It's Women's History Month. Or should that be Herstory?

 

March is Women's History Month.  Not that most people are aware of it.  The event doesn't seem to have captured the public imagination outside of certain circles.  Which is a shame as there're a heck of a lot of fantastic stories about women's achievements which should be more widely known.  (Incidentally, if you're still on the binfire that is 'X' - formerly Twitter - you really need to follow @theAttagirls for the most inspiring, sometimes jaw dropping stories about women inventors, educators, campaigners & so on.  Take a look and you'll thank me for the recommendation, I promise!)  Anyway, I was at Leeds Art Gallery last Wednesday for the monthly Stitch Art group, and our crafting was tied in to Women's History Month.  The central library, which is in the same building as the gallery, holds an archive centred around women's history, including of course the fight of suffrage.  'Votes for Women'.  

Textiles played their role in the battle for rights.  Whether it was the elaborate banners held aloft on suffragette marches or the clothing the women wore.  The colours of the suffragette movement were purple, white and green.  Purple for dignity, the colour traditionally worn by royalty.  White for purity.  Green for hope.  

The idea for our short session was to create a rosette, with as its base a Suffolk Puff.  Also known as a yo-yo or (I'd not heard of this) a Yorkshire Daisy.  Some made their rosettes with 'Votes of Women' as a slogan embroidered on them.  Mine was a cobbled-together effort.  I was trying to write some kind of message about how girls shouldn't be pushed into all things pink or boys expected to avoid that colour and go for blue.  Which didn't really work, and I should've stuck to the simple 'Votes for Women' message instead.  

I had another go when I got home and used a combination of a white Suffolk Puff and green and purple felt, with a black embroidered slogan on it.  (Sorry about the shadow in the photo.)  I've sewn the rosette into the fabric book I'm making out of my Stitch Art efforts.  

Apart from that, I've been making the most of the mild, dry weather to crack on with the allotment.  My brother bought me a whole stack of seed packets, so I've plenty of veg and flower seeds to plant.  I'm also still carrying on with the Ann Wood 100 day stitchbook challenge.  

These are all the pages I've completed so far.  

This current page takes me over the halfway point.  With this one I've used printing stamps and an ink pad to add stylized flower shapes to calico, and am having fun embroidering those.  

I'm also getting stuck into Lucy Jago's 'A Net of Small Fishes'.  A book that's set in the stifling, back-biting and brittle world of the Jacobean court.  It's London 1609.  We meet the beautiful, wealthy (or at least her cruel husband is) teenage bride Frances Howard.  Also, doctor's wife, and mother of six, Anne Turner, who has to work to help make ends meet and who enters into an unlikely friendship with the deeply unhappy Frances.  I'm interested to see how the plot develops, and enjoying reading about 17th century royals instead of the more usual Tudor kings or queens. 

Hope your weekend's been enjoyable, and happy Women's History Month!