100th Anniversary

/ Sunday 25 October 2009 /
It's the 100th anniversary of Beth Israel, our synagogue, in 2010.  In honour of this milestone, members of our congregation took on the task of stitching new covers for our six Torahs.  Custom canvases were painted by an artist in Toronto, and the work was farmed out to various community members.  The covers were unveiled on Simchat Torah last week.  Here they are.  Mine is the last one on the right.

Six Torah Covers Beth Israel Congregation
Some intrepid souls stitched an entire canvas themselves, but others did half a canvas.  Like me.  I did the bottom half of this one; a picture of my half is shown below.  It has Jerusalem on the bottom and a tent representing the home, with shabbat candles shining inside.  The full cover shows names of the Matriarchs, Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca and Leah, forming an arc above the tent, and Jerusalem on the top.  Paternayan wool was used to stitch everything but the centre motif, which was stitched in perle cotton.  Although it was a standard needlepoint canvas, the cover was worked in cross-stitch, to add stability and longevity to the piece.  I tell myself that's why it took twice as long to do.
Matriarchs Torah cover
Only I wish it had taken merely twice as long!  I am ashamed to say that I had this in my house for four years before I finally completed my half.  My husband was so tired of going to synagogue Board meetings and hearing the Torah covers committee report, where my name was always called out as one of the stitchers who was still working on her canvas.  But all's well that end's well - it was finished just in time for the launch of our anniversary year.

3 comments:

{ Erin @ Why Not Sew? Quilts } on: 25 October 2009 at 21:34 said...

They are beautiful!

Michele on: 26 October 2009 at 11:23 said...

The covers are gorgeous!! They must surely be stunning in person.

{ Mary @ Neat and Tidy } on: 27 October 2009 at 05:32 said...

Oh those husbands and their complaining! Don't they know we love UFO's and picking at them now and then. These are beautiful, and what an honor to have been able to participate.

Post a Comment

Thanks for dropping by - I'd love to hear what you think, so please leave me a comment!

Popular Posts

Modern Day Quilts
 
Copyright © 2010 Stitch Literate, All rights reserved
Design by DZignine. Powered by Blogger