Have Your Say

This week’s Have Your Say is wrapping up the responses from conversations past that we’re yet to share with you.

Brenda Scarr

*‘Your article on the changing seasons of life in issue #188 of the newsletter HERE*is so insightful and enlightening. I am in that glorious season where you may stitch to your heart’s content which helps to mitigate the discomforts of aging. Each season is a double-edged sword with its pros and cons, so through our needlework we must navigate both calm and stormy waters to create memorable seasons of our lives.’

Dawn Bagnetto

‘My three words for 2019 have been joy, joy, joy! I stitch for the sheer pleasure of the process. Learning new techniques has always been my goal and if a piece makes my heart sing, off I go on another adventure into the unknown! Sometimes I don’t finish a project, but I can always say I tried. Sometimes I gift my pieces to ones who admire my work and other times I finish them for my own enjoyment.’

‘One thing I always do is to communicate with the designer about my journey. I will send photos or comment on a Facebook post to the artist and I find that they truly appreciate the feedback and always respond with a kind word or praise. Designing is not easy – I’ve tried! – and I believe everyone needs acknowledgement of their talent, especially those who make my life so easy by offering such lovely kits and charts that are widely available to us all. Thank you, Inspirations, for keeping my needle flying!’

Jenni Davill

After sharing Rhonda Bergin’s family link to a sewing kit from WWII in issue #188 of the newsletter HERE, we heard from Jenni who has her own family history with Milne Bay.

‘I don’t know about the sewing kit, but I’d heard about Milne Bay from my father. He sent a postcard home to his family in Inverell during WWII and of course couldn’t say where he was stationed but did mention the baker’s horse. The baker’s name was Milne and his horse was a bay mare. The family then knew where he was!’

Joan MacKinnon

Some time ago we heard from Joan about an inspirational article on the benefits of stitching. Joan, we’re sorry it’s taken us so long to get around to sharing this, but we know the timeless nature of stitching makes it as relevant today as the day it was published!

‘I greatly enjoy the Inspirations Newsletter and love seeing what people around the world are making. I am writing today after reading an article in this morning’s Toronto Globe and Mail about soldiers recovering from injuries in World War I. They were encouraged to learn to embroider and created an altar frontal piece for St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The embroidery helped the soldiers improve the use of their hands and soothed their minds after the torment of war. The completed tapestry, pictured in the article, is absolutely gorgeous. However, during World War II, the tapestry was stored away and forgotten about until it was rediscovered in 2004. It has now been restored and is in a display case near the front of the cathedral.’

The World War I altar frontal on display at St Paul’s Cathedral from 2014-2018.

You can read more about this remarkable project HERE.