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, September 21, 2011

strips....






Strips of cloth, strips of edges, 2 or 3 inches wide, offcuts. I made these to fill in areas of my cloth for Helen. They have ragged edges at the moment but will be all pristine and neat when they are placed in the cloth. But sadly embroidery hasn't been my focus for a day or so.
Life has got hectic all of a sudden...one piece of essential modern living goes awry and the whole world crumbles or at least the ripple causes crumbling. I have the most unreliable internet provider in the history of the world and I am not kidding. I went offline yesterday, no reason I could see, just a little green light that stopped flashing....this happened about six weeks ago and my connection was off and on for about two weeks...I got a HUGE refund. Thing is, I don't want a refund I want the internet. I rang yesterday, oh dear said he, no reason said he, can't understand it said he. I had a refund so I shouldn't mind it happening again said he, and anyway said he, no need to worry Madam as we can come and fix it for you in EIGHT days. Oh well that's O.K. then......
BUT...I'm a teacher!! I have online students. I leave the classroom and there will be mayhem! So my girls have been left unattended for a whole day, I dread to think what they've been up to.....
So I drove in my little car to my friends house to use her internet....,just went in, used the internet and came away again, didn't speak to her or eat cake or anything...I had a dongle to buy. (thanks Jill, you're a star!!)
I have now bought a dongle, from another company. Now that's another story! You know how you ring up and get options, press one for this press two for that well I listened really, really carefully and couldn't hear the number you press for stupid......so I just pressed anything. Upshot...I now have a working internet dongle but.......I have to share it with my two lodgers....upshot two.....I will only have intermittent access to this for a while.....you will miss me...I know it.
Upshot three...the worst internet provider in  the world says I am tied to them for another 10 months and 17 days......Oh you think so do you???????

13 comments:

deanna7trees said...

good grief. those IPs do have our lives in their hands, don't they. I missed seeing you pop up in class yesterday, here and there but hexagons are being made and all is well. and my favorite piece of lace appears again here, today, in your post so I am very happy indeed.

**EYE-SNACKS** said...

Dear Karen, I wanna thank you for your lovely comment on my blog!
So kind of you to wrote that I deserved it,I'm flattered !

xx Ingrid

Suztats said...

Ah, yes, IP hassles abound....well, actually, I have a satellite connection for my comp and phone (no phone line her in the forest) and I am at the mercy of wind, rain, and storms. I sympathize.Hopefully, the binding can be cut....
Loving the lace, as always!

Mosaic Magpie said...

It is so frustrating to deal with companies. The old adage "The Customer is Always Right" is long gone. There are very few companies that act as if they care whether you come or go.
Deb

Anonymous said...

All growl together...

I hope they do a bit better than eight days - that's just plain silly!

Jane said...

It's so hard now to think there was a time when we didn't have it. It certainly does make you feel isolated when it doesn't work. Unfortunately, too much life going on here to get much embroidery done too. Roll on next week(at least I hope so, I daren't look at the diary)

Elizabeth said...

Oh boy I'm so glad we don't have the same provider because you can bet that for the next 10 months and 17 days these kind of problems will keep showing up in your face!!!!

Maybe you can see it as a excercise in keeping your cool.

Els said...

Aaaaah poor you ! It's awful we let ourselves become their slaves (aren't we ;-)) ......)
You got an AWFUL lot of different white fabrics !!! (how much would thát be if you had it in all different colours too ??????)

Tina said...

Oh Karen-

I am so very sorry for your issue-I do understand, if I go to a hotel and cannot get my internet, I am a plain crazy woman. I was away this week and checked in on the class information and would have been lost if I could not do that.

I hope this gets straighted out right away!

Mary said...

trans-atlantic sympathies sent....understand completely! Still waaaaaayyyyyy behind! Enjoying everything so far!

Joanna said...

I would have big problems too if my internet ever went down. I have a small job online as a moderator of student cafe and I also study online with the University of the Highlands and Islands. It is also how I keep in touch with my kids since they are in different countries.

Flaming Nora said...

Give them hell. I'm in too bad a mood my self to comment further your plight has only aggravated me further. I would probably start ranting about all that is ill with the world, get every one's back up and be banned from every where.

Again!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Maybe if we all get together and glare (swear?) at said internet provider en masse? Doubt it would do any good, but would make us all feel better and at least you'd have some moral support in your battle. Good luck!