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, February 13, 2011

ignore the raggy edges and loose threads...

My absence yesterday was due to me having a few ''raggy'' edges of my own...I thought relaxing and taking it easy, embroidering and handling cloth would make me feel better...nope, I feel worse if anything so why stay away again..this may make me feel better., Anyway, back to the real raggy edges and loose threads...I played with my so far embellished sections of toe wrap 2, seeing how they look together, rearranging a little. Tell you what, I was pleasantly suprised. It all fits better than I thought in terms of fabrics, colours etc. I do think I need to add a little more of the red stripe for balance but in order to avoid the panic of running colour I have since washed that cloth and hopefully the running won't happen again.
Friday,  after page cutting and book wrapping I embroidered a section of the piece with the prairie points. Little heart cutouts with fine cotton lawn showing through. For the next stage of this I think I will add some applique with the red stripe, that's for later. My inbox is crammed with unanswered stuff. I am going to try and get started on that soon, be patient though...please.

Yesterday as I sat all forlorn and feeling sorry for myself I made amazing progress with my wedding piece, that's almost finished I think. Not ready for stretching yet and I will need a good weather day to get images but suffice to say I am more than happy with the result so far.

19 comments:

Carol said...

I love the little hearts. As always your work is so beautiful.

Jane said...

After all the worry, I am so pleased you are happy with the wedding piece, look forward to some sunshine so we can see it.
Hope you feel better soon

Hoola Tallulah said...

Oh wow, this took my breath away, love love love this!

deanna7trees said...

lovely. good idea to pre-wash. some of us like raggy edges and loose threads.

Elizabeth said...

Even the best method of feeling good will fail sometimes.

Helena said...

Even if I don't let always a com you know I LOVE your work!
have a nice sunday!

Suztats said...

The hearts are perfect!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Hope you're feeling better.

Joei Rhode Island said...

Love the little hearts...almost like you let heart kites fly away to your valentines.
Without down...there is no up.
xo

fabriquefantastique said...

I am so fond of the red and white...so forward looking

Jan said...

So sorry to hear you have been feeling ragged around the edges ,hope you are all smoothed out now ,love what you have been doing ,so pleased you are not going to discard the red stripe I love it ....love Jan xx

Storycloth said...

Hope you are feeling better now. As always, your work makes me feel better - even if I am feeling really good! Gilly

jill said...

This is stunning, cant wait to see it in the flesh

Lois Evensen said...

It is all beautiful, but I especially love those cut out hearts! Wow. So pretty.

Hugs,
Lois

Anonymous said...

I hope your loose threads and raggy edges get neatly woven in again.

You've made great progress with this piece, though!

Jacky said...

I love the red and white! This piece is stunning Karen.

What gorgeous little hearts too. Very appropriate for Valentines Day.

Jacky xox

Tammie Lee said...

yea, I love it when you are happy with your work. those hearts are so sweet~

maja said...

nice work you are doing!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Sorry you aren't feeling well, although to look on the bright side, at least you have a good reason to sit quietly and stitch. Take care of you!

Mosaic Magpie said...

I love those hearts!
Deb