Carrick-on-Suir art project captures treasured memories in fabric scrapbooks

Cherished memories are often held in the very fabric of our lives: a scrap of vintage lace from a wedding day, a father’s tie, a hand-stitched handkerchief or a ribbon from a child’s gift.

These anchors of memory are being transformed at Carrick-on-Suir's Tudor Artisan Hub into an unique tactile legacy for a Bealtaine Festival arts initiative called The Memory Keep.

For the past ten weeks, a dedicated group of Tudor Artisan Hub craft makers has been working quietly behind the scenes to ‘test the threads’ of this project and find their rhythm.

The Memory Keep project creating sensory fabric memory scrapbooks was initiated by Hub owner Linda Fahy, and co-led by artist Sheila Wood and felt-maker Liz Martin.

Linda Fahy says the pilot phase of the project has been a journey of slow crafting, where significant life chapters from beloved pets and childhood homes to gardens, landscapes, music and city skylines are captured using upcycled fabrics, felt, wool, and thread.

“The project is more than a crafting workshop; it is a form of social prescribing.

“By celebrating creativity as we age, it fosters wellbeing and ensures that even as memories may begin to fade, our most significant stories can be preserved and remain touchable, vibrant, and within reach.”

She says a key hope for The Memory Keep project is to develop a creative template that supports cognitive health and memory preservation.

“By encouraging people to capture their life chapters now, while they can, they are safeguarding their own memories in a sensory way that can be shared with loved ones for years to come.

“This initiative is deeply intergenerational; a fabric sensory scrapbook offers a much more engaging, tactile way to share memories with all ages compared to traditional photos. It is a beautiful legacy piece to pass on, a story that grandchildren and great-grandchildren can literally touch and feel.”

The Hub is widening the circle of The Memory Keep project this month ahead of the Bealtaine Festival in May.
Throughout April, Linda says people aged 50 and over are invited to join the Memory Keep Circle of scrapbook stitching sessions in the Hub gallery.

“These sessions offer a creative sanctuary where the kettle is always on and stories flow as freely as the thread.”

The first two sessions took place this Tuesday, April 14 and others will run at the Hub on Tuesdays April 21 and 28.

The Budding Stitchers session from 5pm to 7.30pm is perfect for those picking up a needle for the first time. The Hub is encouraging seasoned stitchers to drop into the session running from 2pm to 4.30pm.

This afternoon slot is a relaxed space for experienced sewers to explore the scrapbook concept, share techniques and see how their skills can help preserve life’s precious chapters.

What you need

Anyone attending the sessions should bring a sewing kit, if you have one, and any meaningful fabric scraps such as old clothes, lace and ribbons.

Linda stresses there is no need to buy anything new as this is a sustainable project. “We will have fabric, needles, threads on-site. The main thing to bring is a memory that brings you happiness.”
The project will culminate in a beautiful showcase to celebrate the 2026 Bealtaine Festival at the Tudor Artisan Hub from May 5 -16.

“These fabric pages are a gift from yourself to yourself, created by you—a way to safeguard the things you treasure most,” says Linda.

“In this circle, there is no such thing as a ‘wrong stitch’ or a ‘wrong method’; it is simply about finding the thread of your own story.”

The Memory Keep is a Bealtaine Age & Opportunity Arts initiative, funded by the Arts Council and HSE and supported by Tipperary County Council Arts Office.

To book a spot in the circle or learn more contact the Tudor Artisan Hub at (086) 2560609, email: tudorartisanhub@gmail.com or drop into the gallery at 42 Main Street, Carrick.

The Tudor Artisan Hub on Carrick's Main Street and Linda Fahy's beloved pet dog is among The Memory Keep pieces crafted from pieces of fabric by artist Sheila Wood

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