My mother JOAN NISBET (nee Devereux) was a huge inspiration in my life. She achieved so much in her short life of 50 years. Her embroidery was so fine and exquisite. She started a shop in Double Bay called White Ivy - the logo is represented at the end of her name. She helped Italian families immigrate to Australia and she employed women to work and sew. My mother embriodered for the Queen's Coronation. My mother assisted Dr. Alan Sharpe with his groundbreaking Aortic surgery in the late 1950's. She hand made and machined the Aortas while he was operating. I wish we had more time together.

Marika is a strong, beautiful, kind, full of humility and always makes me want to be better. I am privileged to know her, especially to have her as my teacher.

In loving memory of dear friend and mentor Prof. Debra Porch. Through a wave of early 2000's Post-Modernism taught me that silence and tactility were the oceans and that the ordinary was extraordinary

This is for my Nanna. She was barely taller than a fencepost but has the wildest cackling laugh of anyone you've met. She was a compelling story-teller who championed the dramatic pause. She cared for one cat at a time, always a black cat called Sooty that skipped out of night like a ghost. She single handedly raised three daughters while her husband was in the Navy in WWII. We shared the same birthday, so in many ways we were twins, born 50 years apart. Daisy Clara Agnes Stewart - this is for you. xx Ray Monde

Barbro (Asta Barbro Anita Vilen) was my mother, and she had great skills in embroidery, sewing, knitting and handwork generally as well as a fine eye for colour and design. She was born in Sweden where handcrafts and the arts are highly valued, and had first learnt her skills in primary school. We had many items around the house, such as table mats, which she had made when young, but I was in my teens before I discovered this as she took that kind of ability for granted and had never mentioned it. She made many cross-stitch projects as I was growing up, and these nearly always featured plants and flowers, which is why I ornamented my stitching of her name with garden flowers. As a child I liked to sew but did not like it when Barbro offered to show me how to do it “properly”, so I would work it out myself, or ask schoolfriends, and so missed out on acquiring any of those skills which she could have taught me. I now wish I had done! Embroidery, similarly, I grew to love but preferred to work in my own way rather than follow patterns as she did. So she was a fount of knowledge untapped by me, but she did teach me by example a love of beautiful stitching, and was a role model for method and precision I now appreciate much better. We lived and grew in the beauty she created in the house, and in the garden. The older I get the more I realise this was such a gift, and also that we can always learn from and share with others who might have very different ways of making or thinking.

I chose the name “Granny” and I used as my pattern my grandmother’s signature which always had a dot after the name. I’m writing the few sentences that you’ve asked for like this, in a letter on A6 letter paper, because that is how my grandmother Nancy Myfanwy Thomas, wrote to me. I’ve spelled her name Nancy as that is how she spelled it, and how we spelled our first daughter’s middle name, when we gave her the name Nancy after her maternal great grandmother, but she was Nance on the official record. There have been endless family debates about the reasons for the different spellings- we don’t know the answers.
Why ‘Granny.’ And not ‘Nancy’ or ‘Nance’? Granny died in 1980 when I was 22. I only called her Granny and I still think of her as Granny. I’ve thought about whether giving her this generic name in your quilt deprives her of her individuality – rather I think that not calling her Granny in the quilt changes my relationship with her. I’ve chosen Granny because she was such a special person to me, especially in my teenage years and her significance to me was as a grandmother. I want to honour grandmothers everywhere – the place of a grandmother is uniquely important and influential, and unforgettable. After I decided to embroider the name Granny I hunted around my house for the box of her letters I knew I had somewhere – it was quite a hunt before I located a battered box that I brought with me to New Zealand – a pile of handwritten letters Granny wrote to me over a period of about 12 years each one with news of what she’d been doing, responses to what I’d written to her, and the occasional bit of advice or what we’d now call support. I still feel the warmth & security of that relationship; it was a foundation of my teenage & early adulthood years for which I will always be grateful.

Eola De Bortoli is my mother. She was a proud daughter of Italian parents who immigrated to Australia in the 1920s. Sadly she passed away at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic in April 2020 succumbing to metastatic cancer. Mum had an indomitable yet gentle spirit, she exuded warmth, generosity and style. I admired her grace, empathy, intelligence and humour. She loved gardening and did bush regeneration for over 20 years.

The fabric is a satin bedspread which belonged to her mother and the thread is an old Italian Cotone Perle called AIDA which I found in a bag (being migrants they never threw anything away!). The cursive E was part of her signature, when I was young I practised for years trying to perfect that E so I could forge notes to get into or out of events at school!! She taught me many skills, I will miss our yarns while enjoying the Arts together.

My sis-in-law Olive McDonald is 25 years my senior. I was 16 ½ when I hooked up with her little brother Tom. She had 5 babies in 3 ½ years, her last pregnancy was twin boys. We had 4 girls 3 days inside 5 years, a 5-year gap then 2 sons. She was a stay-at-home Mum; I went back to work when my last girl was 13 months. Olive would stand in a news agency and read the recipes + memorise patterns because she couldn’t afford the magazines to buy. I collected art + craft subscriptions. She baked constantly to keep her mob fed. We treated ours to family restaurants. Olive still sews her own clothes, I buy online + locally. She listened to me for hours when I was struggling and always offered a warm hug. She adores her family as do I. Between us we have sent out 11 decent adults unto this crazy world. She was and still is my light at the end of the tunnel! I love her as a mother.

