Pink Stitch Testimonials: Gemma Cook

Participating in Pink Stitch has made me realise that there were more lose ends than just the threads on my project. For starters, finding meaningful hexagon templates for the English paper piercing technique had me looking through all the appointment letters, parking receipts, chemo timetables, surgery dates and ‘thinking of you’ cards that I’d not touched in a year, and it was a real tangible example of just how far I had come and the friends who helped keep my own threads together throughout it all. But the biggest shock for me was actually having the excuse to take a pair of scissors to the chemo hats that I had felt unable to part with ‘just in case’. It felt so symbolic to destroy something that represented such a challenging part of my life and make something beautiful from it. This project has given me a sense of closure and freedom that I’d not processed before. And for my little cog to be a part of something bigger, combined with everyone else’s rosettes filled with painful memories but a hugely empowering result, is as beautiful as the quilt will be itself.

— Gemma, Breast Cancer Survivor and newly-found sewing enthusiast.