Connecting people with a XL stitching tour in Landkreis Leer

Together we created the biggest cross stitch of Germany

To ensure everyone in the region could contribute to the XL art work, the project encompassed a “stitching tour”, visiting 13 locations in 12 communities in Landkreis Leer, a water-rich region in northwest Germany.

Amongst other, we were in the Lebenshilfe studio, community centers, museums, town halls, a shooting club, the foyer of a savings bank and a clinic for addicts. Everyone was welcome to join.

The panorama is made with 13 panels totaling to a 12 meter long work of art.

283 people participated, including 3 mayors

With 283 participants from all walks of life, young and old, newcomers or people born and raised in the area, we created a XL cross stitch panorama capturing Landkreis Leer.

We even had 3 mayors joining:

• Christoph Busboom in Jümme
• Heinz Trauernicht in Uplengen
• Uwe Themann in Hesel

It was heart-warming to see that we could reproduce the big success of the XL stitching project in Amsterdam in a totally different setting.

Everybody embroiders along. The XL project demonstrates how making art together encourages people to step out of their bubble and connect.

No stitching experience is needed, making it possible for everyone to join.

We had so many enthusiastic people joining that we added another screen to the panorama. Initially we only had 12 screens planned, but they were getting stitched quicker than anticipated :-D. So, we added Schloss Evenburg to enable even more people to join.

We work in pairs, one is the boss, the other needs to listen.

We work in pairs. One person is the boss, sitting at the front to keep the overview. The person on the other side of the mesh must follow the instructions. So, it’s an exercise in communication. It leads to great conversations, sometimes some bickering, but above all a lot of fun.

The story of the panorama

Artist Gerda Leeffers went to visit the region to understand what story she wanted to highlight about Landkreis Leer. During her visit she noticed the friendliness of the people she met, the water-rich diverse landscape, and the tea drinking culture. Did you know that in Ostfriesland they consume the highest number of liters of tea per person per year in the world? There is also a strong sense of community in the area. New neighbors are often welcomed with cake, drinks and an arch in the garden. Inspired by the warmth she experienced during her visit, Gerda started sketching an outline for a huge panorama.

The panorama begins with a teapot pouring friendliness through the landscape, symbolizing connection and community. The other 12 screens display highlights from the landscape with amongst other the lighthouse and boat from Borkum, bridge of Rhauderfehn, the rathaus of Leer, and the mill of Moormerland.

For the color palette Gerda used 13 colors. One for each of the 12 municipalities in Landkreis Leer. And one extra for the visitor, symbolizing the welcoming culture.

Her testing team then cross stitched a scaled version of the design to bring with us on the stitching tour.

The work travelled to Brussels

Two of the 13 screens from our panorama were displayed in Mental Health Europe’s exposition “Threads of Being” in the diplomatic heart of Brussels. The mental health and community art exhibition was sponsored by a.o. the European Union and attracted leaders, policy-makers and art lovers to explore the intersection of mental health and arts.

The inclusive and open nature of our XL cross stitch project was shared as an example community project to help people to connect with others and to step out of their bubble.

The panorama is now on display in Schloss Evenburg in Leer.

From the 20th of March 2025 you can see the full panorama in the biggest room of the slot.

Evenburg Schloss is open daily between 10 and 18 hour.

You can find more information about the slot at their website.

Many people followed the stitching process

Our stitching tour was highlighted in the local papers “Ostfriesenzeitung”, “Rheiderland Zeitung” and “Borkum aktuell”  and we were interviewed on radio “FFN”.

On Instagram already 100.000 accounts watched one or more videos from our stitching tour. It is so nice to see that we can spread a bit of happiness with the world.

A big thanks!

We had so much joy creating together. I couldn’t have achieved that by myself. Making joy is what we do together. And we had lots of joy. Thanks!

• Thanks to all the 283 people that helped stitching. Every single one of you helped us to create this beautiful piece of art.
• Thanks to the countless number of people cheering for us on the street and for people online.
• Thanks to Birgit and the team from Schloss Evenburg, for inviting us to come to Landkreis Leer, for the enthusiastic support and the professional organization of the tour. Thanks Birgit, for being such a wonderful person to work with.
• Thanks to Conrad for all the logistics behind the scenes. Ensuring we had a bed to sleep in and food arranged.
• Thanks to Fenna, Reinhild and Jasmin for your help during countless days with small and big tasks.
• Thanks to Joachim, Jasper, Christian and Eric for driving us around Landkreis Leer and carefully moving our work in progress screens.
• Thanks to the local hosts in the 13 locations visited, you welcomed us with warmth, people and many home baked cakes. Marianne, Fenna, Vanessa, Maria, Else, Lea and Gezina. We’re so thankful for all of your help.
• Thanks to Marion from the Volkshochschule who pointed out Birgit to our XL Stitching project in Amsterdam.
• Thanks to VHS Leer for helping us with the sign-up forms.
• Thanks to the team of Frisia for creating the display frames.
• Thanks to Dieneke, my right hand for joining me on this crazy stitching tour.
• Thanks to Saskia, Nobel and Ellen for all of your help behind the scenes in Amsterdam.
• Thanks to Loret Karman for helping me select the friendly color palette.
• Thanks for my family for cheering all the way. An even bigger thanks to my sweet husband and son. I could not be here without your support.

A big big thanks for the wonderful experience! Crossing fingers we’ll have the chance to organize another tour.

Gerda

Interested in a XL cross stitch project at your location?

We would love to bring our XL embroidery community concept to your location to connect even more people. Whether you’re looking for a community project in a town or as a team building activity in a company or organisation. We love it.

We’re flexible to think about design, size, project management etc. together with you It can be a huge community project like you’re looking at here, or a smaller project that fits in your space.

Please contact us to discuss and to learn how you can hire us to help.