As a cross stitcher, I often feel just as familiar with the back of my piece as I do the front. While
working on various cross stitch pieces, I began to appreciate the complex network of threads
that comprised the back of a cross stitch as both a reflection and transformation of the intended
design. With Heart Strings, I wanted to bring this oft-hidden element of a cross stitcher’s work
to the forefront, displaying the front and back of the same design side by side in a mirror image.
The imagery of the anatomical heart was chosen with the intent of drawing comparisons to the
physical action and materials that are needed to create a cross stitch. The repetition of sewing
each stitch onto fabric mimics the rhythmic beating of a heart, and the overlapping strings of the
reversed cross stitch call to mind the delicate tendons that hold the heart together.