Members of the community in a neighbourhood of our town have completed an eclectic patchwork to celebrate all the walks of life in the area. 

Lovingly dubbed 'Earley one square at a time 2024,' the project started in April 2024 with a request on local Facebook sites calling for anyone who wanted to join in.

The project was finally completed in August.

Instigator Liz Kerry, 60, said that the whole thing has been hitting a lot of buttons for people, and she is thrilled at the public response thus far. 

"We wanted to fill a stagnant area of St Nicolas Community Centre. A lot of people said they really liked the idea of textiles, so thought we would create a community quilt," Ms Kerry said.  

Made of 100 square applique patches it tells the individual stories of people who have lived in Earley at some point during the year 2024

"Some stories are very sad, some are very funny," Ms Kerry continued. "Everything has to be related to Earley, some are just things that interest people."

Two sections of the quilt contain depictions of geese and swans - two animals regularly seen in the area. 

Ms Kerry said that they intended to emphasise how Earley works together and can continue to do so in the future, even though there is a wide diversity in the people who live here.

Young and old, across genders, across faiths and backgrounds, temporary resident or born and bred, all the individual stories are collected into a vibrant wall hanging that celebrates the diversity of the neighbourhood. 

The quilt will be made available to the public on August 31 and officially raised in its final position on September 7.

Created by the wider community with the guidance of Art Space in St Nicolas, it will be displayed for at least a year in the foyer of St Nicolas Community Centre.

"A lot of community patchwork can be a clutter to the eyes," Ms Kerry said. "But we wanted to make it with a nice design in mind. The diamond in the middle brings everything together.

"The diamond itself is a structural thing which is actually made up of bits of fabric that are meaningful to people."

Ms Kerry went on to say that the red diamond in the middle represents the love of the home and the dark stripes around the edge of the quilt represent where you sleep.