meaning to stitch 2

reflecting on work so far

my makers membership with Ruth Singer has prompted me to look back on the meaningful stitching i have done - our focus is on family, initially people, and i notice that much of my meaningful work has been about family and/or people - i find that strangely reassuring as i seem to have spent long periods of my life trying to escape my family!

something noticeable about much of that work is the absence of "people" - i rarely use actual representations of people, criminal embroidery was something of an exception  

WW1 Sawdust Heart

i prefer the people to be referred to or implied, so i use cloth, objects and other devices as i did in WW1 Sawdust Heart - it would have been tempting to use images of the family here, but i felt that was clunky - the piece was about celebrating their spirit and legacy 

looking back at this piece i see further layers in it that i did not knowingly add: we connect the heart with generosity and the three children (who i knew as  my grandmother and her siblings) were very giving people - all 3 had jobs, vocations even, which involved public service as teachers and a doctor 

also the lace trim connects back to Calais, where 2 of them spent their working lives and brought up their own families

looking back has also made me realise how important it has been for me to document what i do in my blog - it has seemed like vanity at times, but now it is really useful as a way to look back and pick out the processes i go thorough when creating meaningful work 

i know that it is not a linear process - in the early stages there is a lot of collecting ideas, objects, materials themes etc - there is often sampling or trying out and it has been hard to get over the feeling of wasting time or resources through doing this - but i now accept that it is time well spent - apart from the practical issues of tryying out methods and styles it brings a physical connection with the themes and content which i don't get otherwise 

i've only just realised that's what happened in Threads of Time I when i did the printing on fabric for samples 

then there are long periods where everything seem to stew and simmer - developing unstirred in the dark! or being ignored and left in a UFO situation! i now know this is part of the process, but it's the bit i want to shorten and/or make more purposeful