Embroidered pillowcases

LOVE this embroidered pillowcase by Tessa... This one inspired by a Schiele drawing. Another  - inspired by EastEnders Dot Cotton - (no pun intended) on her blog...
Keen Stitch blog readers will remember our previous pillowcases...which included this one...

Shifting focus slightly...

Off to Cornwall for a couple of weeks to explore our new project around worklessness, which will build on 'I Packed This Myself' which looked at the experience of migration, and interaction between migrant workers and local communities in Cornwall.
So posts on this blog may be few and far between for a day or two - but lots of news on the I Packed This Myself blog.

meetup.com

Our volunteer Katrina Williams has told me about something that I've only peripherally been aware of - www.meetup.com.
It's a site where you sign up and register your areas of interest. Then you get to know about relevant groups meeting locally. Katrina has been to a few needlework and sewing gatherings and says they've been brilliant.
Her theory is that meetup.com is soaring in popularity because Adult Education classes are so expensive now.
Meet-up gatherings are usually free or have a nominal fee. Katrina has met some very interesting people, exploring all sorts of different stitch related work, in the needlework groups. I will have to ask her to send me some photos.

Young woman in a boa

Love this watercolour by Henry Somm (Jeune Femme au Boa)...

The prophet Joel

"And rend your hearts, not your garments." Joel 2:13
Know little of the prophet Joel, but this is an interesting thought for the start of Lent. Have been thinking about clothes and self image - and the way style choices are linked to levels of inner confidence.