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Showing posts from December, 2015

THE LONG MARCH TO WOMEN’S FREEDOM

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Recently I have been lucky enough to attend a short but very interesting course of writing articles and blogs.    We each had to prepare something for the other members of the class to critic, very scary but most useful. This happened the day after I posted my latest on India and the tutor said that my comment ‘’Even the spinning wheel became a weapon in the struggle for women’s freedom’’ was most interesting and should be explored further. The tutor also said that I should write more about the opening up of trade between Europe, England in particular, and India and this I promise to do at a later date, however her comment about weaving, stitching and embroidery helping largely in women’s flight for both financial and social freedom intrigued me and made me want to follow it further. Nothing is new, as early as the 13 th century in England, Opus Anglicanum   as English Medieval embroidery was called, was without doubt some of the finest examples of English needlework for all times

INDIA

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India mania has hit! We both see and hear a great deal about India; their politics, culture and history.   Their Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just been on a State visit to England resulting in excellent trade agreements – the first visit by an Indian PM for more than a decade.   In addition the Victoria & Albert Museum here in London has also catered to our long term interest in all decorative crafts with the current exhibition Textiles of India and the Bejewelled Treasures, the collection of Al Thani which opened last week. The Textile exhibition is so comprehensive and beautifully displayed, for once I visited it twice – there was so much to enjoy.   Every stage of existence, birth, betrothal, marriage and death is marked in lndia with gifts of cloth. The exhibits show the love of colour and texture all augmenting life’s rich pageant.     Even the spinning wheel became a weapon in the struggle for women’s freedom. I have been lucky enough to visit the Northern areas