We will be hosting the World’s Largest Needlepoint, Vahid Saadati’s the “Welcome Mat” at our store this weekend, which depicts the word “welcome”  in over 100 languages from Afrikaans to Zulu, including Sign Language, Braille, and Morse Code. This work of art was a labour of love over 2 years by Saadati and 650 different volunteers aged 4 to 84, who put in over 5 million stitches in 72 different yarn colours to show their love for Canada and to emphasize how welcoming Canada is. We are looking forward to furthering Saadati’s message and are hoping to connect him with volunteers from the community to help add Indigenous languages to the still growing piece. The “Welcome Mat” will be available to view on Friday from 1pm-6:30pm and Saturday from 9:30am-4:30pm at our store, located at 550 Days Road.

The “Welcome Mat” was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000, and has been featured as the backdrop for his Holiness Pope John Paul II and World Youth Day in Toronto, as well as former U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa.

“I couldn’t think of a better place to display the piece,” said Saadati, “the name of the store resonated with me - this is exactly how we have built this work: stitch by stitch. This work is important because it reaches out to and involves so many people of diverse ages, cultures, and religions in our multicultural society, which shows the fabric of Canada.” This is the first time the “Welcome Mat” has been on display since the onset of Covid-19, and is a reminder that it is time to return to putting out our own welcome mats, to recent refugees, immigrants, neighbours, and families we have been separated from for such an extended time. We at Stitch by Stitch are so excited to be able to display the "Welcome Mat"! We welcome and invite everyone to our store regardless of who they are; we believe that anyone who wants to sew and create should be able to regardless of barriers.