Maker: Helen Viggers

Panel number: 403

Petition sheet number: 492

Person honouring: Elizabeth Bayliss

Relationship to maker: Great-grandmother

Her grandchildren recall Elizabeth as being heavily involved in the church and always sewing and knitting for the family. She liked crockery and gardening, and was rather partial to wood-pigeon baked in clay.

Elizabeth Robinson was born in 1844 in Willenhall, England. In 1874 she married Thomas Bayliss at Fairewell in England and on 12 August 1879 Elizabeth, Thomas, and their three children (Dan, Mabel, and four-month-old Alfred) embarked on the Bebington to come to New Zealand.

After arriving in New Zealand, Thomas entered a Land Settlement Ballot and drew a lot for the Mangaone block at Eketahuna. The family first lived in a small cottage, though rapidly built a larger house for the growing family. They had two more daughters, Lizzie in 1881 and Ada in 1884.

When they first moved to the area there were no other women who spoke English nearby, so Elizabeth was very lonely. Most other settlers in the area came from Germany or Scandinavia, so communication occured through sign-language and gesture. On one occasion a gesture asking for a medication yielded an offer of a turnip.

It was while living in Eketahuna that Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition. Around 1906 Elizabeth and Thomas retired to Hastings, where Elizabeth died on 1 April 1916.

Panel materials: I used a mix of materials, most I already had, and some bought specially. Most materials are quilting cotton (although I used some remnant linen for sky, and some lace to add texture to the portrait). In addition there is cotton embroidery floss, and some polyester thread (both for the sewing, and for fine embellishments). I used vliesofix for the raw edge applique, and on some of the later hexagons I fused interfacing for added stability. I used bright red floss for the cross-stitches that represent the other women – to reference the red on a number of the Scandinavian flags (the sheet is predominantly people from Eketahuna). The dress of the woman reaching out in friendship (and holding a microscopic white turnip) is red for the same reason.