Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Cats and Tifaifai




 

 


I sat and embroidered two of the cats today. I always feel guilty to sit and hand sew- it does not seem like work somehow, so when I do it during the working week I feel as if it is not real work even though some things are much better sewn by hand.

The tifaifai was on a whim this morning. We have had something rather disturbing happen in the village- it has all of us reeling and thinking what now and it has a rather unpleasant impact on us. I have been feeling like the cowboy who walks into the bar through those swinging doors but i never get to the bar or to the gun fight because I keep on being hit in the moosh by the swinging door. This feeling always impacts on my work and I can't seem to lift my feet ( or scissors) because they seem leaden- but a thought struck me this morning- back to basics- back to what I know, back to the colours I like and just go. So I cut out this tifaifai without drawing a pattern I just cut it without thinking too much- just cutting- I always like the play of positive and negative and tifaifai is such a wonderful example of how different they are- one is vertical and the negative is horizontal- it makes a big difference as to how they look- they seem like hearts to me- and perhaps that is as it should be - I need to mend my heart.
Posted by Picasa

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

je poezen zijn prachtig en zouden mooi staan naast mijn verteller.
als je naar europa komt hoop ik er een te kopen

Anonymous said...

They look like lungs to me! A reminder just to keep breathing and it will all work out? And the dolls really come together with the hand sewing -- definitely no need to feel guilty there!

Shirley Goodwin said...

I agree with Kristin - they look like the alveoli in lungs. They are wonderfully regular for something you have "just cut out"! Love the way the cats come out when embroidered.

Sorry to hear the trip is off Dijanne. I recommend your book whenever I can.

Karoda said...

Yes, definitely lungs!

Paula In Pinetop said...

Lovely cats. How tall are they?

Gillian said...

I love taifaifai... and it's partly because the name is glorious. I sometimes wander around repeating it. We have a new employee called Tilila - also from the Pacific.

Here's a picture I took of a Taifaifai quilt at the new QLD Gallery of Modern Art...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tirralirra/376729136/

Enjoying your blog...

hcg said...

I hope you have a nice day! Very good article, well written and very thought out. I am looking forward to reading more of your posts in the future.