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, January 30, 2011

applique and prairie ponts...

Still working on the first piece of ''toe wrap'' 2 and have put together another piece for it aswell. I have appliqued on both pieces and made prairie points for the second. I'm not sure about this striped cotton. It is quite ''in your face'' if you know what I mean. I won't discard this one though, I will just use the stripe sparingly beacause I don't want it to overwhelm. Also, if you look closely at the bottom few pictures, it seems to have ran when it was damp stretched. Not good at all and that has never happened to me before with bought fabrics.
I managed to tick quite a few things off my list yesterday yet for some reason it's even longer today!! What's that all about?? and no Gill, it wasn't plan more books, it was PRINT more books!!  My decorator left on friday, a very nice man but I was still glad to see the back of him and let me say that I did so much housework after he left that I think I've got it covered for us all, you don't need to do any for at least a month on the strength of what I did!! Anyway, I digress.....One thing on my tick list yesterday was to stitch more paper for my wedding piece. That was done so today and this evening I am going full steam ahead with the surface embroidery, that is what you will get tomorrow, a little advance notice for you there. Also on the list, a litttle pile of unfinished pieces...finish them and list them later in the week. Looks like it's embroidery for me then.......

17 comments:

Jane said...

Sounds like a good plan to me!
Shame about the fabric bleeding. I like the look of this one, totally different. Reminds me of summer holidays

Suztats said...

I like the red stripe, too, and how disappointing the colour bled. All that beautiful work.......

Jan said...

Hello again Karen ,It isnt immediatly obvious that the colour has run ,not on the pics any way ,such a shame cos I love what you have done with them ,lot more ideas thankyou ,and yes Im your fan hee hee ...love Jan xx

Jan said...

Hi again Karen ,it isnt obvious that the clour ran ,not on the pics anyway ...such a shame cos I love what you have done with them ,hmm lots of ideas ,,yes Im a fan hee hee ...love Jan xx

deanna7trees said...

i only needed to experience the bleeding problem once and after that always wash my fabric before using. love that candy stripe, especially in the prairie points.

Joanna said...

Maybe the bleeding will soften the effect, you can always tone it down anyway if it still shouts at you later. I am sure you will have lots of ideas for that if need be. I use toulle a lot or chiffon scarves to tone things down on my work when I have miscalculated.

Love the work though and I like the contrast to the other one. On my list has to be
Must do some more embroidery
Must do some more embroidery
Oh yes and must do some more embroidery

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work as always! You might want try the laundry Shout® Color Catcher® sheets absorb and trap loose dyes in your wash water.And since you only air dryed it should not be set yet. You can buy them at the grocery store. They have helped me a alot time or two. I doon't see why you could not use one in your sink and just swish with it in there.
Anyways like I said beautiful work!

John'aLee said...

I love the stripe. I know a lot of people are afraid of them...but they really can enhance a piece if used correctly. Sparingly as you said!
That's horrible that the fabric bled. Oh my.
Your work is so creative and different than anything I see out there. I love that you CREATE...
There are so many people who just copy other people's work instead of developing their own God given talent. We all have something unique to offer...if we would just tap into it.
So thanks for being original. You are very inspiring!

Lois Evensen said...

How very pretty, bright, happy! Just beautiful as always. :)

Elizabeth said...

Love the red squares. Looks very nice and calm, the stripes are like you said up in your face which can be good at times.

Enjoy holding your needle tonight.

Anonymous said...

Love the applique semi-circles! It's not obvious to me that any colour ran, though.

Gina said...

I love the brightness of it! What a cheery thing for gloomy days! Bummer about the color running.

jill said...

I love it. Love the stripe as well as the gingham. shame it bled, what a pain.

Tammie Lee said...

so very charming, each and every detail!

sylviesgarden said...

I love those circley things, I'm sure that there must be a technical name but you know me (not well informed when it comes to sewing).
x

Heartwideopen said...

Oh be still, my (over) beating heart! All that lovely red... now you're singing to the choir! I can never get tired of looking at those stripes. Your embroidery is absolutely lovely as always!!!

;~) Debi

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I`ve learned over the years never to trust red fabric without washing it first. It doesn`t show in the photos so hopefully it`s not too noticeable `for real`.