I'm back with some crochet eye-candy for you. I've been making mandalas for a yarn bombing project later this year.
18 Mandalas made so far..... and probably a few more to be done too.
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I am privileged to have taken part in the Suffrage In Stitches project which is currently exhibiting in the Wellington museum for the whole month of August.
The Suffrage In Stitches project has recreated the suffrage petition through fabric, stories and conversations.
546 individual New Zealand makers. An extraordinary textile work reflecting the physical size of the original suffrage petition and celebrating it through stitching the lives of the woman petitioners of 1893 and beyond.
THE FINISHED PIECE is:
- 300m long the length of the original petition
- 546 panels the number of pages in the petition
- 25,521 hand stitches the number of votes in the petition
My panel (pictured below) honours Mary Guy who was one of the pioneer ladies who helped build and create my home town. The trials and hardships that these immigrants to NZ suffered as they cleared the areas of bush and flax to make farms suitable to live on and created wonderful community townships.
I found a kindred spirit in Mary Guy. Her journey to New Zealand was very similar to my own journey here, and she was born in Newport, Wales, which is the next town to where my own mother was born. I have subsequently discovered that Mary Guy is the grandmother of a very good friend of mine.
I hand-painted the background cloth and then stitched the portrait of Mary Guy in black thread with stem stitch.
I designed and cross-stitched the Mount Egmont (Mt Taranaki).
The Embroidered house - 30 Napier Street, Opunake - I recreated in thread from a photo of the original house that Mary and John Guy built.
The Embroidered Methodist Church - I recreated in thread from a photo of the first church to be built in Opunake (by John Guy).
The La Hogue sailing ship - I recreated in thread from a photo.
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The Suffrage In Stitches exhibition will be touring NZ and is already proving to be a very popular exhibition.
That's all for now folks.......
Happy Stitching
Cyra
3 comments:
Nicely done, and very interesting, too! Love those mandalas.
Wow, what a great project about the suffrage. And as usual you outdid yourself.
Great mandalas for the yarnbombing project. I've never seen one so maybe it's not a US thing? I've seen pictures though and it looks like fun!
Beautiful! Love the story behind it and the personal connection there with her.
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