All
of the cloths are seen here together. The blue cloth, the colour of
the robe of the Virgin Mary, the sky, the sea and heavenly love. At
the base is a transparent "sea" reflecting the volute design
in the ceiling painting. In the sea sails a golden ship representing
the Church.
Above, in the sky, is a circle of twelve stars representing the Virgin
of the immaculate Conception and the twelve stars in the crown of
the Queen of Heaven. A few days before the cloths were due to be completed,
the tragic murder of sixteen children and their teacher happened in
the town of Dunblane near Stirling. It seemed appropriate to commemorate
the children and the teacher so they are commemorated by sixteen small
stars adjacent to the sun and moon and one larger placed above the
ship as the pole or guiding star to represent the teacher.
The
designs for the cloths were interpreted, embroidered and assembled
by thirty of the expert embroiderers of the Stirling Embroiderers'
Guild. They used a variety of gold work techniques, appliqué
and patchwork.
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