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, August 10, 2011

silk...



I hope these pictures are o.k. for you. It is very wet, gloomy and dark here today and it was so difficult trying to photograph this tiny piece of embroidery. Tiny is a good word for it, it is very small. At the moment a mere 4 x 2 inches. So far I have spent four hours embroidering this piece. I am not complaining, not at all. That's one of the reasons I love embroidery, the satisfaction I get from the time and care invested in every piece and the knowledge that I am definitely not the first female to devote time and care to cloth, unquestionably that has been the case for generations.
I intend to expand this a little more before I add it to a piece of paperwork. I had a mini panic this morning...here I am faffing about taking a huge amount of time making one small piece for Sunday. I have tons of pieces I can take and I will take them, somehow I just got it into my head that I should make a special piece too, in honour of the occasion I suppose. The panic arose when it occurred to me that I should probably be preparing some stuff for the mini tutorial that will be part of the finished video....
Because of that sudden realisation I have spent most of the morning making lists and making plans. The lists are about the pieces I will actually take with me. The plans are for the things I need to prepare...a Blue Peter moment for the English among you as in the saying..'here's one I made earlier' so alongside working on this silk piece I will be preparing hexagons, joining them together and embellishing but not completing some paper pieces...that should keep me out of trouble for a while!

12 comments:

Lois Evensen said...

Tiny can be so beautiful, can't it! Just lovely.

deanna7trees said...

tiny is hard but beautiful.

Elizabeth said...

Your piece looks stunning. I'm a little for this rising stresslevel of yours since there are still a couple of days before it is sunday.
Take care of yourself.

Tammie Lee said...

ethereal
~

Jeannie said...

Simply beautiful. The texture and the sheen of the silk and stitch just takes my breath away.

Montreat Designs said...

Just dreamy....

IzzyInBliss said...

So intricate and poetic! I love the spiritual connection you make to the generations of women before us through your embroidery work.

Suztats said...

Tiny or not, it's gorgeous! I love those lacy windows!

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine how excited/terrified you must be feeling. You are very, very brave. And organised. And brilliant. It will all be just fine :-)

Janice / Dancing with Sunflowers said...

It's beautiful Karen. May all your Blue Peter moments be effortless. Good luck on Sunday!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Will the video be available for purchase? I know that I'd love a copy to tide me over until the book gets done (I know -nag, nag).

Anonymous said...

Despite the grey weather your photos are fabulous and the work is exquisite!