rituals…

This spring my work Keeping Up Appearances #5 was selected for the Dinner@Eight annual invitational exhibit. The theme was ‘Rituals’ and I chose the ritual of table setting for my piece.  The exhibit catalog   is now available from Blurb. It’s a beautiful book!

For this piece the main fabric was what else? a heavy cotton  tablecloth woven in metallic threads in a block pattern.  I screen-printed more of the 1950’s etiquette text on this cloth last fall just before I had my first knee replacement.

The fabric hung on my design wall all throughout my recovery as my inspiration to begin anew. My original idea underwent a metamorphosis during that time and I ended up designing something completely different. I used tulle between layers which basically created a nightmare for stitching but in the end I was pleased with the results.

Now just ten days from my second knee replacement I am thinking about what I want on the wall next to inspire me!  There have been some fabrics pinned up there for awhile that still inspire but as my father’s health declined nothing was started. So these fabrics will remain there but I may draw the template for another stone path piece now when it is easier physically to do so.  I anticipate a much more rapid recovery this time around because I do know what to expect.  Yet in reality I just have my eye trained on the prize…being fully mobile in the world once more.