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Saturday 18 August 2012

Alice - Busy Hands


She seeks wool and flax,and works willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31:13

Busy hands is the theme of this week's tribute to Proverbs 31 women. Alice, my grandmother certainly had busy hands, even though she suffered crippling arthritis in her hands. I remember her knitting all grandchildren, a jersey for Birthdays, and I know at one stage she spun. She also sewed and embroidered and made lace. As she got older and the arthritis set in, it was just knitting and machine sewing with a bit of crochet thrown in. And even older still – I talking about her 80s and nineties she did a lot of scrapbooking. Her hands were always busy.

She was heavily involved with WI (Women's Institute), and at one time the president for the whole of New Zealand. She really believed that all women and girls should know homemaking skills. She taught my mother how to sew and knit, as her own mother had not taught her (she was a career woman and everything was brought ready made.) When I was eight and my sister was six she had us for the holidays and taught us to knit and embroider. I find it sad that the generation of today are losing these skills, the computer and TV have a lot to answer for. Mind you, the price of wool and materials, make it an expensive option for clothing.

I used coloured pencils this week, and found it a struggle to do the hands. I tend to hide hands if at all possible when painting and drawing! I used pencil, as by the time I worked out the hands, I didn't have time to do a painting.



15 comments:

  1. Wow the hands turned out really well!! Very nice painting!! Last week my son in law got some well made designer shirts for 10 dollars a piece, I couldn't buy the material for that price. So it's no wonder people no longer sew much. It's a luxury to sew and knit. I like to crochet but haven't sewed in years. There are still many people who sew,and knit, but it's no longer a necessity like it was back in the day!! Artistic types find any measure to fill their creative void. Having the computer allows us more creative exploration. I would have been in my glory looking for patterns online when I was young!!

    Have a great weekend!
    Hugs Giggles

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  2. Love the colors in your picture! Beautiful!

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  3. Love the perspective on this, good job!! :)

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  4. and my first thought on seeing this was wow she does hands so well! Really! It's really lovely and so well done. I agree we need to teach our young ones to sew and do other hand works. Both my grandkids nearby have sewn small quilts on my machine (at age six and seven). they have made dolls at school, sewn costumes by hand. Between me and their school they are learning a lot. My grandmother (m) also sewed all her own clothes. My mom and aunts all knit beautiful clothing, suits, sweaters.
    I sewed clothing. I love fabric art now. May this circle be unbroken!

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  5. what great hands!!! these are very difficult poses to do and it all looks very exciting!

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  6. What a wonderful hands. You are right, it is sad the the young ones today are not interested in handcrafts. I tried to encourage my daughter to learn, but she is not interested. Me too love handcrafting:)

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  7. I love how your words reflect your art work and how both reflect The quote from Proverbs. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. I think you did a fantastic job on the hands! They're hard for me, too--I wonder why?

    I'm glad that all three of my children (including my boy) know how to sew and crochet and knit and cook and can homemade jam. They've also learned how to replace windows and lay laminate flooring! I feel like I've given them a useful education...

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  9. It's beautiful. Such talent. My grandmother crocheted. The first thing I remember her making for me is a soft yellow hat for my doll. I'm carrying on the tradition with my own granddaughter. It was grandma who taught me to crochet and soon I'll teaching my granddaughter.

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  10. Lovely tribute. The hands look soft and gentle.

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  11. Sharon, I read many of your posts and it's very inspiring to see that you are creating for God. Your painting is beautiful and you did the hands so well too. Love the colors! I really pray that your hands will be healed soon. My dad also has it and he takes an avocado supplement as well as eat fruits like papaya and avocado. He also uses hot compress. I love to learn how to knit and someday I think I will. We just have to do it and focus on one thing at a time.Have a blessed day!

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  12. Its really lovely. I think keeping hands busy helps with the arthritis. Its when you give in that it really gets bad. I have young friends who are taking up knitting so its not totally a lost art. I tried but it drove me nuts. I would rather use a pencil and paint brush. :)) HPPF and thanks for your comment.

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  13. Beautiful tribute. Reminds me of my grandmother who taught me how to embroider and crochet when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I've always enjoyed all kinds of needlework and other crafts. That probably got me started. Thank you for sharing.
    Blessings,
    Charlotte

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  14. Love those eyes of the pretty lady. So vibrant!

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  15. Such a beautiful tribute.

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