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, May 2, 2010

little pieces for crazy patchwork

Hi!! I'm back. It's good to be back yet I miss my daughter already! It was a great few days, lots of London stuff, lots of shopping, lots of good food. I'm exhausted now, could do with a break!! I'm afraid I'm not a picture taker, well except for Helen blowing out the candles on her birthday cake! so I don't have any touristy things to show you, I'm so boring I know. It's amazing how much you get 'behind' even after a few days. There are tons of e-mails to answer and I haven't seen any blogs for days, a lot of catching up to do so please bear with me. I haven't been able to do much embroidery since I got back either. These are tiny and I am hoping to add them to a piece of lace, (somewhere below is a picture of the lace) (I just checked and it's the next to last pic) in a kind of crazy patchwork style, fingers crossed that it works.






To be honest I feel as if I have hit a bit of a wall, a little devoid of ideas and creativity. Maybe it's because I'm tired, maybe it's because I've been in a different frame of mind for the past week. Hopefully after a little catching up on housework and stuff the juices will flow again because I really want to be back on the kind of roll I was on before I went away. The picture underneath is a perfect illustration of how my brain collapses and refuses to play. If you look closely you can see pink lines next to some of these stitches. I normally mark my lines on the back with tailors chalk then add running stitch to them, turn the fabric over and hey presto no chalk on the front just the running stitch lines to use as a guide. Well last night I sat and embroidered for two hours before I noticed that I hadn't turned my cloth over and the pink was visible on the right side meaning this piece is now totally useless! Hey ho.....these things are sent to try us!

Now I am going to do some cleaning, browse some inspiration, (usually my own flickr pages) and get back to the kind of output I know I'm capable of. I hope you all have a lovely sunday and if you are in the UK a great Bank Holiday.

15 comments:

deanna7trees said...

Glad your back. I've missed seeing your beautiful posts. Why not just cover the pink lines with some meandering embroidery.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. Delicious pictures! I quite like the pink line.

Amelia said...

I am trying to paint today!

Your pieces, no matter what, always look so delectable I want to eat them!

Amelia.x

Jane said...

Those little pieces are delightful. Glad you had a lovely time. Have a couple of days to get back into the home mode and I am sure it won't be long before you are back to feeling your creative self

jennyflowerblue said...

Welcome back! I am with the others on the chalk line- I cannot believe your work will have to go to waste! xxx

Michala Gyetvai (Kayla coo) said...

Hello,Glad you had a great time.
Lovely to catch up with your stitching.x

Tammie Lee said...

returning after being away is often something to adjust to or catch up on. I hope you had a wonderful time. Sorry to here about the pink lines. every piece on there is gorgeous, the lace you have chosen is quite wonderful too.

Helena said...

Good, you are back!
Here, today, is the mother's day. I enjoy it. I was with my mother, but my daugther is studing in another city!
have a nice week.

Marion said...

Welcome back. Glad you had a good time with your daughter. We've just had a lovely family weekend too with our daughter home safe from her world travels.

Victoria said...

Welcome back! Happy that you had a nice time with your daughter!

I sympathize with feeling a bit off. Whenever I go just a few days without stitching, it seems to derail me and I have a hard time getting back on track, (and I make mistakes that drive me crazy). Hang in there, and be kind to yourself... I am sure you will be stitching more magic in no time at all.

Jacky said...

For someone lacking inspiration, you are making some incredible stitcheries...I just love all these little treasures.

Jacky xox

We do miss our kids when they move away dont we?

meandering pearl said...

i heart the little paisley patches!!!

no sign of the buttons yet but hopefully soon :) lots of loveliness!!!

tongfengdemao said...

Everything looks so pretty!

Doesn't the tailor's chalk brush or was out?

Rachel said...

I'm always bowled over by the delicacy of your pieces. Surely you could stitch over the pink line? or brush it off?

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Hello Karen, I love your stitching so much. It makes one happy to see it. I love th hexagon look the lace inserts. Yout stitching is always so delicate and perfect. Hugs Judy