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







Sunday, December 27, 2009

beginning.....

I'm back, bloated, spoilt, overloaded with chocolate to eat (but I'm sure I will manage!) free of injury from falling in the snow, of which we had lots and really, really chuffed that everyone seemed to have a happy christmas in my little house with me in the role of domestic goddess!! Pity the guest that only has my domestic skill to rely on yet they all survived! It was truly a happy time here and I hope it was with you. My commission was finished just before christmas and this piece was started before then too, now I feel I have made enough progress to show you some of it. These pieces are very small, the biggest no wider than 3 inches. They were worked on a single piece of silk and cut out after damp stretching. I have given this post the title ''beginning'' yet I think these will be the last touch, the end, the parts that will complete the whole......(confused?? well I am so you must be!) I am back in swaddling band mode, I owe myself one after never completing the one I started for Sparkle.




last night I sampled a lot, looking for a resolution to the ''how do I get these onto a larger piece yet not lose their fragility'' debate. I think I've got it, only time will tell, next time maybe you can decide...... x

8 comments:

Jane said...

Can't wait to see what you have decided to do, these are fascinating to look at.
DS1 had a lovely bruise on his back from slippy on ice in town last week, mum was a coward and walked down the road!

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Hello Karen, Happy New Year to you and your family. Love the commission work. I look forward to seeing how you put them together. Hugs Judy

Joei Rhode Island said...

Your photography is breathtaking....and you make the white glimmer like new fallen snow. So beautiful Karen.

Jacky said...

These pieces remind me of sparkling snowflakes and looking through windows....I love the combination of ecru and white!!! Looks so vintage Karen.
It sounds like you had a very special Christmas!

I love this new piece and cant wait to see where you go with it. Beautiful stitchery.

Jacky xox

Amelia said...

oh beautiful and very 'this time of year' looking too!

You are a dedicated maker and I am looking forward to getting down to some more making too, but need the school hols to finish!

Wish we had had more snow down here so I could have got in a bit of sledging! (but I did manage to finish a commission!)

Amelia.x

Needles said...

Karen, beautiful doesn't describe the things I have seen here today. I haven't been by in a while, and deserve a slap upside the head. My only excuse is I was knitting.

These last few days in the year are just meant for small things just for ourselves. A gift to ourselves is just as important as giving to others.

May this upcoming year bring you blessings, goodness and joy.

Denise

Anonymous said...

I just posted, but I am gonna post again! I work in glass, and I have been experimenting with glass as lace recently, and I am so inspired by your designs. I resolve to try again!! Whatever world your work inhabits is the world I have been trying to get to with these glass creations. wow! these are beautiful....

Melody said...

your work is BEAUTIFUL, just gorgeous. I had to make one of the pictures from this post my desktop, i could look at these delicate knots and flowers for hours :)