The Green Stitch: knitting community together
The Green Stitch: Knitting Community Together ran from September 2020 to June 2021. The program was made possible through the Community Grant of The Rhode Island Foundation. The program was conceived and executed by Hera Gallery Educational Foundation in collaboration with The Rhode Island Natural History Survey and Save the Bay RI. The monthly environmental presentations by local agencies as well as the corresponding crafts will continue to be available for the public on our website.
June 2021: Jeanine Silversmith and The Ripple Effect
When it comes to environmental issues and climate change, we can often feel hopeless and ineffectual. Do our individual actions really matter? How can we help bring about big, systemic changes? Come discuss how time in nature and your crafting (is that a word?) can actually help make a real and significant difference for the Earth.
Jeanine Silversmith is the first-ever executive director of the Rhode Island Environmental Education Association (RIEEA). Having previously served the organization for over eight years in a variety of roles, Jeanine’s collaborative leadership approach and attention to detail has helped RIEEA build its capacity and advance its mission and vision. Since Jeanine first started in 2012, RIEEA has significantly increased its membership, program offerings, fund development, and annual budget.
Jeanine has a background in both formal and informal education, starting her career as a classroom science and math teacher at the middle and high school level, and then managing the Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo’s award-winning Girls for Planet Earth program. In 2010, she founded RI Families in Nature, a family hiking club, and published The Rhode Island Family Hiking Guide and Journal in 2015.
May 2021: David Gregg: Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my! Measuring biodiversity in Rhode Island is harder than you think.
How many species live in downtown Wakefield? Even if there was just one answer, it would be surprisingly hard to arrive at. Naturalist David Gregg will lead a walk around Saugatucket Park to see what evidence of biodiversity we can find using different techniques for discovery and observation...nets, binoculars, microscopes, traps, sieves, and our old-fashioned 5 senses. Then we'll talk about different ways scientists define and count biodiversity.
David Gregg has been director of the Rhode Island Natural History Survey, a nonprofit group that documents biodiversity, since 2004. David holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Brown University but has been an amateur naturalist since childhood, with particular interests in insects. David has hosted documentary videos, published on unconventional curriculum, archaeology, and environmental management, and taught museum studies. David is a board member of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association and on the Collection Committee of the Rhode Island Historical Society. He works hands-on with land stewardship issues on Cape Cod and on his old farm in Wakefield, beside the banks of the Saugatucket River.
May 2021: Rhode Island’s Biodiversity
In conjunction with our speaker, David Gregg of The Rhode Island Natural History Survey, we used counting skills to learn the basics of weaving to make a bracelet or bookmark.
April 2021: The River Herring Migration
April Speakers: Bill McCusker from Friends of the Saugatucket and Paul Chappin from the River Herring Collective
Download Green Stitch Craft directions and template below!
March 2021: Salt Marshes and Stitching Denim Patches
March 13th Speaker: David Prescott, South County Coastkeeper for Save The Bay
Saturday, March 13th The Green Stitch is proud to present David Prescott as our guest speaker at East Matunuck State Beach.
David Prescott serves as the South County Coastkeeper for Save The Bay’s South Coast Center in Westerly, RI. As the Coastkeeper, he provides a visible on-the-water presence and works in the local communities on environmental issues along the southern coast of Rhode Island. In this role, he focuses on water quality testing and analysis, stormwater mitigation projects, coastal development review, pollution response, climate change impacts, and habitat restoration and adaptation. Dave has over 20 years of coastal environmental protection, conservation, and outreach experience.
March Project: Stitching Denim Patches (in the Sashiko style)
In conjunction with our speaker, David Prescott of Save The Bay on March 13th, we’ll be stitching (in the sashiko style) denim patches reflective of the colors of our beautiful salt marshes and seascapes this month.
—> DOWNLOADABLE PROJECT PDF
February 2021 Project: Make Your Own Up-cycled Mittens
February Project: Sustainable Mittens and Gifts from Used Clothing
February 20th Speaker: Reed McLaren of The Sustainable Garment
In conjunction with our speaker, Reed McLaren of The Sustainable Garment on February 27th, we’ll be making mittens and gifts from used clothing for Valentine’s Day.
—> DOWNLOADABLE PROJECT PDF
February 2021:The Art of Garment Grooming
February Project: Sweater Care and Repair with DIY sweater comb and Needle Felting
February 20th Speaker: Reed McLaren of The Sustainable Garment
Read McLaren of The Sustainable Garment joins The Green Stitch to share her passion for sustainable clothing care. Explore long-forgotten grooming tools and techniques that help us breathe new life into garments and hold on to them for years to come. Thrift lovers will especially enjoy learning how to transform those affordable finds into pieces worth cherishing.
The visual artist turned textile enthusiast Reed McLaren’s deep affection for natural materials has led her to uncover the lost arts of garment grooming and clothing care. Through the research of historical tools and techniques, she explores all aspects of how these once necessary practices can guide us toward a more sustainable modern age.
