Eye - 22 November 2024

Shirley McCaw shares the delight her hobby brings her, plus an invitation to poetically-inclined Friends - Quaker-themed limericks, acrostics, or haikus are very welcome

A heartening hobby

Eye was delighted when, in response to a question about hobbies (20 September), Shirley McCaw, from Devizes Meeting, shared her delight in sewing.

She began: ‘I had always loved my mother’s wooden sewing table filled with many different kinds of thread, needles, buttons and other fastenings… She would sit down with a pile of mending and, while I watched her, she gradually taught me how to repair things…

‘Junior school craft lessons were pure joy for me and I became fully absorbed in whatever I was making… from French knitting to table mats, to wicker trays and more… My mother bought a large “make it yourself” rug and as a family we busied ourselves while watching it grow with great satisfaction; it is still in use today. My mother also taught me to knit and I completed several scarves and jumpers as a teenager. There was then a long gap while I pursued my career and became a mother…’

Shirley has picked those threads up as her circumstances have changed: ‘These days I have a lot of time on my hands as I am in recovery from chronic fatigue. However, it has brought me full circle in that I have returned to sewing.

‘It has given me so much joy and allowed me to develop my creativity much further. I started off with cross stitch as it is simpler but I was soon drawn towards embroidery and watched online tutorials to learn the different stitches.

‘Whereas my sewing skills were once used for practical mending tasks they have now become a form of expression with each stitch making its mark in different ways. With limited energy I have mainly chosen to produce small pieces, 6cm squares are perfect for making cards to send to family and friends.

‘Handling the embroidery thread is something I particularly enjoy along with the process of colour selection for each piece. I love trying out the different shades in various combinations to see how they work together, becoming much more colour literate in the process. Finding the right matches is exquisite and makes my heart glow. Learning how and where to use the different stitches is another aspect of creative decision making, for example choosing a chain stitch over a running stitch to increase the fluffiness of a cloud…

‘I see things around me with a different eye as I look for inspiration. I feel a connection to both my father who painted watercolour landscapes and to my mother-in-law who was a weaver and to a deeper appreciation of their craft.

‘It has brought me closer to love in a simple, uncomplicated way, a direct kind of love which makes me a kinder and more thoughtful person. My life becomes easy and simple when I am sewing… Worries and troubles disappear and in sending that card to someone I feel like I am spreading a bit of love and joy.’

What hobbies do you enjoy, Friends?

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An ode, a rhyme, or a lyrical dabble?

Miranda and Mike Mugford, of Wymondham Meeting, have been playing with poetical pennings! They shared their recent offerings with Eye…

The elderly Quakers of Wymondham

Wanted young folks but just couldn’t find ‘em

So with smartphones and Zoom

and more chairs in the room

They waited in faith to befriend ‘em

A peace-seeking Quaker from Wymondham

Bought white poppies and everywhere pinned them.

When asked for the reason,

She said ‘it’s the season

To work for the Peaceable Kingdom.’

A smallholding Quaker near Norwich

Had an inordinate craving for porridge.

When she ran out of oats

She said to her goats

‘We’ll just have to go out and forage’.

Those persistent old Quakers at Wymondham

Thought ‘the world has left us behind them,

But we’ll show them a trick

Make a good limerick

Though we feared that the Friend would have binned them’.

Any other Quaker-themed limericks, acrostics, or haikus are very welcome – why not give it a whirl?

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