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







Monday, August 2, 2010

snippets

This will all look very familiar to the regulars here. Should I ask you to guess what's happening? No, I won't because I'm sure you can all tell I am back on books. I was asked to make a book for somebody so I though oh well, make two. Why not, cutting paper for two books is just as easy as cutting it for one when you have all the tools out. First off though I pintucked some more gingham to silk, yellow this time. It looks as good as it did the first time (which was using a different colour but no suprise here...I can't remember the colour!!)








The embroidery for both books is finished now it's just a case of paper cutting, paper folding, sewing pages, glueing and sticking, hopefully all done by wednesday. Now I am at a stage that I don't find myself in very often. What am I going to make next? I still have a hankering for hexagons, I very much have a hankering for more crazy patchwork, most suprising of all to me anyway, I have a hankering after pink gingham! I have some pink gingham, large squares that I used in one of my bags. On my table there is also some raspberry silk dupion, can I make them work together or will they clash? Only one way to find out.....

22 comments:

deanna7trees said...

raspberry silk and pink gingham sounds good enough to eat-luscious.

helena said...

Go, go, go... You'r doing fine!
Kisses from Portugal.

sylviesgarden said...

I love the yellow gingham and the little flowers are so sweet. I wish I could embroider.
x

Jane said...

Oh, that sounds nice. If anyone can make it work, it will be you

fabriquefantastique said...

sounds yummy to me, I'll be watching for the results.

Amelia said...

I always leave your blog wanting to trot off and make one of my own . . . inspiring as ever.

Amelia.x

Make a hexagonal shaped book next maybe?

meandering pearl said...

absolutely beautiful!!! lovely smiles

Rachel said...

Lovely - that yellow really sings!

jennyflowerblue said...

Really sunny! I for one would definitely like to see some more gingham. x

Suztats said...

I'm looking forward to see what magic you create with silk and pink gingham!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

What fun it is to scroll down through your post delighting in the stitching and pretties and then, to get to the bottom and discover you're contemplating silk dupion for the next one...oh yum! Silk dupion is absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, my favourite fabric. Can't wait to see your next creation!

connie said...

I am glad you are making books again. I think they are so lovely! I also had to laugh at Pink Gingham. I had to wear a pink gingham dress when I worked in an ice cream parlor when I was 15 years old. I hated that dress but I bet you can make pink gingham cool again. :-) Have a great week!

Heartwideopen said...

What a wonderful treat it is to come to your blog "home" and see what you've been up to! These snippets make my heart sing!!!!!!!!!!
They're so bright and cheery and the embroidery is exquisite as always. I love the flowers you did on the yellow gingham. More patchwork? You know we all love that, especially ME! I can't wait to the raspberry on pink- yum!

Elizabeth said...

Normally I am not that fond of yellow but the way you use it looks even good to me. (This is a huge compliment, smile)

Ingrid said...

raspberry silk yum:-)
the embroidery for your books looks beautiful,the yellow with the orange just pops!

meri said...

You make everything looking so precious Karen!

more xx from Portugal :)

Jan said...

What is it about gingham ? ,we all love it dont we ? That was soooo nice to look at ,as Iscrolled down ..love Jan xx

Gina said...

The yellow is very pretty!

vintagerockchick said...

Oooh I'm excited and it's not even for me!! I was wondering how it was going xxx

DK said...

I am totally loving that yellow with the white and little bits of orange! It is *such* a pretty yellow.

Sea Angels said...

Hi Karen
Hope you are well x
Glad you liked the link ..I was thrilled to find it...your work is looking really beautiful though..you make me feel very lazy..I'm off now for a few weeks I will have to get on with something xxxxx
Hugs Lynn xxxx

Joei Rhode Island said...

Your color choices are always impeccable. Or are you hiding the ones you don't like? =-) Raspberry silk with pink does sound like a match made in heaven.