Framed embroidery on a tan background. There are green, pink, red, and blue flowers embroidered at the base of a brown cross with the letters INBI above it. Those letters stand for Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεύς τῶν Ἰουδαίων, which means Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. On the bottom of the embroidery are the letters E E M and the date 1918

The embroidery was made by a Greek woman named Eirini Manolas who was born in 1903. Had 3 brothers and one sister. In 1912 war broke out between Greece and Turkey.

The Hellenes were in Asia Minor before the Ottomans arrived. They were known as mikrasiati. During the ‘Big Exchange’ the Greek population was forced to leave Turkey and go to Greece where they were not welcomed and considered refugees.

Her older brothers left for America and she stayed in Greece until sea passage was arranged for her and her first cousin and young brother. Her father stayed in Greece and remarried. Her mother and older sister had died prior to the evacuation from Turkey.

While on the ship Salonika Eirini kept busy by embroidering pillow cases for a third mate. She arrived in New York, NY on January 7, 1916 on the ship SS Patris from Ezine, Asia Minor (now Turkey). After arriving and settling in New York she was sent to work in a factory embroidering blouses, slips and other feminine articles.

The embroidered panel was made after the end of WWI in commemoration of that victory. The exact starting and completion of said panel is not known. What is known is that Eirini was a master of embroidery and crocheting.

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