“June 2025 Update"

Greetings, Everyone!

Happy June! I hope you are all keeping well and healthy. It amazes me how quickly the time has flown by this spring. While no doubt stitching is keeping everyone busy, be sure to enjoy the beautiful weather while you can!

What's New?

Exhibition Preparation

I have begun to reach out to potential welders & woodworkers who could produce 13 freestanding embroidery frames for the exhibition. The aim is to allow visitors to view the embroidery from a 360 degree perspective. The design will resemble the mockup below.

In venues where floorspace is at a premium, the 13 panels will be wall hung. Accompanying each panel will be a written description of the history depicted in the design along with documentation of the embroidery techniques utilized, embroiderers involved, and artist biographies.

In the upcoming months, I plan to share a tentative exhibition schedule for America’s Tapestry. I hope that by the conclusion of 2028, the 13 panels will have exhibited in each of the participating states. As of now, we have full commitment from venues in 7 states.

In the Press

Made By Us is a national coalition of hundreds of American museums and civic organizations dedicated to connecting young adults with history & civics education. They have invited me to talk about America’s Tapestry in their “Gen-Z at 250” series. Read the article on Medium and watch the interview here on Youtube.

I have also been invited to speak on the popular needlework podcast “Fiber Talk.” Be sure to look out for my conversation with host Gary Parr later this month!

Stitching Spotlight

The Pennsylvania tapestry panel had their inaugural stitching session this past week at the Glenshaw Public Library, led by Raven Fagelson & Mary Van Tyne. What an excellent first day of work, ladies!

Funding Update

I am thrilled to share that Seton Hill University has allocated $20,000 for the continuation of America’s Tapestry. I could not be more grateful for the university’s generosity and unwavering belief in the project. This funding will be used to ensure the project’s completion and exhibition.

We are still awaiting news on our funding application from the PA250 Commission as well as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). We have applied for next year’s round of NEA funding in the hopes that one of our two applications will be successful. Given the incredible progress the Tapestry has made in the past year, our application is stronger than ever.

Chocolate Making as a Patriotic Act?

This month we are highlighting the state of Massachusetts, where the tasty practice of chocolate making takes center stage.

During the American Revolution, chocolate production became both a practical necessity and a sign of allegiance to the Revolution. As tea became politically charged following the Boston Tea Party and subsequent British taxes, colonists increasingly turned to chocolate as a substitute beverage, which was considered the American alternative to British tea.

In the Massachusetts Panel, Boston merchant and chocolate maker Caleb Davis tends to his storefront while an enslaved man grinds chocolate on a matate, a stone used for grinding grain and seeds. Davis was a member of the Sons of Liberty & the Boston Committee of Correspondence, and eventually nominated as an elector for Suffolk County in the first presidential election.

Enslaved labor played a critical role in the success of chocolate making, as many young men were trained to grind chocolate and as a result, ran away in attempts to work as paid skilled chocolate makers.

What’s Next?

We hope the Tapestry will gain increasing media attention this summer as our stitchers begin to work at historic sites across the original 13 states. I will be sure to share any coverage in our future newsletters!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and happy stitching!