asked , they used it as an opportunity to attack the mere fact i dared ask this question. I hope you think about that , the next time you call me patronizng ? My ideas are not important , The People OUT there are important.

You are absolutely right .... many of my pupils , teach and spread the knowledge how to make use of what they have to have a better life. mirjam

Thank you Susan , for understanding my point of view and my meaning . I thougt inncenntly that by mentioning this project, some people would voice their feelings about those ,, as you so beautiful wrote ... Daily choicces we make , between the Needs of Body and soul ? of Private and Making for others , sometimes unknown to us. Thank you so Much , for joining me in this `Very personal , basic question, that follows me daily, whatever i do ` mirjam

Bravo and Brave oh! Now get you shield up Mavia. The telepathic rctn's are about to explain how the key board just made it all up and Mirijam really said something entirely different.

x-no-archive:yes

Lol, you're a blast Ruby!

Ain't that the truth! :)

>

I must say that I wholeheartedly agree with you there, Mavia. It`s a bit like telling a gardener not to grow flowers, because you can`t eat them! (Okay, Okay - I know that you CAN eat some!). Has anyone got a link to the Friendship Tapestry?

Pat P