I have embroidered this patch in memory of my mother Isabel Haggitt. She was a very intelligent, creative woman. The obstacles she overcame in her early adult life taught me that with enough will you can do anything. She taught me to sew and believed in me being an artist.

Sook Hee is my mum’s name. She was an amazing dressmaker and owned her own wedding dress shop for over 15 years. At work I’d often find her out the back, glasses below the bridge of her nose, delicately beading the busts of heavy white dresses. When I was about eight, she bought a cross-stitch kit that had lots of colourful designs of bears in various scenes. We sat on her bed and she taught me how to do it. I kept the thread from this kit and used some of it for this embroidery. A needle and thread will always remind me of mum.

This is for my grandmother Rita May Eastgate. She had real KAPOW!

Philippa is my mother and she has and continues to inspire me with her creativity.

My tangata Rongonui is Tanya Filia. Tanya’s whakapapa on her fathers side is Ngai Tahu and on her mothers Ngā Puhi (Ngati Hau + Ngati Kaharau). She grew up in Manurewa, and later went to Auckland Teachers College. Her whanau on her mother’s side are from Waima and Ōmanaia in the Hokianga. The whole family now live back in the Hokianga. Following the passing of her grandfather Tanya took on the role of uplifting her marae, Ōmanaia Marae, to honour him. She became a marae trustee, and has been the driver behind endless fundraising leading to long overdue building projects (a work in progress). Through all this she has had to cope with major illness that would cripple the resolve of a normal person. She is my friend, and one of the strongest and most positive people that I know. It is a privilege to have her in my life.

Dr. Harvette Grey is retired to Carbondale, Illinois from Chicago where she was most recently the director of the DuPaul University Cultural Center and formally the president of the Chicago chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists. I am so blessed to call her a friend, she is without doubt the most admirable person I know, she is an incredibly caring and inclusive person and the work she has done in her career as a social psychologist has benefited so many people.

The name I’ve embroidered is Wendy. She was a Matron in Accident and Emergency at The Royal London Hospital where I trained as a registered nurse in the late 1980’s. Wendy was a great nurse and fabulous teacher and a wonderful role model. She was also very calm, brave and compassionate and was honoured for her front line role during the Moorgate tube disaster. Although she died a few years ago I have been reminded of her courage while reading other stories of service to the public during the current covid crisis.

Jennida Chase is media studies professor at University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA. She and her husband, Hassan Pitts, form the collective S/N. Foremost, she is my friend. She was a professor at Southern Illinois University when I was there doing my MFA in glass sculpture, her friendship and ferocious advocacy for artists got me through many a difficult time, and I’m sure for many others. She is an artist, a friend, a partner, and an amazing mother.

Patricia Evelyn Dufty was my grandmother who taught me to sew and craft as a very young boy, this was a profound act of acceptance in the 1970s. I wanted to learn and she taught me regardless of what anyone else thought. This is a hand dyed doily that was hers, sewn onto one of her fancy napkins. She's been constantly in my heart lately as I've enjoyed practicing the skills she gave me all those years ago.

Litsa is my mum’s name. I have chosen to write it with the traditional Greek font. Mum taught me how to sew my own clothes and embroider, though I never mastered the latter. Mum was a powerhouse growing up, cooking, cleaning, making all our clothes, and being the primary bread winner too. She was also there for me as I studied in late hours through the night. Her journey was always a labour of love for her family.

For my mother Dawn whose inner light shone bright as a daughter,sister,wife, mother, grandmother , great grandmother , friend and citizen of Aotearoa. Her name lives on with her granddaughter, Etiennette Dawn and great granddaughter Stella Dawn.

Clare Grant is a fierce, Sydney-based performance artist, and mentor/teacher to many.
She has been a role model for me for over 30 years. I’m honoured to count her as a dear friend.

I am honouring my five fellow inspirational members of my S n B group
(Stitch n Bitch) who for more than 30 years have supported and loved each other from childbirth, to menopause to grandkids; from making 14 collaborative 21st birthday quilts for all our children, to making surprise crafty interventions for each of our 50th and then (some still upcoming) 60th birthdays. Merry making, mirth, mockery and magically mad memories have all been treasured as a result.

TV arrived in our house the year I was born, and growing up, my sister and I never missed the I Love Lucy show.
Lucille Ball was the star and her husband was there purely to act as her sidekick. In those days there weren’t many TV shows where a woman played the title role. She was our flame haired hero. I’ve since learned that she said ’I’m not funny, what I am is brave.’

Shirley was my mother’s name. She definitely never thought of herself as an artist, but she taught me to embroider, sew, and decorate cakes when I was a child. And all of these domestic crafts have had an impact on my subsequent art practice.

There were at least 3 Mary Jerrams in our family so my mother referred to herself as E. Mary - the E from her official first name, Evelyn.  She didn’t particularly enjoy sewing or knitting herself, but nonetheless took the time to teach me basic skills, igniting my life long love of textiles. This is how I remember her signature - I’ve stitched it in threads I found in her sewing table which I now have beside my bed. Some of them probably date back to the 1950s.

Julie is my mother: a woman who loves and cares deeply, who has an insatiable appetite for learning and the tendency to stay up all night reading. In this uncertain world, when I have no idea when I will be able to fly home to see her, every phone call has become precious. I miss her every day.

I have decided to pick out a part of our 3 Chinese names and made it into a new mandarin character. Our names are 贞(grandma), 燕(mum) and 蓉(me) The word I have chosen is 侣 ; The character means companion. The colours used are each of our favourite colour. Though I do not have both of their companionship right now, but the creation of this work makes me feel closer to them.

A Hungarian woman named Agnes is the person I’ve chosen to honour for the Nell + Anne quilt project. Agnes showed me extraordinary kindness one night 30 years ago. I never saw her again but I’ve never forgotten her.

Here’s my contribution to the Nell Anne Quilt project. This is my grandmother’s signature - she was christened Margaret Mercer but always known as Mercer (though she was not fond of her name). She was a delightful grandmother and very creative in her own way. Amongst other things she made at one stage were a series of empty waxed cardboard honey pots to which she stitched old fashioned hairy green baling twine - as children we laughed but I treasure the (somewhat faded) last remaining grandma’s green string pot.

Jessie is my grandmother. From a family of crafty women, she was a member of Titirangi Spinners & Weavers for many years, grazed the sheep, dyed the wool, and spun and wove. So I used wool as my embroidery thread and attempted a back stitch.