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







Thursday, January 5, 2012

next....




It has been such a busy week....first of all thanks to all of you. Thanks for the feedback about my feature, it has been amazing and I still can't quite believe I have been showcased in that way. Also, thanks for the response to yesterdays video...it has been viewed a phenomenal amount of times and it appears to be a thumbs up for that method of hosting video too...
Next a big thanks to all ''my girls'' from all my previous classes. I have put together a page on here with some of your feedback...hope you don't mind. You can see that here.....
To find out more about my next class which starts on Monday...(yikes...better get some pencils sharpened and some detention slips printed!!) just look here and to register go here.....phew, that's all the house keeping done.
Now for embroidery...this is the next section of my ''fiddly'' sampler...very much in its infancy. There is cross stitch, cotton tape and silk along with more stitched scrim. Somehow this will all fit with the pieces that are ready and waiting to be joined and titivated.

titivate   tr.v. tit·i·vat·ed, tit·i·vat·ing, tit·i·vates. To make decorative additions to; spruce up. 


I know I didn't have to put that definition on here...but I wanted to....humour me....
I have had a request to show the back of some of my work...after I had calmed the cold sweat I broke into I decided that it may not be a bad idea...so I am cogitating on that one and next time you may see a lot of loose ends and very untidy backs of work!!! I will also draw the winners of my give away from years and years ago...I know, I am useless, what can I say.....

11 comments:

Jane said...

I like the tape, fits in well with the cloth as a whole.
I've started another whitework piece, this time in silk, feels very sumptious

Tina said...

Karen-beautiful, again! I love what you are doing with the scrim-it is lovely and looks like you are creating lace.

deanna7trees said...

every time i see your beautiful images, i remind myself that i need to get back to my cloth(s) that need finishing. i keep adding bits and pieces to the pile that i want to add to the cloth but haven't gotten there yet. it is on my list.

Suztats said...

sigh. Lovely.

Anonymous said...

It's certainly looking intriguing!

Peggy Holt said...

Wow...titivate. Yes, you did have to put in the definition....a great new word for me. I am going to write it out in big letters and pin it to my wall. My new word.

Tape--only you would come up with that. Every time you introduce something new I think, "why didn't I think of that?" Thanks for inspiring my day once again.

Joanna said...

My Grandad was a lovely man but he used to turn over my work to look at the back. I still feel guilty at times when it is not as tidy as he would have liked. He was very encouraging about my work though :)

Brenda T said...

Outstanding! I love the cross stitch with the tape and the scrim... it looks like lace. You continually inspire everyone. Thank you for sharing and teaching.

Mosaic Magpie said...

My new favorite day will be Monday!!
Deb

Anonymous said...

Hooray for seeing the backs of things! I think most of us are a bit untidy on the back... but it's the backs that make us who we are. I always think it feels very intimate to look at the reverse of embroidery.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

DETENTION slips??? Oh crap - I'm already known as the trouble maker in the class, so I guess I can be pretty sure I'll be handed a few of those. Drat!!