Church Needlepoint: A New Cushion

This project has been brewing for several months, and finally today, my good friend Louann Temple, with whom I've worked for a number of needlepoint pieces for the Church of the Good Shepherd here in Austin, brought me a wonderful picture for our new collaboration. I thought it might be of interest to many to see exactly how we go about designing church pieces from the very beginning - which usually begins with the selection of a theme or motif.

It's a practice when ecclesiastical needlepoint is done, to cover the cost by offering pieces as memorials for families or individuals to donate. (I will be donating the canvas for this one.) My son had asked me a while back, after we lost our Madeline, if I had plans for a memorial for her - and coincidentally, Louann called me and said there is a bench that needs a new cushion - one behind the altar.

I was really really pleased at the timing! I told her our pet name for Madeline when she was a baby was "Angel Baby" - or to me, "Granny's angel" (when she wasn't being naughty), so she immediately thought of this beautiful carving behind and above the altar - just under the window.

The next step is to measure the cushion that's on the bench now, and then I'll start making sketches and deciding on the placement of the angel and how to best incorporate the gorgeous gold carvings. I do know that I'll include, somewhere, "Psalms 91:11" - which for many years has been one of my very favorites. "He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." I remember my mother explaining my own guardian angel to me when I was a small child, and also the beautiful song from Hansel and Gretel - the operetta. I'll also write "Philippians 1:3" in a corner.

Anyway, I will make posts as this progresses to show what might be done by anyone for their own church.