For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I should really be cleaning cupboards!

Counting days...there are 30 until I start my new job. That's where the cupboards come in. I had, (notice the word had as opposed to have) this vision of being so totally organised at home, all tidy. clean cupboards, fresh bed linen, no dust, perfectly washed and ironed wardrobe, that I could just breeze out of the house on my first day, a vision of calm, prepared and ready for anything..... I wish!
It is now begining to dawn on me that the person I imagine is someone else, it isn't going to happen. I will remain disorganised with possibly the untidiest cupboards in the world. This however is very important. My free time will be scarce, I will be suffering from seperation anxiety, from my computer, from all my blog friends, from my embroidery, surely this would be less of a trauma with a little bit of organisation going on, we shall have to wait and see. For now I am making the most of my PRECIOUS time, permanently attached to my work and my computer.
See, it's true. I have completed a panel of embroidered text and if you look hard enough you can even read some of it. This will be cut up later today, never to be read again! Look how lovely it is damp stretching,


and look how lovely it is removed from the board and softly folded.
I have also managed to embroider a panel of pin tucked fabric with the blue taken from the transfer colour, I can't damp stretch this though, which is actually causing me a little stress!






Unfortuantely the applique piece isn't finished yet, tonight I promise.
In the meantime, I was tagged the other day by the lovely Jenny Flower.
I am supposed to give you six random facts about myself and tag six other people. Well, first of all I really wouldn't want to bore you all, I cannot think of six interesting things to tell you but I will try my best and see how many I can come up with,
1. sorry, can't even think of one!
2. I'm pathetic
3. I am going to do this another day, give me some thinking time.

10 comments:

Gina said...

The text is beautiful Karen - is it all french knots? As someone who always works in a riot of colour I love to see the simplicity of white on white. I never seem to be able to pull it off and it ends up looking boring but your work is stunning!

Victoria said...

Beautiful! How do you do it? It would take me months to complete even half of what you seem to accomplish in a matter of days!

Jane said...

I can't get over how neat and even the writing is.

Cheryl said...

Karen I am always in ahhh everytime I read your blogs. Your work is simply Gorgeous. One day I will own one of your works of Art.

jude said...

damp stretching. sound like exercising in very humid weather while enduring a hot flash! i like the text stretched and relaxed...

Threadspider said...

As well as admiring the exquisite text I was empathising with your neat and tidy dilemma. I am by instinct tidy but in reality untidy and when I taught, I did so little housework the clothes moths moved in....just saying. Take care of that precious silk.

shula said...

It all comes down to how you want to be remembered: as someone who made beautiful embroideries or as someone who kept a really tidy cupboard.

Anonymous said...

Cupboards have doors for a reason. (To keep things from falling off the shelves of course)

I used to worry aobut having tidy cabinets and being a better housekeeper. I choose not to worry anymore, and am better for it.

needles

Heidi said...

I knew nothing about embroidery - until now! Thank you for sharing, it looks so beautiful :)
I understand about the disorganisation, it can be overwhelming and my personal world is caged in with clutter. Stifles the creativity I find. SPRING CLEAN time!!

Sara lechner said...

your embroidery is so tidy and clear, it compensates every other worries about "tidiness" you could have!!