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, March 21, 2011

therapy...

French knot therapy is highly recommended, throw away the prozac and come round here for lessons on how to turn off your brain and go into french knot auto pilot. This weekend has been spent purely on white and a high percentage of french knots with a little cutwork thrown in. I'm not sure I will develop these further at the moment. I am going to consider that whilst I clean my bathroom later. Actually, a tip for you, save some thinking time for when you clean the bathroom, it seems to pass so much quicker. Although cleaning the bathroom is probably one of my favourite jobs...there I go again, off tangent babbling! Sorry!!
I'm not happy with the flower one, really don't like it and I will definitely leave that to one side putting it down to experience, as for the other one..I may make more of those...
Some say these pieces are 'organic' and I can see why someone may say that but I should say......(because I never really feel as if I explain myself).....that for me, these pieces and the ones I have made previously mimic old lace fragments, precious cloth.
Next time you see this piece it may well be cut out, no edging, just a single stand alone fragment of cloth, heavily embellished with therapeutic french knots.
p.s.
I wanted to say thanks for all the photo feedback yesterday I really apprecited it. The general conclusion is that white is hard to photograph at the best of times. Today it's a little brighter here and I think that shows in the images.

18 comments:

Sue Krekorian said...

Wish I could come round for some french knot therapy - sounds like just what I need at the moment.

Lois Evensen said...

Ah, therapy. I call mine knitting therapy. It is wonderful. And, when doing thing I really don't enjoy doing (cleaning!) I dream up new patterns.

iHanna said...

Your precious french knots! I don't know how you do it. I did some french knot inchies posted on my blog but omg, it takes for ever just to cover an inch of fabric. a bit too slow to me.

connie said...

Ok, Karen, If I made that many french knots I think I would need Prozac... These pieces have an incredible texture.

Have a great week!

Jan said...

Karen ,one of my hobbies is making candlewick pictures ,so I can relate to the therapy theory here ,love Jan xxx

Elizabeth said...

As long as there is a pleasurable repetition in the activity you are doing the therapy works wonders. The wonder of french knot is therefore totally plausibile and I love to see them time and again.

Joanna said...

I'm with you on the French knot therapy, I love doing them too

dandelion said...

Do you wear white gloves to do your french knots on white?
Enjoy bathroom cleaning??
Are you sure you're not taking prozac?
It is rather beautiful though
x

deanna7trees said...

french knots and colonial knots---i love them both. it was cloudy here yesterday and i discovered i could take a decent picture of something small by putting it into my clothes dryer. when i open the door of the dryer, there is a backlight and laying down my piece with the light and all the white surrounding it, the picture came out pretty good. how's that for innovation...

Patchwork Linda said...

Why french knots, I prefer to do colonial knots ,do you think there is much difference, I ask this of the french knot expert. x

Johoanna Robson said...

Hmmm....therapy. Save some money, do handwork. That's my motto. Any sort of handwork will do, embroidery, knitting, spinning.

Your new pieces are lovely, as always.

Sheeprustler said...

I used to hate doing French knots but one day it was like a light turning on and I became enamoured of them. Mine have never been quite as lovely as yours, but I guess I need to practice more. I haven't done any embroidery (other than with beads) for a while, need to get back to it.

And they do look like precious fragments, too :)

Heather Woollove said...

Beautiful work, as always, Karen...
...but the best bit is that if you ever come to visit me, I can save the 'loo' cleaning for YOU! Excellent. Giggle.

sylviesgarden said...

I sure could do with french knot lessons. No matter how hard I try I cannot do them.
Yours, of course, are stunning.
x

FLOWER FRIEND said...

I totally agree about the french knot therapy Karen.Sometimes when I look at a piece of work and can't decide on a stitch, I always come back to french knots to solve the problem.

Pooch said...

I so enjoy your lovely work and reading your blog. The white on white is breath-taking. However, I don't think I'll ever join your enjoyment of cleaning yhe bathroom!
:)

Anonymous said...

Great contrast between flat cloth and rough dense French knots.

I'd not thought of cleaning the bathroom as thinking time before...

Magpie's Mumblings said...

For me french knots are definitely not therapeutic - more of a cause for extreme angst. I don't know why, but they just refuse to cooperate. Maybe I just need to do thousands like you do!!