Last night we spent three hours getting to know our new neighbours. It was a relatively easy thing to do - they were welcoming and unrushed, had beautiful food prepared for us to nibble on as we chatted and were open and interesting in sharing the stories of their lives. Little did I know that half way through the evening I would be given an amazing gift! On hearing that I was a flax weaver, the woman responded with a story of an "encounter" she had recently had with a woven bodice hanging in Waikato Hospital. She had been going there for regular visits and her story is exactly the evidence I need for my research project, that interacting with the woven piece was therapeutic for her in helping her deal with ongoing cancer treatment. I don't believe in coincidences, rather that the steps we take are planned and it's up to us to make the most of the opportunities that come our way.
I had been thinking that maybe a sampler was not quite the medium that would best suit my topic and now another idea was ignited - that I make a garment of some kind. I feel that not only has my research topic of "weaving as a therapeutic journey" been confirmed, but that I have been given much needed evidence to back up my claims. She has agreed to allow me to use details of her experience as a case study for my research.
