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







Tuesday, April 10, 2012

a page



Last night was one of those nights....you know the one. The one where I can't be bothered getting the sewing machine out. Instead I got out my tiny sketchbook and filled a page in there...a worthwhile exercise I think if only to add a little more attractiveness to that corner of my home where this lives...it now has titivations...dangly things as Deanna calls them.
Today the table is a mess of all kinds again. I am edging, I am binding, I am sewing on THE machine...no excuse today. There is a even a little bit of pink laying on there for demonstration purposes. It's good to have a little pink sometimes...it brightens and cheers. 
I am tired today too...I waited up for my son to come home from his break in Amsterdam. It was his birthday you see and I had to see him on his birthday...so I am yawning....I guess yawning is preferable to the screaming I was doing as he arrived in the world back then.....I have no shame however and am willing to admit to being told to scream quieter by a midwife as she couldn't hear herself on the telephone.....yes that's me....lightweight softy!



11 comments:

deanna7trees said...

those dangly things have gotten to me. I am addicted. need to get back to working on my other piece but I can't seem to pull myself away.

Carol Q said...

lovely little book Karen - that got my attention straight away!

jill said...

Happy Birthday James and I like the dangly bits

Rachel said...

You've created a lovely little page there!

Tammie Lee said...

i love your gauzy pieces, ethereal beauty.

Elizabeth said...

Love it when you give yourself time to play a bit more.

Tatkis said...

Such a sweet and lovely page!
Congrats with your son's birthday :)

Hugs,
Tatyana

sharon young said...

This is such a lovely practice, and so very useful when you're creating a new piece. Wish I was so organised, I tend to rush on and forget to recorded stuff or lose the sample!

stitchinglife said...

What a lovely page. I especially like the piece on the far right next to the hexagons.

Janice / Dancing with Sunflowers said...

Happy Birthday to James. And this is a beautiful page with all the dangly bits!
Off to the knots now.
x

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Happy belated birthday to James! I think, when you waited up late to welcome him home, that all the screaming those years ago was pretty worthwhile.