25 Million Stitches
As I thought about the stitches my machine sewed over the past year – two million of them — I was reminded of a powerful exhibit I saw at the WIsconsin museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts: 25 Million Stitches. I visited it two years ago, yet it has stayed with me. Today I watched the YouTube video again and was moved just as I had been when I first experienced it in person.
The exhibit shares the stories of refugees around the world—people displaced from their homes for countless reasons. Walking among the panels, looking closely at the stitches—some precise and masterful, others simple or childlike—I felt the pain, despair, and astonishing hope of those whose lives were uprooted. Their stories were sewn into fabric with thread instead of ink.
Though I am not a refugee, I recognized my husband’s family’s story from Europe to America, my friend’s family’s journey as immigrants who were forced to leave their homeland for a better life in the United States, and so many other stories I’ve read of or heard throughout the history of our world. The stories are universal, yet unique.
That is the power of art. It invites us in. It engages and inspires, comforts and confronts. It provokes us, asking us to notice what we might overlook. And what we take away is never exactly the same–that’s the beauty of art, no matter the medium.
And Sew It Goes 
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