For more information visit her website www.thesustainablegarment.com or reach out to her directly at reedmclaren@thesustainablegarment.com
January 2021: TRACKS AND TRAILS BELOW THE SNOW
January Project: Paw Print Baby Blanket Squares
January 30th Speakers: Mary Gannon and Gabby DeMeillon
In conjunction with our January speakers from RI’s Division of Fish and Wildlife we’ll be
making baby blanket squares focusing on hand stitching and reverse appliqué.
—> DOWNLOADABLE PROJECT PDF
*Click images above for a downloadable/printable version of our patterns
DECEMBER 2020: RECYCLED HOLIDAY WRAPPING
DECEMBER PROJECT: HANDMADE PRINTED/PAINTED HOLIDAY GIFT WRAPPING
( Materials available for pick up at Hera! )
DECEMBER 12th Speaker: SARAH SWIFT Hera Gallery Director/The Green Stitch Coordinator
“Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week! If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.” -Stanford.edu
NOVEMBER 2020 : NATURAL BUFFERS
NOVEMBER PROJECT: NATURAL BUFFER “ACTIVIST BANNER” SQUARES ( Materials available for pick up at Hera! )
-> DOWNLOADABLE PROJECT PDF
We will be stitching, drawing, painting, fabric banner squares that will be attached together to be displayed for the community. This banner will have text and images teaching about Natural Buffers and there importance in protecting our natural environment in South County!
November 7th Speaker: KATE MCPHERSON, Narragansett Bay Riverkeeper/ Save The Bay
Kate will be talking about "Natural Buffers" in the local South County environment. This outdoor talk on local Natural Buffers in RI will teach “what IS a Natural Buffer, and how can we a improve our landscaping at home to promote the natural environment and protect from chemicals and pollutants.
OCTOBER 2020 : MUSHROOMS
OCTOBER PROJECT: SEWN FELT MUSHROOMS ( Materials available for pick up at Hera! )
-> DOWNLOADABLE PROJECT PDF
“Collecting wild mushrooms is a traditional family activity in many cultures. The most common wild gathered mushrooms in Rhode Island are varieties known as honey mushrooms and chicken of the woods. The most important steps when gathering wild mushrooms are to either go with someone who is experienced in identifying mushrooms, and/or consult reliable publications” (-DEM-RI)
REMEMBER - if you have ANY DOUBT about what kind of mushroom you are harvesting: DO NOT EAT IT!
October 10th Speaker: Ryan T. Bouchard and Emily Schmidt From the Mushroom Hunting Foundation
https://mushroomhunting.org/
* Ryan T. Bouchard is the author of Gourmet Mushrooms of Rhode Island, the first book about mushroom hunting in the Ocean State. Graphically designed by Ryan, this work was actually an innovative combination of book and calendar, showing the annual progression of mushroom seasons, and introducing Rhode Islanders to some astonishing resident life forms. The new 2019 edition has been redesigned for a wider audience, and is now titled Gourmet Mushrooms of the Northeast. It includes many brand new sections, created with more of Ryan’s colorful photography.
Emily Schmidt studies the health and nutritional values of our local mushrooms, the many incredible ways they can be cooked, their craft uses in different cultures, and even the new technological uses of fungi, which include decontaminating polluted soil. Emily’s passion for ecological awareness and creative cooking has reached over a thousand students in only a short period of time.
SEPTEMBER 2020 : Seeding
SEPTEMBER PROJECT: HAND SEWN SEED BAGS ( Materials available for pick up at Hera! )
-> DOWNLOADABLE PROJECT PDF
*this is a great supplemental video of how to sew a simple drawstring bag : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XM04v71-WY
We think of spring as “Seed Time” but every late summer/early fall, nature NATURALLY reseeds itself!
Septmeber 26th Speaker: Hope Leeson - Seed walk around Saugatucket Park
"For the last 35 years I have worked as a field botanist, with most of those years spent determining where wetland systems begin and end, looking for rare and uncommon native plants, as well as those that are considered non-native and invasive. Since 2009, as coordinator of the Rhode Island Natural History Survey's Rhody Native initiative, my work has focused on the collection of native plant seed from wild populations, and propagating plants from that seed for the purposes of diversifying existing plant communities and habitat restoration. For much of the same time, I have also enjoyed teaching field botany and plant ecology classes for the New England based Native Plant Trust, the University of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island School of Design. My own education involved a mix of science and art. I hold a bachelor's degree from Brown University, where I majored in painting with additional concentration in environmental sciences. I frequently present talks on native plants and seed collection techniques at local and regional conferences and lead local plant identification walks."
THE GREEN STITCH IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A COMMUNITY GRANT FROM THE RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION,
AND WITH COLLABORATIVE HELP FROM THE LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS BELOW
