![]() It just really has tied a lot of people to their lives, and they will tell me those stories, and those are very intimate stories that they're sharing with me. They have a story about a child they lost or they have a story about someone who has tried to have a baby and has had a difficult time getting pregnant. "I hear from people all the time who have stitched that piece, and I put a dedication on the back for Matthew, and they read that, and it ties people together. "It is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us." The sampler features a quotation from Charles Dickens: "I designed a baby sampler for Matthew and published it a number of years ago," she says. "And I stitched more Christmas ornaments that year. "I had been a stitcher up to that time, and I had four months off work, and I stitched and stitched and stitched, and it was really comforting for me to have that to do. It was a very difficult time for me," she says. She found comfort in stitching after her newborn son, Matthew, died in 1985. Turner knows only too well the calming benefits of stitching. Stitching is that for many people, it's their calming quiet therapy." It calms them and quiets them, and it's kind of their quiet time. ![]() "Some people, before they go to bed at night, have to read a book. It is their personal way of relaxing," she reflects. "I talk to more and more people that I think it is just their therapy. It ties people together, and it offers comfort in difficult times. Stitching for Turner is more than just the needle, floss and fabric it takes to make one of her designs. I think, when I started looking for an identifying symbol for my business, that just was what I wanted to say about why I do what I do." "I liked that, and it always spoke to me about why I enjoy doing handwork. "The Heart in Hand symbol is a Shaker symbol which is most frequently associated with the words 'hands to work, hearts to God,'" she says. Turner picked Heart in Hand for the name of her company because of its association with a Shaker phrase.Ĭecilia Turner based the name of her company on the Shaker phrase, "hands to work, hearts to God." ![]() One of the embellishments her company sells is a silver charm of a hand with a heart inside. Inside Turner's home are rugs and wall hangings of hearts and hands, some of them gifts of friends she has made across the country. She also attends trade shows and teaches seminars throughout the country. Since 1994, she has released 86 leaflet designs and 17 kits, which are sold here and abroad. ![]() Turner, a former news staffer for Cincinnati TV Channel 12, launched her Heart in Hand Needleart business from her home in 1994 after winning a "design-a-heart" contest in 1991 and having her designs accepted by national publications. If I get an idea in my head, I've got to sit down, find the right fabric and fibers and embellishments and just get going on it." They say writers will stay up all night writing. "I don't know, it's just one of those things. I'd seen a fabulous eggplant in boiled wool, and the color of that.well, I had to find the right fiber and begin stitching it. "I came home and one of (the designs) was probably stitched within about 36 hours of having gone to that show, seeing it, drawing it, and then I just immediately had to stitch it because the colors were in my mind. She says a lot of her designs come out of her attraction to different colors. The fruits and vegetables theme took a strong hold on Turner because of the colors she had seen. The dedication on the back of the Heart in Hand leaflet reads: "Though his life lasted less than a day, his love continues to touch each moment of my life." At top, Cecilia Turner dedicated her "Heirloom Baby Sampler" design to her son, Matthew, who died just 15 minutes after he was born in 1985. Her Heart in Hand Needleart company is known for its series of "Wee" designs like "Wee Santa," "Wee Chicken," "Wee Wooly," and others. Above, Cecilia Turner works on a cross stitch pattern in her Liberty Township home, just south of Monroe. ![]()
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