Karen Ruane

Helen

Today it's my little girls birthday. I am probably eating cake. Happy birthday Helen, we love you to the moon and back.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and last nights hoop....

 

 

 

 

I've emptied my phone of images in preparation for filling it up again in London. Don't think I haven't been working though because I have...embroidery in a hoop. Cutwork, applique, tabs, bumpy bits, French knots, bullion knots, white, pink, green, trims of lace, seams of cross stitch....that's a lot because this piece is tiny.

This afternoon I will be working in blue and white, in my ledger, text and scraps of lace. That is the homework I have set the girls in ''4'' for when I'm flouncing around London. I will show you my efforts when I get back.

I will be posting to Instagram whilst I'm away.....miss you already.

 

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in the hoop

hoops

compare....

There are three pieces here, one new, two not new. The new piece is the white with piping cord......with bullion knots binding the piping. I don't know yet what it will be but it's enough for now just to play with it, titivate it. The other two pieces were on the table, for a reason, a ''refreshing my memory'' task, a reminder of what can be done, which surfaces can be created.

I love all these images today, I probably couldn't  pick a favourite........good thing i don't need to.

Don't forget Alchemy registration closes tomorrow.

SS4 girls, I have video for you tomorrow....a final flourish before I abandon you and leave for the big smoke.

 To be honest I think this break will be good for me. Yesterday it was cream, today the cabinet has fallen off my bathroom wall. I have no explanation, nobody in the bathroom, alerted by the crashing. It's time to go away.

 

oh and finally, because my confidence in Typepad remains low....you can also read this over here

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hexagons, a single buttonhole and newly pieced cloth

a frill, a flounce

progress in ''4''

I am typing with fingers crossed, (quite difficult), my toes are crossed too....and my legs. All of this in the hope that we don't disappear today, enough already.

I am going to cary on as if nothing at all could go wrong...ignore it, bury my head in the sand. All that could of course change if during the course of today something goes awry....I will be you know where if that happens.

These pictures, this lace....sigh.....work from ''4''. The first images are of my newest piece, the others of the collection that is rapidly growing. There are more...in a ledger....but for today it's just these. I am actually considering changing the name of my house from ''Ruane Towers'' to ''sample central''.....I am surrounded by them. I know that when I'm gone, (in around 100 years), I know that all these will end up in a  skip, a dump or set light to with a match, I just know it. I won't really care I don't suppose because I won't be here and I have to say I do feel sorry for my kids with all the stuff they will have to sort out but for now....I'm here, staying for longer than I ought and I love being surrounded by this ''stuff''. 

I went off topic a bit there didn't I? Sorry about that.....

I am off to London first thing Monday morning. I will post tomorrow and Sunday, of course I will, I can't keep away, but.....Alchemy will not be available after Sunday basically because I won't be here to send out the mail and PDF documents you get when you register. I will list it again when I come back I'm just not sure yet which day that will be, it could be Friday...we start a week on Monday. You can read more about Alchemy here and see some of the brilliant work from last years group.

I'm going now....I made a mess. I dropped a whole half pint of double cream on the kitchen floor and I did clean it up but I'm thinking some may have gone under the cooker so I'm off to check.

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the wedding bag. progress 2

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a page and a scrap of cloth

you can scrap this....it went down as I was typing.....enough is enough is enough. 

You can find me here again if this goes missing.

***I'm staying put today, placing all my faith in Typepad...that they won't go AWOL, that they won't let me down. I can't be doing with this back and forth, I don't know whether I'm coming or going, staying or leaving. One thing I have learn't.....a nomadic life style isn't for me.***

Last night I titivated a tiny scrap of cloth to fit in one of these gaps, whilst I was at it I added something to a ledger page, just because I could. 

This morning I had plans to make a video for my girls in ''4'' before I leave them and flounce off to London next week......ha, some hope. Every obstacle imaginable was placed in the way of that little plan. Never fear....I always have the weekend. I will banish everyone to the far reaches of the house, demand solitude and quiet.

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a pocket pillow....

a pocket pillow....

Ding Dong.

I'm going to start today with a public service announcement.

For the next few days, if Typepad goes AWOL, you will be able to see  my posts over here.

Over and out.

Today.....a pocket pillow. I love this, love it I tell you. I nearly didn't put it in the shop but I've already got one, this one. How many do I need? I am officially out of gingham now. That has gone on the London shopping list along with Liberty print fabric, lace, cotton seersucker and any other titivated cotton I can clap my eyes on. I may also get some Broderie Anglaise....we shall see. I intend to resist vintage. I have a lot of vintage however I may need more for Alchemy....and as you know I can resist anything but temptation.

 

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pouch, pillow, Liberty and loops....

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this week....

I am hoping you get to see this, that Typepad doesn't go AWOL again. Yesterday I wrote a post over here.....go have a look if you missed it, it's quite interesting, lots of gingham. 

Today is a recap of the past few days from my phone. I'm told that some of you quite like to see these. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that I bought new thread, ate an Easter egg and that one of my walls needs new wallpaper. What can I say....you have to take me as you find me, but the kettle's always on!

 

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Sometimes it's here, sometimes it isn't. One minute it works the next it doesn't.

(if I keep going I may have a poem!)

 

Today I am here.....

putting scraps together

I spent a couple of hours yesterday piecing scraps together for this, so that I can move a little closer to finishing it. I cross stitched some cotton cloth and when that was damp stretched I cut it up for tabs, applique...titivation's. It's all about cohesion, that's how the cloth was put together initially, I'm trying to keep that process going, new pieces matching with those that were made quite a while ago. The magazine is out because I like to re read...to remind myself why I do this. It's not that I forget or that I am not aware of why I do this 24/7, my motivation is ever present. It's just good sometimes to see it in black and white, it kind of  gives me ''clarity''.

This article is from 2011. You can read it here on my old blog. In fact there is a lot of  reading on my old blog so perhaps you could have a wander around over there sometime. I do, I have almost a whole life of creativity over there.

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seam....

cross stitch

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pouch, pillow, Liberty and loops....

a tiny patchwork pocket....

Liberty applique

striped cloth, piping and bullion knots. A pocket pillow.

I promised you pink and pink it is. Stripes, gingham, Broderie Anglaise, piping and bullion knots. It's not even a quarter finished yet, covering piping cord with bullion knots and adorning a single seam with bullion loopy things takes and age...a happy age, a good way to while away a few hours but an age none the less. When it's finished it will be like this, a pin pillow and a pocket all in one. 

You can learn how to make these if you like. I have listed the pillows and pages class as a work on your own package today........details at the foot of this post. 

I'm loving all this pink. I always do and it always surprises me. I'm not a girlie girl by any stretch of the imagination, not even the wildest of wildest imaginations. My clothes are black and white and shades of grey. I have no time for make up, lipstick, any of that. Perhaps my femininity is satisfied by the occasional foray into pink stitching.

I apologise for yesterday...Typepad.....I don't know why I'm apologising really but most likely because they won't. This little home of rambling was inaccessible for hours. It played havoc with my stats and I posted gorgeous blue and white stuff that you probably missed. If you've got time, scroll down another inch or so and you can see what I'm talking about. 

Now did someone say it was Easter? That means chocolate eggs. Guess what I'm going to be doing later then?

 

Individual Learning. Pillows and Pages.

 

 

Alchemy 2014.

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master sheet...

an edge, bullion knots and a few cross stitches