What is the Manitoulin Circle Project?

What is the circle project?

The circle project is the creation of four large meditation panels using hand stitching. They are designed to hang in the sanctuary of the Little Current United Church. They are liturgical pieces and use the gentle colours of Christian faith.

White for celebration and holiness. Green for ordinary days. The four large panels each have a large circle within a large square. They measure between 90 and 100 inches across. Besides the circle in the design, the circle also refers to the circle of women who are welcome to participate in the construction of these pieces every Thursday. The circle project is an attempt to honour domestic rituals. Those small slow things we grew up with, like family meals and conversation. Like mending. The circle project is about slowing down and learning a skill. It's about performing that skill with one's own hands.

It's hand work. It's touch. It's hope.

It's community. It's ritual. It's faith.

The project started when lead artist Judy Martin studied Liturgical embroidery in 2009 and approached Reverend Faye Stevens for advice and support. Part of the course of studies required that Judy design for a real building and go through a commission process and Rev Faye arranged for this to happen.

However, please note. It was JUST THEORETICAL!

The university did not expect the idea to really go ahead. But we were inspired on Manitoulin and so it began in October 2009. This project has nothing to do with Judy's degree work any more.

The Manitoulin Circle project is huge and is not finished yet after nearly two years. But it will be finished. Have faith.

Community Volunteers

In this post I want to talk about the community aspect of the Manitoulin Circle Project.


Every Thursday, the project is open to the public. I take boxes of cloth and thread to the United Church Hall in Little Current and am there all day. It's a drop in event, and so far, more than 90 different individuals have stitched on these panels. That in itself is a wonderful thing. So many hands. So many different hands. Meeting regularly with others in such a public project gives me discipline. I have a regular day each week to work on this project. As well, I have access to the large church hall, a studio with empty hard wood floors and large tables where it is possible to lay out the 90" works in progress, and set up the large quilt frame. Most of all, it has allowed me to be part of the local community in a way I absolutely love. I'm doing what I love to do, designing and hand stitching contemporary wall quilts, but even better, I'm doing it with friends. The women who have come on a regular basis have become close friends of mine and also close friends with each other. It is surprising to me, especially on Manitoulin Island where so many women quilt, that only a few of the project volunteers have prior experience with quilting. Most of the regulars are new to stitching. I'd like to take this opportunity to single out and thank a few of the most regular.

Heather Hutchinson and Wendy Gauthier have come the most faithfully. Both claim to be non-stitchers, but they have each helped with the embroidery and other sewing beautifully. Most of all, both have positive energy and give a good spirit to the day. Heather will take the project over for Thursday afternoons when I'm away and this kind of support is amazing.

Heather Thoma, Julia McCutcheon, and Karen Doughty are also very regular stitchers who come winter and summer. Heather because she believes in community so much, Julia because she believes in the project so much, and Karen because she feels it is a wonderful opportunity to learn a new craft and to meet people.

Judy Larimer, Cornelia Browne and Marian Hevel are summer residents on Manitoulin, during the winter they live in the United States. Judy is so supportive to the project and to me personally and says so to everyone she meets. We sign in each Thursday, and my record book has the names of everyone who has helped out, either through stitching or through donating linens, keeping the furnace going, moving the quilt frames, providing snacks. Thank you all very much. Thanks for coming out. Thanks for your support.

Thank you to the Manitoulin Expositor, the weekly local paper that every single week places an announcement under "coming events" that reminds the community that the project continues, what the hours are, and that they are most welcome.

I'd like to also thank Reverand Faye Stevens who was my initial support system and who keeps me inspired to keep going with it. She has a vision for a contemporary kind of church, one that is involved with the community in a variety of ways. Even though I rarely attend Little Current United Church, I feel part of it because of Reverand Faye, and also because of the choir, who practice on Thursday evenings and cheer me on. In fact, most of the congregation and the women of the UCW are interested and very supportive. Thank you.

It's interesting that the community aspect of these panels is what most people seem to be interested in. Even though I have personally poured hours and hours of my own time into the actual hand work, what people see is the group project.

I'm OK with that.

And PLEASE, feel welcome to drop in and join in anytime. There is at least another year of Thursdays ahead to complete all four of the panels.

Manitoulin Circle Project

This blog gives me a space to write about a project that has consumed me for two years. I had hoped to make a pamphlet to hand out to people who ask about it.

: to tell how the project started
: to explain the meanings of the circle in square imagery
: to thank the members of the manitoulin community who have joined me in making these large meditation panels.

This initial post is just that. A place to start. Just setting up the template is all I can manage today. But it is more than I have been able to do for months, procrastinating about that pamphlet.

On my main blog, Judy's Journal, there is a label that connects all the work done so far on the manitoulin circle project. 40 entries. It is good, but I hope that this new blog will be more focused and will make the project clear to the unconvinced. Shall see.

For now, lets just say that I am very proud of what has been done so far. The work in these hand stitched panels is beautiful and meaningful and honours the domestic rituals that we grew up with and that women are responsible for maintaining.

Inspired by liturgical art, I hope that these panels will eventually hang together in a public space where people gather to meditate. Like a church. One more thing: This blog is a work in progress, and I will be editing it like I edit all my writing. Things might disappear. I'm publishing it as I do this because I want to be able to send interested people here to find out about it. Just as if I handed them a pamphlet.