Carol is my precious Mum. If I could think of one word to describe her it is ‘family’. She was a war orphan so didn’t know family until she had us. Then family became her world. She is a master craftswoman. Her patch work quilting is beyond beautiful as is her stitching. I am no stitcher, embroidering her names was my first foray with a needle. She was delighted and proud of my effort. She taught me the meaning of family.

Evelyn is my foster mother and fairy godmother. After WWII, the Daily Mirror put out a request for foster parents for London evacuees of which I was one. I was introduced to a woman who changed my life forever. ‘Aunty Eve’, someone who I could look up to and who guided me through my tender years. I am forever grateful for her love and guidance I received through this difficult time. My beautiful grand daughter is named after her. Evelyn’s light shines on.

Emma is my oldest friend. We were in the same class when we stated school at age five and have been friends ever since. Our lives are very different now, and though we sometimes go long periods without seeing each other, our friendship never lessens

Georgie Sharp - the most amazing and creative woman I have ever known. Our long and illustrious connection spans more than two decades and I am in awe of her capacity as an artist and graciousness as a person.

Mali Isabel - an Indigenous artist and beginning teacher I was fortunate enough to host as a pre-service teacher earlier this year. We spent an incredible 8 weeks together teaching the arts, concluding with a student exhibition in our local gallery. She taught me SO much.

Natalie Castree - a colleague and friend (and she sent me your project link). Despite being a generation apart in age, we share a love of teaching and creating art works, the AFLW, cold beer and a good curry - we make a great team.

Sharron is my friend, colleague and mentor. We met as teachers at the same school and bonded over our mutual love of art, football, and a cold beer. Our friendship only gets stronger despite the geographical distance between us.

Bonnie was a beautiful wife, mother to 3 gorgeous children and the kindest friend who sadly passed away during the Covid19 lockdown. I have chosen to embroider her name in red on a Marist School Uniform as that is how we met, with our children at the same Primary School, and because I think of her as being like Mary. She had a rare strength and was fun, brave, faithful, trustworthy, honest and the most loving Mum.

Jo is my mum. She has travelled the world, kayaked the Murray River, cycled through Europe, and driven all over Australia. She has taught me to honour my commitments and to be myself.

Despite her youth, my daughter Clementine has been a huge influence on my life. The yellow eye symbol is from her favourite video game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I admire and respect her courage, kindness, resilience and creativity. She loves so well.

A patch remembering my grandmother, Velta, who came to Australia in the 1950s from Latvia. The red symbol represents Saule, the sun. As one of the most influential women in my life, Velta was like the sun. Even though she is gone now, her memory still manages to shed warmth and light upon me.

Jordy is my big-hearted, brave polymath of a daughter. Since a toddler, she’s been a maker, creating things and finding ways to show us love. This is how she signed her cards aged 4

This project was started during lockdown 2020. The world was turned (and still is) upside down and in Aotearoa New Zealand we really pulled together as a “team” with a common goal. Jacinda Arden was an incredible Prime Minister, she held us together, kept us informed. Jacinda has empathy, she was not a suit who put people second. Many of us have stitched her name because in this year of turmoil she made us grateful she was steering our country, listening to scientists and through it all her personality shone through. So from those women listed below, we wanted to acknowledge and thank Jacinda.

J stitched by Rae-ann Sinclair - Lake Hawea/Sydney
A stitched by Sophia Smolenski- Wellington
C stitched by Sophia Smolenski- Wellington
I stitched by Liz Hawker - Wanaka
N stitched by Rae-ann Sinclair - Lake Hawea/Sydney
D stitched by Deb Reynolds - Christchurch
A stitched by Isabell Sinclair Irwin - Dunedin

A stitched by Rae-ann Sinclair - Lake Hawea/Sydney
R stitched by Liz Terry - Hawea Flat
D stitched by Liz Terry - Hawea Flat
E stitched by Sue Terry - Wanaka
R stitched by Lucy Ewing - Hawea Flat
N stitched by Isabell Sinclair Irwin - Dunedin

Safety pin stitched by Rae-ann Sinclair - Lake Hawea/Sydney

Rainy short for Rae-ann is my amazing daughter. She came into this world letting everyone in the whole Cottage Hospital in Tapanui know she had arrived! This enthusiastic entry has never left her. The door opens and you hear this lovely warm positive voice letting you know she has arrived. Rainy is bright, colourful, different, generous and always enthusiastic. She has strong views and these became apparent when she was leading a debating team or head girl at her school. Rainy is such an entertaining story teller. It is a gift to take the most ordinary situation and retell it in such a way that the listeners are doubled over with “side-splitting” laughter. She is often the butt of her own jokes. Rae-ann has had some very big events in her life, loosing her Dad when she was 3, (they were such great mates), her husband surviving a serious heart attack and then coping with breast cancer all before she was 46. But her sunny nature and positive outlook have stood strong as she has coped and adjusted. Her door is always open to everyone, there is always a very warm welcome, there is always food. What else can a mother say? I am so very proud of and love this unique and very special woman.