Knot Gardens turn into Tile Work! Hooped Art

Ceramic tiles have been found in ancient archeological sites from as far back as biblical times and even earlier. The Greeks and Romans made great use of them as did the Turks to mention but a few. Depending on where they were used, tiles may have been ‘stand-alone’ pictorials or, as in ancient mosaics, just one small piece of a whole design. This Knot Garden is a very simplified version of a “Lover’s Knot” designed by Stephen Blake in 1664. It is based on an interlace design that might have been found in a wealthy family’s coat of arms. But turn the design just 45 degrees and could just as well be used in a tile design! As a tile, it could be part of a quilting border, for example, employing machine stitching for the lines, to create relief as the tiles ‘travel’ around the outer edge forming a border. Keeping this in mind, no doubt there are many other ways to make use of the design as a tile. The stitches used: closed herringbone, woven rose, colonial knot, French knot, lazy daisy, fly stitch and long-tail fly stitch, feather stitch Includes: material list, interlaced garden template for tracing, order of stitching, stitch diagrams, instruction photos, ideas of ways to use the design, and ideas for other ways to work the design Dimensions: 4 5/16” x 4 5/16” [11 x 11cm]”