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, May 5, 2010

little books of patchwork and embroidery

I know, only just 24 hours since I was last here and here I am again! I got these finished today so I thought ''why not''? No point putting it off until tomorrow and anyway, I still have the worst headache in the history of this house so tomorrow I am going to take it easy, very easy. These are now in the shop and I am really intersted to see if it's worth putting that little bit ''extra'' into the embroidery and technique. I have been working on small pieces for more little books of colour too, they should be ready by next week.It's quite difficult to get pictures from every angle with these books but there are more images, well a mosaic, over on flickr and each book has 5 images over in the shop so hopefully you can get a pretty good appreciation of them. I now have a hankering to do some 'soft' work, some tactile, useable pieces so we will see what comes from that.
My plan for the next 24 hours......lemsip......vote......election marathon.......take it easy and get rid of this blasted bug.
Please remember to vote, I won't stop nagging until you do, see you soon.xxx

10 comments:

Elizabeth said...

You and taking it easy!!!! That is a contradiction in itself.
These books may become collector items because each has its own personality.

Good work Karen.

Have a lovely evening.

Elizabeth

Heather Woollove said...

Hoping you'll feel better soon.
I can't imagine trying to do embroidery with a headache like that!
(Now you know why you were a bit disjointed when you got back from your trip...you were probably already getting sick!)

deanna7trees said...

I look forward to a post from you every day. Wish I could produce as much as you do in one day. Beautiful little books.

Doreen G said...

What exquisite work Karen--I have been lurking in the background watching as you have added each piece to your blog and it has all been worth the wait.

Jane said...

Wonderful, the envelope is so sweet. Look after yourself today and get better very soon

Anonymous said...

I suspect your idea of 'taking it easy' is probably similar to mine... hope you feel better very soon :-)
And yes, of course I will be voting. Hubs and I will go together when he comes home from work.
Lovely, lovely little books!

Rachel said...

Get well soon, Karen! Yes, I've done my civic duty and voted. As you say - we can, so we should.

As for taking it easy - when I've got a cold I can't even embroider, so you are ahead of me there!

Ingrid said...

Hope you are feeling better,
the books are GORGEOUS :-)

red or gray art said...

karen
a lovely book
elk

Art4Sol said...

These are so sweet. I still can't believe how white and clean your work is. Mine is always a magnet for cat hair and cookie crumbs!