Circles are a recurring element in my recent work. They represent continuity of life, rebirth, memory. Connections to our past, and promises of a future are contained in them. Family circles, circles of friends, the emails you forward to share the jokes, the wheels on our cars and bikes, connect us, links in a chain of life, chain stitched. The circle is a woman, with arms wrapped around generations past and to be born.
We don't build the world anew with every generation. We build onto the foundation given to us by our parents. Just like computer software is not scrapped and started over when our needs evolve. A new application is built onto the framework of existing programs. I think of embroidery like this. Whether done by hand or machine, the shapes are layered, the stitches grow on and around them. Sometimes they are sports, and take off unexpectedly. Occasionally I can make them do as I wish. I continue the family tradition of handwork, and I see the hands of the past as I stitch. And I stitch with a sewing machine, and teach my granddaughters to do so, to keep the long seam going.