Birds of Paradise, or Peace

Arts & Crafts Embroidery
Originally uploaded by notionnanny

This form of embroidery is typical of American Arts and Crafts Movement period textiles, using pearlized cotton (or silk) thread in satin stitch or couching on linen. Although the socialist underpinnings of the English Arts and Crafts Movement seem to have faded in its transition to America, the utopian ideals of nature and handcrafts in harmony as an antidote to the industrial revolution remain. I'd like to think of these birds as doves, but they are probably meant to be swallows.