Stitchers

Lisa Cannella is a contributing embroiderer on the Delaware tapestry panel. A resident of West Chester, Pennsylvania, she has been stitching for one to two decades and worked in wave stitch on the panel. Lisa was inspired to take part in honor of her mother, Janet Fell Cannella, a passionate needleworker for more than sixty years, and she is deeply grateful to the project for this meaningful, heartfelt connection to her mother's memory.

Her mother viewed needlework as both a beautiful art form and a timeless tradition she hoped would inspire future generations. Lisa's mother's family were Quakers who came to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s from Cumbria, in the northwest of England — a heritage that led her mother to complete many reproduction Quaker samplers on linen, two of which were accepted into the archival collection of the Chester County History Center in West Chester. It was a full-circle moment when Lisa found herself stitching on the Delaware panel at the History Center, one of the many venues that hosted America's Tapestry.