Remembering...

November is a month for remembering, and I chose that for the theme of my CoverStory piece. Yes there is the acknowledgement of those who died in the service of their nation - we wear our poppies, on  the 11th [Armistice day/Poppy Day] and on Remembrance Sunday [the 2nd Sunday of the month]
But for me it also a month to remember two precious family members I have loved and lost. Cousin Gillian, who died on Remembrance Sunday 2021, just a few days after her 65th birthday. And Gill's Mum, my Auntie Peggy. She died in March 2023 - but her birthday was November 17th.
So I decided to stitch poppies. I used nets and voiles in shades of red and overlaid the whole piece with a pale scarlet voile.

There's a phrase "beyond the veil" - which comes to us from the Jewish tradition.

For them it referred to the Veil/Curtain in the Temple, which separated the ordinary people at worship from the very holy place, where the priest offered special prayers, in the presence of God. In William Tyndale's translation of the Bible 500 years ago, he brought this phrase into common English. It came to mean the place where God is - and where the saints join with Him after death. 

Therefore I chose the nets and voiles, translucent fabrics, to symbolise this. Lost, but not forever - one day I believe we will all be together again.

This is the sixth piece I've stitched - so we are halfway through the patchwork - after which there will be embellishments to work on.

I ought to confess that as a child, when I heard old people in church speak of "Those we love beyond the veil" I thought they meant young women who had gone away and got married!!