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







Wednesday, June 15, 2011

why, what for, the reason....

All those little pieces of embroidery I have been making, remember.....well they weren't born from a whim. It was a long term plan arising from when I started documenting sketchbook pages on here. Can you see it? Can you tell they are inspired by this page of my sketchbook? Today I am just showing you a few of the fifty odd images I need to edit in order that I can list these.


There are eleven in total, I know... a weird number but no particular reason for that. There are also white ones and blue and white ones from another page in my sketchbook. What do you think? Can you see the connection between the page of scribbles and the embroidery born from it? If I was to have one of these I would put it in my journal, my sketchbook and work from it. There is a lot of design mileage in these.


They inspire doodling, colour combinations, textured surfaces, large embroidered pieces, collage. The possibilities are endless. I am going to list them all this evening, when the pictures are edited, pictures taken with my new camera. I survived yesterdays near breakdown although it was a close call I can tell you! I am still finding my way around the new one but we will get there, me and my new Olympus.......and just before I go, get back to the photo editing madness, don't forget, if it's buttons you want to win and you couldn't care less about my carefully, meticulously and precisely put together mini design sheets then you need to be here....
***update***
I got my act together, I was good, I sat at the computer for hours.....they are all now listed!!

18 comments:

Jane said...

It's going to be interesting seeing where this journey goes. The framing really does something for those little puffy bits

Anonymous said...

The connection between the sketchbooks and the embroidery are actually very clear.

I'm glad to hear you are getting to grips with your new camera!

Gayle said...

These are very inspirational...beautiful!

Elizabeth said...

Fascinating.

Hope you and Olympus become best of friends.

Carol said...

Properly awesome, loved them when u showed them before, but the work from them is just stunning :)so impressive well done you

Montreat Designs said...

Absolutely wonderful Karen!!!!!

Anonymous said...

How lovely

Ferg 'N' Jude said...

What a wonderful way to show off your embroidery, they are beautiful.

Iceni UK said...

truly beautiful embroideries Karen.
Your work is awe inspiring and a joy to look at each day.

letrecivette said...

Simply..wonderful!
Monica

Tammie Lee said...

Karen!!!!! gorgeous!

vintagerockchick said...

I love them - and the original artwork - especially the way you have 'extensions' built into the book!

Sheeprustler said...

LOVE your design sheets, I have never been able to do such neat and useful ones!!

Philippa said...

It is wonderful to see you sketchbooks alongside the stitched pieces. For me it really enriches them, being able to see where your starting point was and where it is now. Very beautiful. Thank you for sharing so generously.

Sea Angels said...

Hi Karen are you coming to the show...starts tonight.. Manchester Tommorow.. I am in Manchester at the show on Sat if you fancy a cup of tea
Lynn xxx

Anonymous said...

The framed fragments are gorgeous. I can just see them framed and hung somewhere light, white and minimalist where they could draw the eye and be admired. :o)

Linda Carole Bloom said...

These are extremely cool. Never seen anything like them! Love, Linda

Victoria said...

love, love love!