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







Friday, April 22, 2011

blue and white buttons and blue and white cloth....

Happy Easter everyone! Too much chocolate? I hope so....
The blue and white piece is really evolving now and boy do I love it. This is the piece I showed you the other day. I damp stretchd it and then randomly ruched it, catching it down here and there with a few french knots. I then added it to another piece of silk so that I have a textured raised area to the left and a flat section to the right, approximately two thirds of the piece are flat, the ruched area being quite narrow now after the manipulation. Where the two pieces join I have heavily embellished with more french knots. That seam can be seen at the bottom of the top picture. I now have to embroider the flat section, the thinking cap is on for that, I haven't made a firm decision yet.The blue and white buttons are also finished, they are gifts but won't be given for a week or so because I am off on my travels again next week. London again, tuesday for a few days. I will be coming back the day before the wedding, don't want to upstage them now do I? It is my daughters birthday you see so I am going to spend a few days with her. Her birthday is actually on the wedding day but her partner wants to spoil her for the day and who am I to stand in the way of that...I know she will have a wonderful day with him and I will get to see her for three whole days just before the day, we can still have balloons and cake!!
I have hardly been near the computer since I last blogged, I have been beavering away with this piece so I have a lot of people to thank for comments and so many blogs to visit. Hopefully I will get round to that today but if not definitely tomorrow, promise.
Just a word on my thirty pieces too. For a trained educator I am awful at being clear about my plans. No wonder I was rubbish at my job!! The thirty pieces will not all be blue and white.....what they will be I don't know yet but the requirement isn't to have them all the same.
I am off to have some lunch now, then it's shopping for birthday gifts......have a wonderful day!

17 comments:

Jane said...

Love the effect of the raised area, great idea.
Hope you find what you are looking for today

Carol Q said...

beautiful work Karen. it's the sort of thing that needs to be touch and examined in detail . good thing I can't - I'd probably get it all grubby lol.

Suztats said...

Lovely, Karen! Hope the shopping fairy is with you.

connie said...

I love your blue and white piece they make me want to touch them!!! Have a great time with your daughter! Sounds like such fun!

Good luck with the Birthday shopping. :-)

Miriam Weaver said...

Your work is lovely as always! Hope you enjoy yourself when you come down to visit your daughter in the BigSmoke!

Heartwideopen said...

Your work just makes me sigh... the sun is shining in my window, the birds are flying around and chattering at each other, and I have this glorious cloth to gaze at! I LOVE those buttons too! Beautiful...

;~) Debi

fabriquefantastique said...

Wonderful post and work...your enthusiasm is shining through

Helena said...

A Very Happy Easter to you and a Happy birthday to your daughter.
Kisses.

Lois Evensen said...

Love the blue and white (that's not a big surprise - favorite colors!). Safe travels and Happy Easter!

Linda Carole Bloom said...

Happy Easter Karen, have a wonderful time with your daughter!
Love, Linda

vintagerockchick said...

Have a lovely time in London - it'd be lovely to meet up for tea and buns sometime when you're down here.
Hope you have had more luck with the birthday shopping today. Happy Easter - and I'm not sure I understand the expression "too much chocolate"?

DIAN said...

Love this look -the blue & white is a classic look isn't it.

I want to say here also that I received the gorgeous pin pillow which I bought from your Etsy shop.

I absolutely love it. What more can I say.

Anonymous said...

The ruched effect is lovely.

Enjoy your upcoming holiday!

Perpetua said...

Ahhhhhh This is the kind of 3-d stuff you wee doing when I first found you! I love this stuff. The look so oceanic.

Sparky said...

how delicate your work is my dear...anything blues and whites well what can one say..it is heavenly. These are no exception...

Johoanna Robson said...

The blue and white buttons and cloth are beautiful. Have a wonderful time with your daughter. :)

Pearl Maple said...

gorgeous creation, not seen anything quite like that before and they are just delightful