Sandie Bero

‘This is a piece I did in memory of my parents. The left side, I stitched while sitting with my mom after daddy passed. I saved the right side and worked on it while sitting with her again in her illness before she had to go into memory care.’

‘The finishing touches were put on after she passed. In the weeks before she passed, the last two visits were precious as she was completely lucid and understood that we loved her and would ‘see her again soon’. To her, that meant another visit soon, we knew it was the last goodbye on earth – but we know we will see them again in heaven.’

‘I love the verse- it was one of the first things I saw after we’d gotten the news of Daddy’s passing, and it signifies hope. This is truly a grief recovery piece.’

Sandie, this is a beautiful and incredibly moving tribute to your parents. We love the composition of the design and your cherry blossoms are delightful. We can see the love that has gone into each stitch, thank you for sharing it with us.

Bunny Goodman

‘My latest project is an improvisational piece embroidered on hand-dyed Dupioni Silk fabric. I just wanted to play around and have fun.’

‘I used a variety of threads from Access Commodities Trebizond Silk, Rainbow Gallery Overture and Encore cotton floss and Neon Rays Ribbon, Appletons Crewel Yarn. I also incorporated two kinds of kid leather in the hill/mounds.’

‘I used all kinds of embroidery stitches; Portuguese Stem Stitch, Chain Stitch, Spiny Chain Stitch, Detached Chain Stitch, French Knots, Colonial Knots, Ribbed Spider Web, Long and Short Stitch, Feather Stitch and Fly Stitch.

Of course, the beads all jumped out of their drawers, and we all had a party before cleanup.

The cat is my Turkey cat (who appeared on our doorstep on Thanksgiving in 2019 hence the name Turkey). She is a Bengal cat and has the greenest eyes.’

‘I made the finished project into a decorative couch cushion (I’m running out of walls to hang embroidered pictures from).’

Bunny, your improvisational cushion is a delightfully vibrant piece with beautiful sentimental touches. This project is a great way to save on wall space and showcase the vast array of needlework techniques you have mastered while at the same time creating a truly artistic addition for your home. Also, we love the name Turkey, she sounds like a wonderful companion!

Joan Clark

‘I have made these two banners from copying original Victorian banners that were falling to pieces: St. Joseph and Mary. There’s a mix of hand embroidery, appliqué and machine embroidery. The machine embroidery I digitised, stitched out and then sewed every piece on by hand.

There are approximately 120 embroideries on each banner. From start to finish they took me 14 months to make.

My sister-in-law printed out the faces, hands and feet for me as I find those elements particularly difficult to create by stitch.’

‘It was certainly a labour of love, and I lost a great deal of sleep working out how I was going to create them, but I’m pleased with the end result. I wonder if these will last 100 years!’

Joan, your dedication to restoring these important artefacts is awe-inspiring! You have done a remarkable job, the finished banners look incredibly striking and no doubt were a welcome replacement to the originals. Congratulations.

Have you stitched a design in memory of a loved one? Do you enjoy creating improvisational pieces? Or have you embarked on your own restoration project?

Whatever you are stitching, we’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com