I belong to a group of stitchers that usually meets every Wednesday. Like most groups, we have been unable to do this since the middle of March. Instead we have been staying in touch via a weekly video call. We use this time to share progress with projects, catch up, support each other and generally set the world to rights. This week was no different (though I think the rare and wonderful debate on crisp sandwiches deserves a special mention). Our words meandered this way and that before taking an unexpected turn towards the Black Lives Matter movement. One of the group said, with a compassionate yet hopeless air, “What can we do as individuals?” The general consensus was “not much”, which reminded me of a project we completed last year.
At the start of January 2019, one of my friends from the group sent me a video. It was a TED talk about some bees. Actually, it was about an awful lot more than that. It’s hard to get all of its messages across in one project but we decided to give it a good try.
I began in February by playing around with some hexagons that had been donated to the group some years before. I formed the beginnings of an abstract (and somewhat gaudy) beehive:
More fabric was sourced for the background and we were away.
Lettering was added to help convey the all important message.
Ideally, the finished piece would speak for itself. In reality, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I wrote up the background of “The Bees” so that the full story could be known. I’ve copied it below and, although there is a little duplication from what you’ve already read, I hope you will find it enlightening.
Welcome to the beehive! What you see here is the product of several enjoyable mornings of sewing and chatting – the favourite pastimes of The Well Stitchers! The story of the hive begins with Eileen Mason of Beech Tree Road, Holmer Green. She was born in 1914. She died in 2008. We never got to meet her but she feels like a good friend. She’s our honorary member. When Eileen died she left behind a box containing hundreds of patchwork hexagons. They were intended for a quilt that, despite all her careful preparation, she never completed. The hexagons were donated to us following her death. We picked up where she left off, finishing the quilt in her memory. Despite the grand scale of the completed piece there were ample hexagons left over. We set them to one side and waited for inspiration to strike.
We have many discussions at The Well @ Lent Rise on a Wednesday morning. Sometimes we talk about the little things but often we wonder how to tackle the bigger problems of the world. We came across a TED Talk by Marianne Gee that broaches this very subject.
Marianne keeps bees. In her talk she explains how a worker bee born in the summer will live for only six weeks and produce just 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her short lifetime. At first Marianne was overwhelmed by the insignificance of this amount but then she realised that, from the bee’s point of view, it is anything but minimal. When all the bees work together they stockpile enough honey to sustain the hive through the winter. It doesn’t matter that our worker bee’s contribution is small or that she won’t get to benefit from her efforts. She has played her part and she has helped create something important and wonderful.
Like Marianne, we were fascinated by this concept. We wanted to make something to convey the message of the bees. Enter Eileen’s hexagons! They leant themselves beautifully to the formation of a beehive. A wall hanging was designed and needles were threaded. We split the project into several pieces and, like the bees, found we quickly made an impact.
The number of hexagons used in this piece is just a fraction of the leftovers. We still have several hundred to spare! It turns out Eileen was a true worker bee and her hexagons will sustain us through many winters to come. We don’t suppose she imagined the impact her little bit of sewing would have.
In line with this, the main message of both the talk and the wall hanging is:
“Keep making honey. Your 1/12th of a teaspoon counts.”
Do watch the talk if you have a few minutes. The bees have a lot more to teach us! You can find it online by visiting https://ideas.ted.com/if-you-want-to-tackle-big-problems-try-thinking-like-a-bee/ or searching for “TED Talk Marianne Gee”.
We decided to make this piece for St. Mary’s Church as this was the origin of The Meeting Place @ The Well, without which our little colony may never have come together.
With all good wishes,
The Well Stitchers, The Meeting Place, The Well @ Lent Rise
So, what about our initial question? “What can we do as individuals?” Instead of thinking, “Not much,” I hope you now think, “A lot. Anything. Everything.” Even if we only do a little bit, that little bit is hugely important, especially when it’s shared with other people. I’m not naive enough to mistake this for an action plan. I know it’s not a step by step guide to tackle the injustices of the world, racial or otherwise. It’s just an ethos, but it’s an ethos that we need. An ethos we can build on, together. “What can we do as individuals?” Simply, "Be more bee".