Thank-you for your interest in contributing to this community quilt project. The aim is to create a quilt of 580 stitched hearts as a means of channeling our collective grief and hope for a permanent ceasefire and lasting peace for the people of Palestine.

Why 580 hearts?

In early December 2023, footage circulated on Instagram of a Palestinian woman cradling her baby boy who had been killed during an Israeli airstrike, while uttering the words that she had needed 580 needles to have her (only) son. Given my own struggle to have a child, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about this woman and the pain and grief she must be feeling every day. Later that month, I picked up a sewing needle and embroidered a heart on a scrap piece of fabric as a means of channeling my grief for her and her beautiful baby boy. I then posted this image to Instagram, with the idea of creating a quilt and an open invitation to others who would like to contribute to its creation.

As of 12 February 2024, I have received 446 hearts.

Stitching instructions:

Feel free to use any 3” x 3” remnant woven fabric (or trim down to that size after stitching) and any embroidery stitch style you like (back stitch, cross stitch, chain etc) in either red, green, white or black thread. The measurement above includes 0.5” seam allowance.

Please contact me via my Instagram account (@jemolsen) for delivery address or to arrange collection.

All contributions are most welcome, be it one heart, two or more!

Projected timelines:

Jan - Mar 2024: Submission of heart squares
Apr - Jun 2024: Quilt design mock-ups
July - Sep 2024: Stitching of final quilt
Oct - Dec 2024: Final display and delivery to Palestine (or Palestinian organisation in Australia)