This is a question probably a little bit like asking “what is borsch?” Some fundamentals will be the same, but there will be as many variations as there are people familiar with it, and all of them will be true. Embroidery will be something different to every person who does it or has seen it, or worn it for that matter.

I was taught cross stitch by my grandmother, Baba, who patiently let me stand by her knee and pull the needle and thread with each stitch after she’d passed it through her linen. She then taught me how to cross stitch in straight lines and then in little rows of zig zags, or zubchyky, “little teeth” as we called them. She was Ukrainian – as were all of my grandparents – and so my exposure to and passion for embroidery has always been with Ukrainian embroidery. I remember friends and neighbours coming to her house to talk stitch. I remember going out with her to buy materials and threads.

Baba made all of our sorochky, embroidered shirts – no mean feat as I have two brothers and four cousins on that side of the family and we grew at the going rate for children and adolescents. She also embroidered multitudes of rushnyky (a long, narrow piece with symmetrical design at each end), servetky (embroidered square or rectangular cloths), podushky (cushion covers), nastilnyky (table cloths) in a dizzying range of techniques and colour combinations. She was, in fact, prolific.

She had a huge garden in the suburbs of Sydney and loved planting flowers. I remember her telling me that her inspiration for colours came from nature – she would look into her garden to see what nature had combined and bring these colours to her embroidery.

Our Mama made exquisite embroideries – the christening gown we all wore, most recently used for my little nieces, and the collections of podushky and servekty that were kept in a deep dresser draw, opened and sorted through for choices for each Easter basket, special occasion or simply as ornaments at home. I loved them all.

I’m deeply grateful for this gift I have been given. Ever since I started visiting Ukraine, finding and buying as many books on Ukrainian embroidery as I could was essential. I remember one particular year when I visited a handful of music festivals with friends and saw EVERYONE in vyshyvanky worn with shorts, jeans, dreadlocks and sneakers. It was so funky and inspiring, I took A LOT of photos.

To me, embroidery is many things. It is something I do to relax or think things over – hands busy, mind working. It’s an opportunity for play with colour and composition. I get inspired by the books I’ve inherited and collected over time, and so much needlework that is posted on blogs and social media from Ukraine. I just can’t stitch fast enough! Sometimes sitting with a photo of a beautiful design and successfully mapping it out on graph paper brings me satisfaction. There are certain friends’ homes that I visit and come away with an array of new ideas. Sometimes a variation on a colour scheme is suggested by the linen at hand. At other times, I want to use a certain shade and find a design to match. Embroideries make what I think are extremely special gifts. No matter what the basis for a design, whether it comes from a book or a photo, each new piece is 100% unique and the time taken to complete a project means it is made and given with love. Sometimes I want to create something that presents what is my impression of the deeply traditional; at other times, I want to bend rules and get away with it. Starting a project is always incredibly rewarding. I don’t know why it surprises me each time that what I had in my imagination ALWAYS looks far more spectacular in linen and thread. At all times, I want my work to retain its Ukrainianess, if I may invent such a word. I want it to be Ukrainian.

Spending time with my embroideries makes me feel close to the women who have been in my life and made this very much part of the every day for me. To have that in such easy reach is something for which I am very grateful.

~oOo~