For the month of August, the members of the Tulip Tree Needlearts Chatham-Kent group took pride in the needlework they added to a special embroidery project to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017.
According to treasurer Diane Robertson, the project, started in 2015, is the brainchild of the Embroidery Association of Canada to create a piece that represents their group and what it is to be Canadian. The project consists of two two-foot-by-three-foot panels of linen canvas; one for western and one for eastern Canada with the design focused in the centre on a maple tree.
Robertson said the panel is passed from group to group, who each add stitching to the motifs, from Northern Lights, to forests, to mountains and all things Canadian. The design is very detailed and even includes the provincial birds.
“They’re letting everyone work on it,” Robertson said. “A full colour diagram goes with it, along with the panel frame and thread to each location.”
The local group received the panel from the Simcoe and from here, it will go on to PEI, Newfoundland and then Ottawa. Next May, at the next EAC week-long seminar in Newfoundland, the completed project will be shown to all the members.
The goal is to have the stitching completed by December, 2016. Once finished, the panels will be presented to the National Capital Commission in Ottawa as a gift in 2017.
Robertson said her group has been around about 16 years as part of the EAC, and holds three stitch-ins a month, along with a monthly meeting.
“The nice thing about getting together is that we can help each other learn different stitching techniques, and try different things,” Robertson noted.
For more information about the group, go to eac.ca.
