Spread a Little Bit of Love

Another beautiful weekend in lockdown. A bit of gardening, making the tea, speaking by video call to friends in New Zealand. Everything feels kind of surreal at the moment. Life carries on inside my house but outside, in the big wide world, everything is very different.

 As I was putting together today's blog post, I was going through photographs deciding which one to use. I came across this one, a photo of an item from the Museum's collection. A First World War sweetheart cushion. It made me think about the soldier that made this item. Covered in tiny pins by a recuperating serviceman to pass the time but also help him with dexterity as he sat in his hospital bed or chair. Passing the time - something that we are trying to do at the moment. Infact the eighteen year old has just decided painting by numbers is the order of the day. Different ways to keep people occupied, whether now or 100 years ago.

The sweetheart pin cushion was displayed in our exhibition 'A Stitch in Time' that we put on last year at the Museum. As part of the exhibition, we were lucky enough to include the loan of the SSAFA 100 Hearts which had been made as part of the centenary commemorations for the First World War. The exhibition was guest curated by Sara Jane Dennis, who works with the Royal College of Needlework, who chose some of our fine examples of needlework from the Museum collection to also go on display. The exhibition was very different to the normal types of temporary displays we do and proved to be a great success.

 The sweetheart pin cushion and the SSAFA hearts were all made with love and care. With all the current difficulties in the world, it seems a great opportunity to include them in  tonight's blog post.   

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