Quiet Hearts Is Growing: Over 800 Hearts and Still Room for Yours
Back in February, when we first introduced Quiet Hearts here, the installation existed mostly as an idea with materials around it. Baskets of wool. A growing set of crochet patterns from Sue. Conversations across tables at Meet Ups about what people might like to make and how they might achieve it.
There are now more than 800 hearts.
They fill boxes. They cover tables at the gatherings. They arrive in bags that people bring into Meet Ups after finishing something at home in the evenings. New ones keep appearing week by week, and the collection has grown large enough that it is no longer possible to take it all in at once.
What 800 hearts actually looks like
Earlier in the project, each new addition was noticeable on its own. There were few enough hearts gathered together that you could look across the table and take in most of what was there. That’s no longer the case as we’ve created a sea of quiet hearts…..
When hearts are spread across the tables at a session now, there are crocheted ones beside knitted ones, heart-shaped pom pom beside embroidered ones, bright rainbow colours sitting next to soft greys and creams. Tiny hearts no larger than a 2p coin beside much larger pieces with layers added over time. Some have flowers stitched onto them. Some have tiny faces. Some are inspired by nature. There are black cats. Minnie and Mickey Mouse. Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Minecraft…
Some are carefully crocheted from Sue’s patterns, row by row. Others have been adapted into something else entirely. Some are simply two pieces of felt stitched together around the edge, or yarn wrapped around a piece of cardboard from a toilet roll tube, a dab of glue keeping it heart-shaped. A few people have knitted plain hearts for others to decorate afterwards. There are so many textures and colours combined in ways nobody specifically planned.
There was never a template for what a Quiet Heart should look like or a prescribed way of making them. What has gathered in the collection is more personal. It’s what happens when people are invited to make something in their own way, with whatever they have, at whatever pace feels right for them.
What the gatherings have been like
Sue has been at several Meet Ups over the past few months, running optional heart-making sessions alongside the usual connections and she’s also held a couple of specific quiet heart-makers sessions in Camborne – with two more to come this month. She has helped people learn crochet for the first time, shown others how to stuff a crocheted heart or cut a pom-pom into shape, talked through yarn choices, and sat quietly alongside people who simply wanted to make something without much guidance. And she’s not done it alone. Sue (yes, a second one) has also be attending and helping people with their creations and has even made some simple felt heart kits as an easy way to get started.
The sessions themselves have stayed fairly simple. Materials spread across tables. People moving seats occasionally. Finished hearts being placed into the collection. Someone looking for scissors.
Some sessions are more talkative than others. Sometimes there’s a lot of chatter around the table. Other times there are long stretches where everyone is focused on what they are doing, and the room settles into the kind of comfortable quiet that anyone reading this will probably recognise.
Nobody is expected to introduce themselves in a particular way or explain what their heart represents. Some people come with a specific crafting skill. Some come because they like the idea of making things alongside other people and heard that anyone can get involved. Some complete several hearts in one sitting and others begin one and finish it at home the following week.
One conversation that has come up repeatedly, in different forms, is the one about not being creative enough. People saying that they have not made anything since school. That they are not sure this is really for them. Then sitting down and making something anyway.
Every heart contributed is part of the collection now. Simple hearts and more detailed pieces sitting side by side. A felt heart cut and stitched carefully by someone who has never sewn before carries something that a technically accomplished piece does not automatically have. The collection is richer for containing both.
What the installation is becoming
At this point the goal of one thousand hearts feels genuinely close. Not like a target being stretched towards, but like something that is going to happen – soon!
The installation is already physically large. Tables covered edge to edge with hearts in different colours, sizes, textures and approaches. When people see it in its final form at HushFest in July, they will see colour and layering and variety. They will not know the individual stories behind each piece. They will not know which hearts were made in five minutes and which took several sessions, which were made by people who crochet regularly and which were made by people who were having a first attempt.
They will simply see what happens when a community of people is invited to contribute something in their own way, in their own time, without being evaluated on the result. That is the thing the installation is showing… That when people feel welcomed rather than assessed, people show up. They make things. They add their story to something they believe is worth being part of.
There is still room for more
If you have been thinking about contributing and keep wondering whether your heart is neat enough or creative enough, it is worth knowing that the collection already contains hearts across the full range of what that could mean. Some are very detailed. Some are very simple. Both kinds are there, and both kinds belong.
You do not need to crochet. You do not need to have made anything recently. You need a small amount of textile material and some willingness to try.
Hearts can be made from felt, fabric scraps, pom poms, wool wrapped around a piece of card, or a simple crochet shape using Sue’s patterns at quietconnections.co.uk/heart-pattern1.
If you would like to make one alongside other people, the Quiet Heart-Makers Gatherings are continuing at Create Contemporary Crafts Hub in Camborne on 16th and 23rd May (sign up here). Plus, heart-making opportunities are also available at many of our Meet Ups and you can always take along your own materials to create with us.
If coming in person is not possible, you are welcome to make your heart at home and post it to us before Friday 5th June at: Quiet Connections, Create Contemporary Crafts Hub, Donald Thomas Centre, Chapel Street Camborne, TR14 8EF
The final installation will be part of HushFest, opening on Saturday 4th July at St Cubert Church, with a secondary exhibition in Camborne. More about HushFest is at quietconnections.co.uk/hushfest.
If you have questions or would like some guidance before you start, you are welcome to get in touch at hello@quietconnections.co.uk.
Find out more and book a place at a gathering at quietconnections.co.uk/quiet-hearts.
