The Heartlands of Highland Perthshire

TELLING THE STORY OF THE HEARTLANDS PANEL

What follows is the story of the Heartland panel, and about those who created it.

The Heartland Tapestry Panel came about following a decision by Anna, Kirstie and Andrew that the original A9 Stitch-up group was becoming too large and as the logistics would probably make it unmanageable it should be split. The A9 group already covered an area from north of Kingussie to locations well south of Pitlochry, as well as west into Highland Perthshire. Andrew Crummy MBE therefore kindly created a second panel for the group and some of the stitchers, who although they had already started on their “A9” journey stones, then moved across to the new group which became known as the Heartland Group. This Heartland Group therefore now includes those stitchers living in the area of Highland Perthshire which is bounded by Killin in the west, Rannoch to the north, and Pitlochry in the east. The Heartland Stitchers group is made up of over 40 adults and more than 40 primary school children who attend 4 different schools across Highland Perthshire. The youngest stitcher is age 4, the oldest being 96 and the project has involved individuals from all decades of life.

The design and theme of the panel is Faith, is based around a Celtic Cross, and is being surrounded by smaller individual pieces of embroidery - the journey stones. Some of these were started by individuals originally in the A9 group and therefore are more general in nature, but the journey stones also include subjects on various aspects of faith and belief in the broadest sense as well as myths and legends, the local history, and topography and geography