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, September 13, 2010

beginning....

I've made a start on my new piece. You won't be suprised to hear that I had a hankering for hexagons again!! Boy they are so addictive. I made those from some white cotton cloth which I begged from my mum that has tiny pale cream flowers on it. It is really very pretty and I thought that if I can add those to some kind of patchworked piece then hey presto. Instead of constructing the main piece from vintage cloth I have decided to create and embellish the patches myself on plain silk dupion. So far we have a french knots and cutwork piece and a piece of cross stitch text.

Every day posting may return too, I kind of miss it but I can't promise it will be tomorrow because I'm still playing catch up a little bit. So far we remain accident free, phew! Maybe it's our quiet time, let's hope so!! I also have 36 wedding favours to make for my cousin who is geting married in november, best get a move on eh! and In between then and now I am going on my holidays. Very much needed and massively wanted holidays!! Now I want to ask you if you would do something for me? I know, I am so demanding! If you feel able would you like to like me?? I mean on facebook. I am on a mission to increase my numbers on there. I think I'm at 333 which isn't bad, quite good actually, but you know me, never satisfied!! So if you like me please pop over there and click the button and if you don't like me all I can say is thank goodness I don't have a ''don't like '' button!! I don't mean request me as a friend though. Sadly I have no friends, I have made a conscious decision to have no facebook friends because then I would spend all my time on there gossiping and being nosey!! Even my kids aren't my friend if you know what I mean?! Finally...... I will stop yabbering now, I want to say thanks for all the good wishes after my last post. They were and are hugely appreciated. I think I have managed to get back to you all so thanks again. My head is fine, my heart is sad because I no longer have matching lamps!! and you know how OCD I am, it's a huge trauma!

16 comments:

sylviesgarden said...

Another stunner in progress! Can't wait to see the finished piece.
x

Ps. Please don't think that I don't like you, it's Facebook that I don't like and try to avoid it like the plague.

x

Rachel said...

I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops..

So far I have managed to avoid being on facebook. I have enough trouble keeping up with my online life as it is!

deanna7trees said...

love when you do the embroidered lettering on your pieces. haven't seen that in a while.

Gayle said...

I'll look for you on facebook. :-)
I'm so sorry to hear about your accident with the lamp...what a frightening way to wake up.
Loving seeing all the work in white.

Dolores said...

I did click on "Like You" on Facebook but I don't know if it went through. Anyway, I do like the white and I'm glad you have no lasting trauma from waking up and finding yourself covered in glass. Scary!

BTW, you don't have a ghost in the house - do you?

cottonreel said...

I like white on white , If you look at my blog you will have seen pics ,. I like to embroider white on pillow cases
I cannot do facebook , no spare time--cottonreel

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I like you Karen, but I'm afraid it won't show on Facebook - I'm just not a fan. I spend too much time on the internet and just know I'd be totally consumed if I were to get involved in facebook too. I tried FB for a little while and then discovered that I could find out altogether too much information about my kids & what they were doing. Sometimes it's best to just NOT know!!

Jane said...

If I was on Facebook, then I would definitely click on the I like you button.
Two of my favourites have returned, the hexagons and the writing!

Elizabeth said...

Hexagons + white = Karen

Glad you are accident-free for a few days at least. I'm not on facebook, I am already more than busy enough to keep my life and blog on their journey.

Have a lovely evening.

**EYE-SNACKS** said...

Hi Karen,thank you that yuo like my give away because it's nothong compared to this wonderful things I see here !

I'm curious how it ends.

Ingrid

Jackie said...

I think I already did 'like you'. Did you like me? Tut tut.

Q @ JAQS said...

So far - LOVE :).

Sheeprustler said...

These are especially beautiful :) and I already liked you on Facebook too!

Anonymous said...

Already like you :-)
333 is pretty good, compared with my smaller but nevertheless lovely company of 69. The text is beatifully worked - do you mark your fabric first?

lynda Howells said...

just found your blog..love it and am now a follower od yours on face bookxxlynda
http://chocolatelifeandjazz.blogspot.com
and
http://tryingtocreatearteveryday.blogspot.com

leilani said...

As usual, love the new pieces - the mixture of paper and fabric is intriguing to me. As for your comment that something seemed "contrived" - - I've found it's always best to always go with my initial gut. You have such a fine artist's eye, that if something seems contrived to you, it probably is.

Also, I would do the facebook thing for you but I decided not to do either facebook or twitter or whatever next comes along. Time to be creative is just so limited and precious that I've drawn my personal line.

I do think of you as a friend even though we've never met, I love your work and feel so honored and priveleged to own a few small pieces.

Trust in yourself!

leilani