Karen Ruane

My little girl got married.

My little girl got married. She looked so beautiful! !

Sent from Samsung Mobile

My little girl got married.

My little girl got married. She looked so beautiful! !

Sent from Samsung Mobile

see you soon....

An image of a jumble today, a jumble of pieces that will remain untouched for a little while now. I am off early in the morning.........Yesterday I was up North....eating cake. Today I am packing suitcases. 

Don't forget you can follow me on Instagram....@karenruane and I will be lurking over on facebook too.

The shop will be closed later and will re open on November 4 in case you want to be part of Simply Stitch 3.

Thank you to ALL of you who have wished my daughter well. I appreciate it more than you know.

Miss you already.

products of a weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am about to pat myself on the back. The whole weekend wasn't, as it happens, spent cleaning the house there was a fair amount of creativity happening too. Another block is finished for the sampler cloth/pocket/body bag and a new piece of paperwork is taking shape.

Gauging how much more work I can do before I leave the country is a little difficult. I can stitch this evening but not tomorrow. Tomorrow I am going ''up North''. Wednesday there will be last minute things to attend to and then I may stitch a little in the evening. All in all I may not get much more done embroidery wise until I come back.  

So....I won't be here tomorrow...insert sad face....but I will be here one final time on Wednesday. Following on from that I may post whilst I am away. I have tested that process out and my images do post but the wrong way round. I guess it might be exciting not knowing whether or not you will get to see something upside down! I have visions of you all standing on your heads to look at whatever picture I post. I will most definitely have a presence on Instagram whilst I am away...wi fi access permitting and you will see me lurking on facebook too. But.....I haven't gone yet......see you on Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

I'm having trouble with facebook....can't upload, can't update my status. Anyone else having problems or should  take it personally?

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surface....relaxing stitching.

coming together

this weekend

a wrapping cloth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of pictures today....should keep you out of trouble for a while. I had a hankering for a wrapping cloth do you remember? This one was carefully stored in several pieces, unfinished. I worked on it a little yesterday, joined a couple of sections and it felt so good to have it in my hands again. After having reacquainted myself with it I now think it needs more sections, more pieces put together. I'm not sure I will have time to do that before I go away but if I do I will show you.

Meanwhile ''operation spotless towers'' is almost complete. I cleaned my bedroom today...THOROUGHLY. I have such a tiny house and I am always astounded at how much cleaning is needed in such a small space. If I lived in a mansion I would need an army of cleaners every day. If you watch Coronation Street then to give you an idea my little place is smaller than the house lived in by Ken and Deirdre, I kid you not. Why then is it so hard to clean, time consuming to keep clean and the biggest question of all is how I ever managed to raise two children here???? All I can assume is that I must have, at that point in my life been a SUPER domestic goddess...super duper cleaner, tidier and mother.

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mostly white

the cloth.....almost there

more.....

embellishing Astrid

The pages I am working on here are from the book ''Spyflungan Astrid'' by Maria Jonsson. Published by Bonnier Carlsen.

 

 

this image shows the reverse of the previous page, where French knots have been stitched onto the page. This illustrates the interesting effects that can be achieved on the reverse of embroidered pieces

 

 

 

Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour giving a little attention to Astrid. She has been somewhat neglected since I brought her home from Sweden in June. Tiny amounts of stitch have been worked on the pages and scraps of paper have been painted, scribbled on and mounted into the book. There are also some copies of my own work in here, a reminder to myself of what I do. I wish...oh how I wish I could create as beautiful a background with sketch or paint as the one provided by this gorgeous book. I know, I know...I say that a lot. I moan and complain about my lack of artistic ability with pen, pencil and paint. I need to loosen up, perhaps sketch madly for a time. If I create say ten sketches and nine of them finish up in the bin maybe the one that remains will have been worth the effort. I owe it to myself to at least try and I owe it to you to stop moaning and get on with it!

more.....

 

 

Two more pieces for my sampler cloth/pocket/body bag are taking shape in fact one of them, I am thinking, is finished. The hexagon piece has more added to it. There are applique petals, another hexagon motif and several little flowers dotted across the surface. The other piece here was started last night. Three patches and a huge applique circle which has partial edges of bullion knots are waiting to be embellished further. I think there will be cross stitch on here and more petals perhaps.

There has been longing for a wrapping cloth here over the past couple of days. The reason? some of the simply stitch group are finishing their cloths as part of the simply stitch process, uploading images to the group. I have such a connection to those cloths, a connection I hadn't realised was so strong........I do have an almost finished wrapping cloth languishing here. I may just have to finish it.

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adding cross stitch inserts

applique petals, the beginnings of an applique sampler

cross stitch and patches

special.....

paper, paper and stitch, paper and collage, basically....paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, there's a bit of a paper theme going on today. For those of you who didn't take Simply Stitch 2 these images will be previously unseen. This is a glimpse of things that were used, created, conceived during simply stitch 2 during our paper play days. Here's hoping you like them! There is a mix of collage, stitched papers, ripped papers, torn edges, frayed cloth and pages of books that have been added to.

This morning has been positively insane. I have been here, there and everywhere. I have had no time to browse online, check flickr, read mail let alone answer mail. I have ordered the world to calm down.....take a deep breath....count to ten. This afternoons theme is serenity.....

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embroidered paper

another paper day

bumps and cross stitch....

This weeks Alchmey

this morning

 

 

I extended my table earlier today in order to asses my progress with the body bag, the silk sampler pocket/pouch/sleeping bag. This is by far the easiest way for me to gauge where I am up to, what still needs to be done. One or two things are much clearer now too. First of all I have decided not to use lace cloth in this piece. It doesn't look right, it doesn't feel right. I had tried it laid against some pleated muslin last week and thought it would work, would add something but seeing it alongside the silk pieces I no longer think so.

Secondly, and blindingly obvious to me if not you, I need much more, I still have a lot of work to do. There is a definite need for more pleated muslin panels. I knew that already, initially I figured a minimum of 6, now I'm thinking 8. They don't take very long to create at all so I need not push myself in that direction. That leaves embroidered silk panels. You saw the start of a new one yesterday with the hexagon piece and I now think I will need another 6 or so of those on top of that. All in all this is far from finished. I'm in no hurry, it's for me. The longer it takes the more I will love it.

I also did more chores today, yes ''operation spotless towers'' is going well. I ironed clothes, I washed and ironed and put back cushion covers. My ironing board is still up as next on the list are curtains. Way to go girl!!! aren't I good?

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embroidery and snippets of paper

paper page with a bullion edge

another panel for the sampler cloth/body bag

lace cloth, pleated muslin, embroidery

pleated muslin and embroidered silk

pleated muslin and embroidered silk continued......

hexagons....

 

 

Hello from spotless towers....I told you I would clean up didn't I? To be fair I haven't done ''everything''. There are still cushion covers to wash, curtains to change and a bed to transform with new linen but it is definitely cleaner here than it was this time yesterday. I also give you proof that I was distracted from paper by hexagons....another panel for the body bag. I provided my own background too, a little artwork from way, way back that I think you have seen before but then you have seen my table many times too so at least this makes a change.

Technological issues abound today....boo!! I can't get my feeds to work...again, and I'm also not receiving notifications when I get comments and such so if you need me, if you want me, if you mailed me and I am not responding that would be because I am oblivious. Please persevere.......pretty please.

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hexagons.....for the edge.

pleated muslin and embroidered silk continued......

fluffy cloth hexagons and a tiny jar....