Caroline… Mother Teacher Singer Grandma Daughter Gardener Friend Worrier Warrior

She is helpful and looks after me with care, I love her with my whole heart.

Kylie was my teacher during a difficult time. She listened and supported me in every way she could and I am thankful for that.

My grandmother Lorna. I can still hear her from the back door of my childhood home - ‘yoo-hoo’, announcing her arrival. I wish she didn’t leave so early.

Maria, is my yai yai and the strongest and most generous person I know. I love her so deeply.

My mother Judy made clothes for her entire family of seven. She also made the first ugg boots in the Great Southern of WA in the 1970s. After a while she opened a craft outlet on our farm where she provided an outlet for farming community individuals wishing to diversify and sell their woodturnings, leather goods, ceramics and other hand made items. She was very concerned to eliminate exploitation of small producers by large corporations, and almost singlehandedly, spearheaded the rise of the craft industry in the Great Southern as well as contributing to its success as a community based enterprise since then.

“Her name was Catherine. But to her quilting friends she was Cathy. She hated being called Catherine but she loved quilting so much she let them call her Cathy. She was a fighter. She stood up for her gay daughter and partner and their son. She stood up for herself. She fought for a happy life. She wanted to bring joy to others. She did it with empathy and connection with everyone she met. And she taught me to be a mother. When cancer entered her life, eventually taking her, she continued to fight and find connection and listen and give advice and smile and laugh”

Elisabeth Llewellyn, my maternal grandmother migrated on her own with a 2 year old and a five year old (my mother) from Wales to Melbourne in 1912. She was illiterate and I have always admired her fortitute and strength and how she must have coped on the 8 week journey to join her husband who had been in Australia for 12 months looking for work. She lost contact with the family in Wales as she was unable to answer their letters. She must have felt abandoned. 
 

Maureen is my Mum, who has supported my creative life for my whole life. 

Lucy is my 4 year old neighbour.

She has been enduring treatment for Ewing’s Sarcoma yet still manages to play enthusistically with her siblings and friends, always dressed in fabulous, sparkly, vibrant outfits (with matching headgear.)

I hope she grows into a strong, resilient woman and has a life filled with joy and meaning.

Anne Eleanor McCahon nee Hamblett, 1915 – 1993.

My mother’s life has been a source of speculation for years.

 “How come  she gave up her briliant, early career as an artist to marry Colin McCahon? “

“How could she give up her art to support Colin with his?” 

Many people thought her work was much better than his.

I asked her these questions.  She said because she ‘”had nothing to say” .

She saw Colin ‘s work as important,  he had a lot to say.

In the late1970s Anne tried her hand at painting again but she was saddened to find she had lost her flair.

Being Colin’s wife was not an easy pathway to follow and she never faltered  until after his death. She had become frail and had developed diabetes.

I pondered how to make a patch for my mother and it occurred to me that I should make her name in big letters and drop it into the middle of a Central Otago landscape.

This was the place she delighted in visiting and I commemmorate her here as the vibrant  young artist out tramping with friends, sketching and painting, baking cakes for picnics and setting up an all women painters studio in Dunedin with her friends.

Fifi L’Amour: fearless, rebellious, brilliant, curious, warm, creative, empathetic, untamed, revolutionary, sister.

Concettina is my mother. She is 93 years of age and is in an aged care facility with dementia. She grew up in Italy during World War 2. She was a dressmaker, and she would sew beautiful dresses for the ladies of her town. When the circus would come to town, they would employ her services for the intricate work that went into their costumes. She, like many others of her generation, migrated to Australia, and left all her family behind. She did continue to sew, but only for her husbands family. Her life was dedicated to bringing up her children and caring for her husband. She was lucky enough to see her grandchildren grow, but unfortunately with her dementia, was not able to see them get married and start a life of their own. Love you mum, and am grateful for your sacrifices.

Rosina was my Mother In Law. She migrated to Australia from Italy in the 1950’s as a proxy bride. She always said that , she was lucky enough to have married a man who loved and cared for her. She in turn, loved and cared for him. As a Mother and Wife, she was selfless. Her family was what she lived for, but sadly, she was taken from us at the age of 68. She did not get the chance to see her Grandchildren grow into the wonderful human beings, that she would have been so proud of. We all love and miss you Rosina.

The woman who inspired my work was my Grandmother. And surrogate mother. She was my fiercest protector. She was my person.

It was inspired by my Grandmother Elizabeth (Bess), she was an amazing Geordie woman who came to Australia for a new life. She gave me a safe place to be myself. She taught me craft and gave me love, Kit Kats and warmth at a time where my home was not safe. She was brave and funny and kind. She loved a sherry and a cigarette. She loved me.

Nanette was the matriarch and founder of the NCIDG. She was our teacher, an interior designer, mentor and a passionate advocate for art, design and architecture in the community. This patch is on a special aztec scarf belonging to Nanette. Yves Klein blue was one of her signature colours and her name has been stitched in magenta pink- the Pantone colour of 2023. Nanette Cameron 27 September 1927-13 April 2023

Of beauty and inspiration.

This patch was made for my friend Vera Mey on the day she was awarded her doctorate. The pattern is based on Batak weaving from Indonesia.

Toomraya is a full name of my mother. it is a Thai name which mean chandelier.

I choose my Mum Doris in honour of her creative and giving nature which manifested in our joint Amah Bag Cross stitch project. Cross stitch being her favourite craft medium.

Because Keri is kinda family and she really supports me and she showed me how to sew on a sewing machine.

Kate is her name. Although she was Katie 1 to so many as no other could sprinkle such magic the way she did.
Kindness. Strength. Charisma.
She has left us broken hearted but her radiance lives on.
Head of a saint.
Heart of a warrior.
Life of the party.
RIP 22.2.22