Peace, love, and joy!
Three words that are appropriate any time of year, but that really resonate during the Christmas season!
Today, I want to tell you a story about an extraordinary gift that I recently received from a very special group of people.
And their gift is not just for me, but for you, too!
The Valley Quail Chapter of the EGA is located in the San Francisco Bay area in California – specifically, in Walnut Creek. They’re part of the Greater Pacific Region of the EGA, and they’re an active group. If you live in the Bay Area and you’re looking for a stitching group, look them up!
Through Needle ‘n Thread, I met Sheila, one of the members of the Valley Quail Chapter, and we’ve carried on a friendly correspondence for several years. At one point, I noticed where she was from, and it rang a bell! My family lived in Walnut Creek when I was but a wee lass between the ages of three and seven – a small world, indeed!
One day, the lovely ladies of Valley Quail got together and pondered how they could help me.
I recently traveled through a bit of a rough patch fighting cancer, and as a self-employed person running a very small business, they understood that the experienced was draining in more than just the physical sense. Those who have been through similar situations in the US know that ongoing medical difficulties can be hard to recover from, financially.
And so they proposed to create a pennant banner using my e-book, Stitch Sampler Alphabet. They each bought a copy of it (a boon in itself!), and they set about embroidering letters to create this happy banner that resonates with everything that’s important in life – peace, love, and joy!
The initial idea was that I might raffle the banner as a fundraiser. In fact, as a business, I can’t do that. So instead, they proposed sending me the banner and writing up an e-book on how they made it.
The e-book could then be offered free for those who want to create a pennant banner. And perhaps it would encourage others to take on a similar project using instructional e-books from Needle ‘n Thread.
But, you know, when I look at my banner, it’s definitely not about financial gain.
To me, in my heart that’s bursting with peace, love, and joy, it’s about the kindness of a group of people who, from afar, wanted to help.
And so they picked up their needles and thread.
They put their hearts into making a beautiful banner that will forever remind me of the kindness of a group of people who wanted to spread, in their own creative way, peace, love and joy.
I think of each of them stitching a project that they would never see again, a project being sent off to a stranger – putting their soul into each little stitch. Willingly, enthusiastically, as a group of friends united in the goal of making something… for me!
And my mind boggles and my eyes well up.
Happy tears, of course!
I’m not really a gushy-teary-eyed-sort-of-person…
…but I can’t even write this article without stopping to blow my nose ever other line!
Thank You!
My friends of Valley Quail, thank you from the bottom of my heart for my beautiful banner.
Thank you for the peace, love and joy that it has brought me – and, I hope, many others, too!
How to Make a Pennant Banner – Free E-Book
Here, then, is the e-book from the Valley Quail Chapter on how to make your own embroidered pennant banner. It’s a PDF file, and you can click the link below to download it. Once the file opens, just go to “File” in your top browser menu and scroll down to “Save As” to save it to your computer.
Stitch Sampler Pennant Banner Instructions
The fun thing about pennant banners is that they can say whatever you want them to say! From Happy Birthday to Congratulations to one word (or multi-word) sentiments of any kind, a pennant banner is a terrific way to add expression to any festivity!
Here on Needle ‘n Thread, you’ll find several e-books that would work great for creating a pennant banner:
The Valley Quail Chapter used the letters in Stitch Sampler Alphabet for Peace, Love, & Joy.
You could also design your own lettering using any of the alphabets from Favorite Monograms.
You could go with sheep, bees, or hearts in the alphabets available in Will Ewe Bee Mine.
And if you want to create a specifically Christmas-oriented pennant banner, you could definitely use Twelve Trees for Christmas to create a festive holiday banner!
But don’t let these designs limit you – there’s a world of creative possibilities when it comes to creating pennant banners!
I hope you have a wonderful time exploring them, and that you enjoy the e-book on how to make your own pennant banner from the generous members of the Valley Quail Chapter of the EGA!
