Modern Folk Embroidery - Love & Unity: A Quaker Style Sampler - Booklet Chart IH

Love & Unity was first published back in 2016. Today I have revised some elements of this sampler, and it is so wonderful to share this update with you now. Ten years ago, when I first published the design, I wrote the following words that I have chosen to keep in this booklet. Please note that at the time, I was still living in the UK.

The United Kingdom this weekend faced the results of the European Union referendum, in which a narrow majority voted to leave the European Union. Whether one voted "in" or "out", I respect both camps' decisions. A part of the "out" campaign was sadly fuelled by xenophobia and racism, which had little to do with politics and more to do with a fear of the unknown. As an immigrant in this country, I cannot help but take some of these attacks personally.

On the other side of the pond, the US sees a growing trend towards a more intolerant and fearful society, where populist, racist, and bigoted views seem to be tolerated and even cheered on - a trend I also see in my native country of the Netherlands, and many other countries in Europe and across the world.

I do not want to live in a world where it is okay for us to talk about people of a different ethnicity, cultural background or sexual preference in a derogatory way. I believe we can, together, make a difference, though. There is so much more that binds us together as humans than separates us.

"True unity may be found under great apparent differences. This unity is spiritual, it expresses itself in many ways, and we need divine insight that we may recognise its working. We need forbearance, sympathy, and love, in order that, while remaining loyal to the truth as it comes to us, we may move forward with others to a larger and richer experience and expression of the will of God."

This quote from a 1916 yearly Quaker meeting in London - a turbulent time when the world seemed to have gone mad - can resonate within all of us, whatever our life philosophies may be.

Small acts of kindness go a long way. I no longer want to stick my head in the sand and not see what is going on around me, and I will try to make a difference, however small that might be. I designed this sampler with the hope that it might also inspire some people to make that small but positive change in their own lives.