Karen Ruane

stretching

I have two very different pieces of work on my damp stretching board today. One is my festooned/veil/holey/lace/white thingy the other a piece that will be of interest to those of you planning on joining me for 'embroider, embellish, create' at the beginning of November. I am sure some of you must be thinking why on earth has she started a white wrapping cloth when Ledgers is going on and the veil thingy isn't finished. Well....I have a problem. My veil piece is worked exclusively in coton a broder. I ordered more as I was running low........two weeks ago! It hasn't arrived so basically I have no thread, an embroiderer with no thread. I do have lots of perle but that has a sheen, the broder is matt, I am loathe to mix thread at this stage so I began a white piece with perle just to keep the fingers working. Occasionally I draw, I will draw later today to keep my ledger going whilst leaving numerous answer phone messages on the thread suppliers number.

my ledger

Just a brief glimpse inside my ledger today. As you can see I have had the pencils and paints out along with the coloured thread....sometimes I do use colour although it always feels weird. Yesterday was spent socialising so very little has been accomplished creatively since I was last here. Today will be laundry....it breeds in my basket. Either that or the neighbours sneak in whilst I am asleep and leave theirs.

Can I do a little begging now? and a lot of pretty please grovelling? If you have me in your link list please can you amend it to direct people here and not my old blog. I think my stats are being affected in a  negative way and you know how obsessed I am about stats. A zillion thank yous and a lot of kisses for doing that xxxxxxx

creating and painting

This morning I have been ''perusing' my ledger....some of which is hidden as the girls haven't seen it yet. I am actually finding it quite relaxing picking this book up and playing for a little while each day. It's like being back at school! Mind you....I didn't like it there much....this is different, I like this. I have also been putting together more cloth for the veil/festooned/holey/lace piece, just pinned for the moment.

This made me smile yesterday...really. Uttely charming? My Northern English  ''common'' voice,

(Synonyms:

ordinary - vulgar - usual - general - coarse - public)

I am so grateful...utterly charming...I will live off that compliment for years, thank you so much!

I won't be here tomorrow and I can see you all jumping for joy now. I will be spending time with my little brother who is coming all the way from Sweden to see me....

different

I made a very short video this morning to illustrate progress on my white cloth. My concern? that you would think I was posting the same picture over and over again so please  humour me...it's only just over one minute long.

I had worried that I wouldn't have time to give this piece any attention for a while but I am pleased to say that I got a couple of hours embroidery completed on it last night. Fingers are crossed here that I am able to do that most days.

           

white on blue

These images were taken a few days ago...pre my ''under the weather'' period. This particular background was hanging around waiting for use in the video I made for you yesterday and I thought the white cloth worked really well laid over the blue. In case you don't recognise it this is my veil/festooned cloth with another section joined. In truth nothing much has happened with this piece since then. I fear it may be  little while before I get back to this one.  I am working hard getting ready for tomorrow and Ledgers. I am all set, I just hope the girls have sharpened their pencils....

In other news...can I please have postal addresses for the following four lucky people who have each won a stick of Blackpool Rock.

Maureen

Dianne

Elaine Hartley

Elizabeth Peters

Thanks for the symapthy re my man flu it is appreciated....how do I feel today? not sure.....

fabric paints

Since I was last here I have been battling man flu and had a very unproductive weekend spent sniffling and feeling sorry for myself. I am still a little ''out of sorts'' today but have had enough of my sick bed....life goes on and I have Ledgers to prepare for. We start on Wednesday so you still have time to sign up if you want to join us......there is more information here . I promised you a ''doodling'', ''drawing'' video but I'm afraid I have  had to let you down for now...fabric painting is all I have managed. Actually I have been hankering after painting some cloth for a while now so it turned out well for me although I'm not finished. More paint needs to be added to this and then I have plans which I speak about in the video. You will have to excuse me now....I need to go blow my nose.

p.s. the video is germ free.

 

           

nine down six to go....

I know, I know, I'm late. I am feeling sorry for myself...sneezy, runny nose, headache...it must be MAN FLU as it is so bad. I battled the weekly supermarket challenge this morning decidedly not in the mood, but I did it...I'm such a martyr. Now I am home, surrounded by tissues and peppermint tea. Occasionally stamping my feet tantrum form and generally behaving like a spoilt brat. Note to self...pull yourself together and grow up.

Nine of these tiny adornments are now completely finished and another six are stitting on my damp stretching board waiting for me to stop sneezing and give them some attention. That means five for me, five for gift recipient number one and five for gift recipient number two. Not much else is happening though due to my current state of permanent sulk. I do want to launder some cloth, press some lace, maybe practice painting before I show you my painting practice. Did you follow that? In essence...before I practice my painting on video, in front of you...I want to practice...oh dear, now I'm confused.

I have answered ALL the comments from the last couple of days in the comment sections....I quite like doing that......so have a look if you want to know what I said. I have a hugely crammed inbox too and I am going to come blog visiting over the weekend...and yes, I am bringing my germs with me.

it's evolving beautifully......

I promised you a video today and it's here. Around 4 minutes long so hopefully not long enough to send you to sleep!! As I said before I am very conscious that you may get sick of seeing this cloth so it has a different background today. This is a piece of work I created for one of my modules at uni. It's a design for fabric, in repeat. I don't actually like it that much in so far as I wouldn't want fabric like this. What I do like is the surface, the process that was used in its creation. So although it doesn't appeal to me aesthetically, its a valuable reference and one I am happy still to have.

Back to the video......I hope you find it worthwhile and that it gives you a more realistic sense of this piece.

         

gifts....

I am making gifts. Gifts for two people who shall remain nameless. These are not finished and there are others waiting to be embroidered, a little lace to be placed behind windows, a few bullion knots to be added and then of course they will need to be damp stretched. I am hopeful they will be finished some time tomorrow.

The photographs were taken on an old sketchbook page...no surprise that I am looking at old sketchbooks seeing as how Ledgers starts next week. There are only a couple of places left now so if you have been contemplating you can pop over here and read more.

If you have already signed up to Ledgers then you should have received an e mail today regarding the class blog, passwords etc. If you haven't received that then please get in touch asap.....

Promises were made by me yesterday, remember? about videos? never fear. I haven't forgotten I just haven't had much time today. The plan is for the first video to be on here tomorrow....

ever present

Despite yesterdays colourful cloth white remains. I am still working on my festooned cloth/veil which I started during the extending embellishment class that has just ended. Today there are new bumpy bits....circles of lace embellished with bullion knots and buttonhole edging. There is still a lot of work to do on this, it grows only slowly. I haven't made a final decision yet on whether this will be backed and if it is to be backed what I will use for that. I am drawn to silk net....but that could be cost prohibitive. 

This morning I have been putting the final touches to our class blog for Ledgers which starts next week. Obviously I am going to be working on paper a lot in the coming weeks but I also aim to continue with this piece. If you are signed up for Ledgers then you should get mail from me tomorrow. Later this week I will create a short video about this veil/cloth/white piece in order that you see it more clearly, the lightness and fragility of it. Then...if I am organised enough..(knowing me I would advise not holding your breath!) I hope to show you a short, short video of me practicing drawing and such like. Believe me...I need practice.

Finally...there is a little confusion for non British people as to what Blackpool Rock  is. Sorry about that...I should have known that not everyone in the world has eaten their way through tons of the stuff!! To clarify...click here.