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







Saturday, October 16, 2010

busy......

There's been progress in a few departments chez moi this week. First my throw, I have added some holes, yes holes!! and some applique with a lovely gingham I bought in Sweden to the latest section. I found it hard to photograph this section on its own so what to do? Safety pins and a little fiddling later all the pieces were joined, after a fashion, to give an impression of how it may look when it's finished. I suppose it won't look at all like this when it's finished though, no safety pins for a start. Anyway you know what I mean, use your imagination, mentally remove the safety pins and hey presto! Then again I may not arrange it like this at all so I guess I should say that I am showing here what it won't look like when it's finished...told you I had qualifications in drivel Mary Ann!!



I look at the hexagon piece daily, a squillion times a day in fact, and it still makes my heart flutter I love it so much, no, I adore it. Wouldn't it be lovely if I had a spare 3 months to just make a blanket of one inch hexagons? Now there's a thought. Anyway I digress......what else has been going on here? Sampling has started for my new venture. I would love to show you and in a few days I may try and be clever with my camera to get a few tiny glimpses on here that wouldn't give too much away. Sorry for all the secrecy but at the moment I am reliably informed that it can't be in the public domain, if that changes you will be the first to know. As for wedding favours, ah wedding favours, nearly there, last lap and hopefully able to show you the finished article within the week. There is another family wedding approaching and if you come a bit closer I will whisper to you......invitations.....now that my friends is very scary......

19 comments:

deanna7trees said...

i love the creme colored lace in your throw. dare i ask...how will you launder it if it gets soiled? i always worry about that when constructing a piece.

Amy Friend said...

Gosh, I just love looking at all those tiny stitches of yours!

Gina said...

Now that I've opened each piccie and made it bigger and looked at nearly every stitch, I'm almost sated for eyecandy this morning.

I think you've been VERY busy. The holiday away is showing up now!

Thank you for reopening your shop although I'm still restricted to simply looking for now, it's always a pleasure to dream.

Jan said...

Oh you busy busy girl ,and what a tease you are all the stuff you are making us wait to see lol ...love Jan xx

fabriquefantastique said...

Invitations??????

connie said...

Your throw is going to be lovely, what size are you going to make it? What a wonderful thing to be wrapped in!!! I am anxiously awaiting your surprise....

Now are you doing invitations? It is such a daunting task. Enjoy it.

Karen said...

yes, invitations???????!!!! couldn't have put it better myself.

Jane said...

There will be no lack of inspiration sat under that throw, beautiful

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Ah, but I LOVE your drivel!!! I keep eyeing that to-die-for throw and thinking how it would fare in my house. Hmmm....within a week it would be covered with cat hair and more than like have coffee on it somewhere. No, not for me, but that doesn't mean I don't covet it!

Elizabeth said...

Glad to hear about your new endeavours and the happiness they bring you.

I am still in need of a lot of stones. When spring comes I will have enough, will go to the beach and make the pictures which are swirling around in my mind. So you have to be patient and see a lot more covered stones.

Have fun tonight.

Jacky said...

Those little hexagons are a delight and I love the little gingham dots!

Happy stitching.

Jacky xox

leilani said...

Just catching up on my fav blogs and SO very glad you are back. Good decision: Reopening the shop but not making it the main focus. Follow your bliss and you will be successful. hugs, lei

Anonymous said...

I wondered about the size of the throw too - difficult to get an idea of scale sometimes on photographs. It's looking glorious.

sylviesgarden said...

Simply beautiful as always.
x

Rachel said...

You have been a busy girl, haven't you! It's lovely work, as always, and we'll be intrigued to compare these photos with the finished piece!

Victoria said...

Love, adore, drool.
And seeing those cheerful little hexagons made my heart flutter, too. xo

Tammie Lee said...

ah, secrets, so exciting.
do you make lists of all your ideas? You seem to have so many that I would forget some along the way. I love all the details in this piece.

Amelia said...

been reading your last couple of posts and nodding my head in agreement. Love the quote, and it's so true about not giving up. Glad to hear that you've decided to re-open the shop. Your work is wonderful.

Looking back through sketchbooks and getting re-inspired is brilliant. I am so glad to be back with other creatives at college and have a chance to realise some ideas that have been buzzing around . . . Good luck with invitations, you can have some fun I'm sure :)

Amelia.x

Ineke Original said...

Just love this. 'Im a Newbie!
greetings from Holland,
Ineke