Steven’s Day of Memory

 

Missing you and loving you, Steven.

We were complete for 21 years when you were still here.

I have often comforted myself with the thought that you had gone before us because you had completed your destiny before the rest of us and that made you more precious and special than all the rest of us.

It is hard to believe it’s been 31 years since you were torn from your brothers and from your Dad and me.

The memories do not fade and we all hold them close to our hear.

Love and hugs

Re:Play - A Show Opening on October 6th

Re:Play

Is a Connections Fibre Artists group show

Opening on Sunday October 6, 2024, 1-3 pm

At Wellington County Museum, Fergus Ontario 

 

Each of us had to choose a toy from the museum’s collection

I chose this lovely rag doll

It seemed to suit my plant dyed fabrics

And

I imagined that the mother who made this doll for her child had used 

fabrics she had on hand…with no trips to the shops!

And finally I thought that any self respecting rag doll deserved a few blankets for her hope chest.

Thread Story - One

I chose to use scraps from my stash

Scraps inherited from my mother’s stash

Lace from my own wedding dress

Bits and pieces of explorations in stitch that had been rejected for past projects.

Thread Story - Two

Bits and pieces that had been gifted to me

Like the piece of whitish bark cloth laid on top of the brown fabric

This was a gift From Al during the 2023

Connections retreat at Crieff.

A place where lots of sharing goes on.

Thread Story - Three

But as is usual with me….

the thread and stitching became the most important part of the story.

I just can’t resist…..so there is no point in holding back!

It is not just the rhythmic act of stitching

It is also the texture of tiny ripples as layers of cloth become one through many, many stitches.

There is hardly an inch without stitch!

They became known as Thread Stories in my mind.

A favourite corner with a tiny shot of colour from my mother’s stash.

A precious piece of my wedding dress lace.

It was a bolt of lace given to my grandfather during WWII

He was a doctor before the National Health existed

And so this lace had been in payment for some kind of treatment.

My grandfather passed away before I was three….but I remember him.

My grandmother, Robin, kept the bolt of lace all those years until my wedding in 1969.

Then she and my mother made it into a hooded coat to go over my wedding dress.

So special to have that link between the generations.

There were several scraps with holes

And I felt the need to add bright patches as reverse appliqué to peak through.

My foundation fabric for this piece was an old linen serviette

As I stitched the rolled edge of the serviette began to tear away.

I didn’t have the heart to remove it and so just let it drape down and kept in place with more stitches.

The memories we are leaving behind with our stitches

Will soon be hidden from those who do not know!

Enjoy your memories!

And all are welcome for the opening on Sunday of course.

Happy Birthday Steven on this Day of Memory

 

Happy Birthday Steven

This would have been your 52nd birthday

My goodness me, son, that’s old!

We lost you when you were 21

But I still feel you around

In the sea breezes that touch my face on morning walks

But mainly whenever an eagle visits….. I imagine it is you

Telling me you are just fine.

Happy birthday son

I remember birthdays with Baskin Robins Ice cream cakes

I remember gifts of Star Wars Lego

Everything Star Wars!

And of course goalie hockey equipment

You certainly loved your hockey!

I remember sketchbooks full to the brim of your art.

I am grateful to all your friends

Who gathered and kept you alive with their stories of you!

God bless

XoxoX

Steven’s Day of Memory

Remembering you on this your day of memory

Thinking of you and wishing you were here in Huntsville as I spend time

With your brothers and nieces

Miss you son

Steven's Day of Memory

It has been so many years now that our family has been incomplete

Torn asunder 

You were taken from us when you were 21

My goodness Steven....you would be 50 now

An old man!

For the rest of our days there will always be a hole in our family

An empty chair

But we hold you lovingly in our hearts.

There is a sacredness in tears.

They are not the mark of weakness, but of power.

They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues.

They are the messengers pf overwhelming grief, of deep contrition,

and of unspeakable love.

Washington Irving.

Birthday Celebration that Should Have Been

 

Happy Birthday Steven

On this day when you should have turned 49

My goodness me, that is nearly an old man!

You are loved

And missed so very much.

Happy Birthday Steven

 Happy Birthday my beautiful boy

though you would be 48 today

practically middle aged!

No matter what your age you are loved and missed so dearly.

We carry you always in our hearts

and treasured memories.

God bless

Day of Memory

We are thinking of you today, Steven.

You were just twenty-one when you left this world.

We can't believe that was twenty-five years ago.

Your family misses you my dear.

Forever in our hearts.

Day of Memory

The tide recedes but leaves behind

Bright seashells in the sand

The sun goes down but gentle warmth

Still lingers on the land

The music stops and yet lingers on

In sweet refrain.

For every joy that passes

Something beautiful remains.

Something Beautiful Remains

by Martha Vashti Pearson

So, my dearest boy

On this 23rd day of memory

we are surprisingly close to Camp Huronda

where you created many a memory in your childhood.

We are with your brothers and nieces

remembering

and

holding you close in our hearts.

A Crumb of Remembrance - Week Twenty-Seven

This is week 27...I think!

It is getting more and more difficult to keep track

now that I can no longer use my ten nimble fingers 

and ten tiny toes.

This week I intended to keep it simple....

....and in memory of the July first 100th anniversary

of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme.

Too many young lives lost on just the first day

Devastating

I learnt this week that the blue Cornflower

is the flower of remembrance in France.