Tuesday 10 January 2012

Stitched up

I started 2012 with one word to focus on ...write


Not much evidence of that recently on this blog you may say!

As if that weren't enough, I am now going to add another word to my year ... stitch


Here's the reason why...
Last week whilst I was wandering on the web, I ended up in jail. Not really sure how I got to Fine Cell Work, but it made me want to get stitching again.

Images: Fine Cell Work


"Fine Cell Work is a social enterprise that trains prisoners in paid, skilled, creative needlework undertaken in the long hours spent in their cells to foster hope, discipline and self-esteem." 


I first came across the work of the prisoners who contribute to Fine Cell Work in last year's Quilts exhibition at the V & A Museum in London. I was blown away by the artistry and workmanship of the prisoners who had worked on the exhibition pieces.
"I find it great that I can trace a piece of white plain cloth, a couple of skeins of coloured cotton and with a needle I can not only make something practical and beautiful that gives a lot of pleasure to someone who buys it"   H.M.P. Long Lartin (a long term prison in the UK)
Hope you will read some of the stories of how stitching has changed these prisoners lives on the Fine Cell Work site. Thought provoking words.

This got me thinking about how creating with fabric gives me a sense of fulfilment, so why don't I do more of it? Just because I am in Chiang Mai this week, soaking up some Thai sunshine, there's no time like the present to get started.

Previous ideas of mine:
Read more here
Read more here

Here are a few more places I found inspiration this week:
Carolyn Saxby and again
Cathy Cullis and again
The Silly BooDilly
Spirit Cloth

Have you been thinking of a word for yourself this year?
I'd love to know what your word is if you'd like to share it below.



5 comments:

blandina said...

Very inspiring, I already follow some of the blogs you mention.
Embroidery is a new passion for me, as you may have realised from one of my last posts, I love to work with colour and to follow the whims of my inspiration.
A word for this year? Survive, is my choice: a sick and selfish mother, separation from my self-pitying husband, children reluctant to understand that the situation has changed...
Embroidery will see me through the year!

Ingrid said...

Blandina, you have such courage and creativity I hope you find a second word because you deserve more than just survive. Flourish?
Look forward to following your embroidery as the year develops.
I x

Red Red Completely Red said...

Wow, thanks for a great bit of inspiration this morning -- what beautiful things the prisoners create. Amazing.

My word: expand. Expand my idea of what is possible to do in a day, or week; expand our friendships; expand our comfort zones; expand my business.

jlconn said...

My word is Think: (true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, kind) as in think before you speak. Wish I could say it was original, but it was posted by a friend on Facebook, but definitely words to live by this year.

Marji said...

Great post. Such beauty from the cells. Write and Stitch are perfect words for you. We should do NaNoWriMo together. My word is Warrior. Feel like I have a lot of things to do this year and I need the inner strength.

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