Collection:  Biblical Scenes

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• Needlework by Ilana Limoni

• Illustrations painted by Lindy Tilp

• Illustrations adapted by Lindy Tilp from

        The Illustrated Family Bible, DK Publishing

• Text from the Koren Tanakh (1965 edition)

• Completed in 1998

• It took about six months to make

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Materials and technique:

• Petit Point Canvas made from cotton with an 18 mesh mono weave (i.e., 324 stitches per square inch)

• Threads are silk, cotton, wool and metallic fibers

• Technique is a variety of stitches

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Size:

• H: 34½” (87.6 cm)    W: 37¼” (94.6 cm)

• With frame: H: 35¼” (89.5 cm)    W: 38” (96.5 cm)

 

Biblical context:

The “Five Books of Moses” (Torah) is the first major section of the Bible (Tanakh).  Genesis is the first of the Five Books of Moses. This is a rendering of Noah and his family building the ark, with some of the animal pairs lined up, based on Genesis 6: 13-22.  

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Process in general:

This needlepoint started with Ilana’s artist Lindy painting the illustration.  Thereafter, Ilana free form stitched in petit point the applicable biblical verses in both Hebrew and English, referencing graphs of the alphabets (Ilana created the Hebrew graph and utilized a published English graph).  Then she needlepointed the artwork and covered the remainder of the canvas with a background and border. 

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Other comments: 

All needlepoints in the biblical scene collection have a similar border. 

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Ilana has fond memories of her older grandchildren, Joshua and Daniel, who were very young at the time, often sitting on her lap as she needlepointed.  They took an interest in her work and wanted to learn the craft.  Thus, in addition to her beloved husband Uri, she included them in her dedications.