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The Drones Quilt Project is a USA-based quilting programme and an example of the deliberate political use of textiles and decorative needlework in particular. It began in 2013 and was started by Leah Boger, a former USA Naval officer and anti-war activist.

A podruchnik (Подручник) is a small rug or flat cushion of about 40 x 40 cm. It is used by Russian Orthodox Christians and especially Old Believer families to keep the hands and head clean while prostrating during the various prayer rituals.

Janet McDonald Davies lives in New Zealand and is a teacher of needlework, in particular quilting. She has written various books in this field. Her love of the subject and personal understanding are reflected in her humorous poetry. Below are some examples of her ´Stitching Poetry´, with many thanks for her permission to publish them. For her website, click here. GVE

See appliqué net lace.

'Lady from Amritsar' is a late nineteenth century oil painting depicting a lady wearing very elaborate, embroidered garments. The painting is said to have been worked in 1880 by the English artist, Horace van Ruith (1839-1923), although there are some questions about this attribution.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a boy’s jacket that has a densely embroidered bodice and sleeves. The lower white, frilled skirt is decorated with a red band along the lower edge. The jacket is of the type worn by Rabari boys in Kutch, in the state of Gujarat in western India (see Rabari embroidery). The garment is 46 cm long, and has a width (including outstretched sleeves) of 117 cm. It is made from white cotton.

The Rabari (Rebari) are a nomadic group living mainly in the semi-desert Kutch parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, Northwest India. Traditionally, the men followed their cattle, camels and sheep, while the Rabari women lived in permanent villages. Rabari women are famous for their embroidery skills, which are passed from mother to daughter, with the latter often spending several years embroidering clothes for their dowry.

Shrujan is a non-profit organization (NGO) founded in 1969 by Ms. Chandaben Shroff. Shroff had just visited the Kutch area in Gujarat, India, in order to help with famine relief after a severe drought. Realizing that many of local women were excellent embroiderers, she began an income-generating project with women producing up-market embroidered saris. This decision resulted in Shrujan.

Suf embroidery is a form of counted thread embroidery practiced nowadays in the Kutch region of Gujarat, western India, and beyond. It is characterized by a type of economy stitch worked from the back. The patterns are generally based on a triangle or ‘suf’, and are geometric, symmetrical and very detailed.

Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven is a poem by the Irish poet, William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). It was first published in 1899 in The Wind Among the Reeds. The title of the poem is sometimes shortened to Cloths of Heaven. The narrator of the poem is Aedh, who appears in various poems. Aedh was regarded by Yeats as being a pale, lovelorn man who languishes in love.