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







Saturday, November 1, 2008

I Haven't disappeared yet!

Hi again! Yes, I am back, still undecided about my blogging break. Actually I think the best way forward for me is to post as and when I feel I have something different to show you, let the work dictate the posting . Thanks so much to all of you for the really encouraging comments on my last post. It has helped a lot and made me think about things differently, mostly it has made me question my stat obsession. Who needs therapy with such good friends like you! I feel I am making good progress with 'swaddling band one'. The piecing is finished on this section. I love how the work feels when I eventually get to remove the card templates. It becomes really soft, almost fluid.



This piece is 36 inches long (approx 90 cm). A traditional swaddling band was 120 inches long (approx 300 cm). For my first piece I am happy not to work to that benchmark but I definitely have it in mind to create a band which mirrors the exact measurement of an original, maybe next time. The width of these bands would have been 3 inches (7-8cm) and that is actually the width of this piece of patchwork, so my brain was working along those lines at the beginning. Because I have plans to take this piece further the width will alter, but I am viewing all this as a sampling exercise which will hopefully inform future pieces of a series I have planned.

















There is a little sneaky peek here of things I am putting together which will complete this work. There will also be some new, as yet unseen linen put in there somewhere.















Have a great weekend!






11 comments:

méri said...

:)
A relaxing weekend for you!
(no need to say i love your "sample"...)

Jane said...

This band has come together really nicely. Looking forward to seeing where the other pieces will fit in-enjoy the rest of your weekend-Jane

Anonymous said...

i think your decision is a good one

Jacky said...

I adore the red in this swaddling band and I am so happy that you have decided to post at your own pace (knowing that we love all the tiny little details, no post is insignificant to us).
I love the little sneaky peaks too... are they leaves or flowers I wonder?

jennyflowerblue said...

I am loving the red, will be intrigued to see how these pieces are displayed in a gallery setting!

jude said...

i like the band idea, very border like, and that cross stitch element combines so well with the classic patterns.

Ulla said...

The red and white petals are sweet!

Gayle said...

All of your work is beautiful, but this is a favorite so far!

Victoria said...

This is such a cool piece, really looking forward to seeing how you incorporate the other pieces!

Diane Cransac said...

I am loving your experiment with color ^_^ YOu seem to be right at home with it. I myself have been a bit of a color fanatic lately. As always...I love your creations!

Anonymous said...

Oh the crossstitch and embroidery flows in and out with those punchy red stripes, they sing together so joyously. I am so excited to see this piece and I'm glad I looked at your blog because it answered the length question I had. This is really a glorious piece, I can't tell you how it made my day, it got me to me smile today!