Karen Ruane: March 2014

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March 2014

03/31/2014

the Liberty pouch

This one came together very quickly in the end...it almost overtook me. I now have a brand spanking new pouch, for me, for cloth.

So you could get a better look at this there is a very short video...2 minutes or thereabouts. I hope you like it.

Posted at 12:39 PM in Liberty print fabric, pouch, video | Permalink | Comments (21)

Tags: embroidery, Liberty cloth, pouch, video

03/30/2014

pouch, pillow, Liberty and loops....

Sometimes, of an evening, I am working on things for ''4'' or ''pillows and pages'' and I get to a point that needs to be finished on camera. When that happens it gets put to one side and something else, non group related gets picked up. When this happened last night my Liberty pouch....you are familiar with that......was picked up as it waiting for a ten minute final titivation and then required damp stretching. Check, done, ticked off the list. You can see that here, all that is left is for me to back it.

Rather than then sitting and practicing my thumb twiddling I got out more Liberty, a scrap of silk and a piece of cotton cloth. That's the piece with the pinks and the prairie points you can see here. Another pillow...cushion...whatever. I know. How many pillows do I need?

Posted at 01:14 PM in Liberty print fabric, loops, loopy edge, pillow, pouch | Permalink | Comments (14)

Tags: bullion knots, Liberty, loops, pillow, pouch, prairie points

03/29/2014

gathering blue and white

Today is officially blue and white Saturday. I can do that, officially change the name of a day because it's Mothering Sunday tomorrow and I'm allowed.....OK?

I've gathered some old blue and white, silk embroidery, ruched, titvated with cutwork and French knots and laid it alongside blue and white from ''4''. The piece from 4, I hope, is the start of a design sheet which will inform and record...thoughts and ideas.

A quick word about alchemy...I left it hanging didn't I.....sorry about that. I have been asked what the difference is between Alchemy and Simply Stitch. Where do I start? They are worlds apart. Simply Stitch is about my work, my process, my inspirational sources, my creative path. Alchemy is about your work, your process, your inspiration and your path. I am a guide, a mentor, an assistant...use me.

I'm not even ready yet to go official with this. My pillow girls and my ''4'' girls need me at the moment. When I am ready you will be the first to know.....

Posted at 12:57 PM in blue and white, design, ledger, silk | Permalink | Comments (15)

Tags: blue and white, design sheet, embroidery, ledger, silk

03/28/2014

the table and the phone.....again

My table, my house, areas of clutter and works in progress....all from my phone. We eat at this table every day, hence the salt and pepper and the butter dish. The drawers are crammed with all kinds of stuff. They could probably do with a little organisation. The shelves are next to my comfy sofa where I sit and stitch in the evening, mostly watching tv.

I have had comments about the flowers...how I always seem to have nice flowers...well yes. I'm not a gardener. I have a tiny patch of earth outside and a bigger area of paving. I don't get pleasure from mud and soil in the great outdoors but I do love flowers. I mostly buy them for myself. They are relatively cheap in supermarkets, £3 a bunch , around $5. It's my treat to me for surviving the dreaded weekly ''big'' shop.

Posted at 01:09 PM in the table | Permalink | Comments (15)

Tags: home, phone images, the table

03/27/2014

in progress....

There are five pieces in progress, all evolving as part of pillows and pages....we haven't even started on the pages bit yet! Some are nearer completion than others...I'm dizzy. Having said that I can't wait until they are all finished as I will be surrounded by pillows....heaven....somewhere to lay my head maybe.

There is silk, there is gingham, there is printed cloth, there are bullion knots, stab stitches and chain stitch. There is applique and padding and fabric manipulation....are you keeping up? The raspberry silk may come as a shock to you, it did to me but I love it. It's so vibrant, uplifting. I have used it before...here.... small amounts with guess what? gingham...coincidence or what!

Despite being surrounded by all this unfinished work my next creative few hours are going to be spent with blue and white....I'm spoilt for choice today.

When I was looking for the images of the raspberry silk I spent ages trawling through my flickr photostream....boy do I have a lot of pictures on there, some better than others, some should most likely be deleted they are so bad but then there are others which make me go...''Oh...I forgot about that'' and ''Oh, I really like that, there's an idea.''. You should try it with your own photostream if you have one....a trip down memory lane.

Finally......if I said Alchemy......what would you say?

Posted at 01:35 PM in in progress | Permalink | Comments (22)

Tags: embroidery, in progress, pillows, pillows and pages

03/26/2014

tracing ledger pages for a ledger

I spent some time on Monday evening with tracing paper....and a pen, a kind of doodling. I don't have any firm plans for these traced pieces yet but I am hoping they inform further ledger work, spark some new ideas. I often spend time thinking I should be drawing, coming up with new artwork and then I thought....''I've got artwork already, old artwork, why not play with that a little and see where it leads''. So that's what I'm doing here. The penny hasn't yet dropped on moving these forward but it will...at least I hope it will.

Posted at 12:50 PM in design, doodles, doodling, ledger | Permalink | Comments (15)

Tags: artwork, design, doodle, ledger, tracing paper

03/25/2014

pillows and pages

This post is brought to you courtesy of the wonder that is modern technology. I am not here. I am up North eating cake. Since I am skipping school, playing hooky I thought I would try and redeem myself by showing you what happened on the first day of pillows and pages. There was applique, there were prairie points, there were beaky things and bullion knots. The pages didn't happen in school. They are old pages. We aren't at the pages stage yet of pillows and pages.

I must dash, my cake is ready. No doubt that spoilt cat will be appearing on instagram any time now.

Posted at 01:00 PM in online learning, pillows and pages | Permalink | Comments (11)

Tags: online learning, pillows and pages

03/24/2014

loops, hexagons and the Liberty pouch

Last night I was playing with the Liberty pouch. I added hexagons, a Grandmothers flower garden, loops, piping, prairie points and French knots. This is evolving very quickly. If I have time I will finish it this week, a little more embroidery and then a backing...hey presto. Well..... I will be shouting hey presto if I do manage to find the time.

Pillows and Pages started today...yes, really. If you're registered on that you should have received a mail, passwords etc. If you didn't get the mail then let me know asap....

Posted at 12:54 PM in hexagons, Liberty print fabric, loops, prairie points | Permalink | Comments (16)

Tags: hexagons, Liberty fabric, loops, pouch, prairie points

03/23/2014

blue and white from 4

This is a glimpse for you of my blue and white collection which is being created over in simply stitch 4. When I gathered these pieces together this morning I was a little surprised at how many there were, the pile has grown so quickly. There isn't a single piece that I'm not happy with, that I won't be able to take forward and use in the future either as the basis for a new piece of work or to inform a new piece or to set me off in a completely new direction.

(ss4 girls, there is a new blog post today. Did you get your mail? Videos and pictures.....)

Posted at 01:06 PM in blue and white, simply stitch 4 | Permalink | Comments (14)

Tags: blue and white, cohesive, collection, design, embroidery transfers, ledger pages, paperwork, silk, simply stitch 4

03/22/2014

what's new....

These two pieces have new additions, tiny additions but new none the less. Do you remember I wasn't happy with an even number of bumps on the gingham piece? I've sorted that now, a tiny lemon bump which looks a little like a fried egg! The next time you see this gingham piece it should be finished, completely finished.

The Liberty piece from yesterday now has another strip and a very small wrapped, piped area secured with bullion knots. This one could progress quite quickly....we shall see.

The ledger image is for Clara.....