Karen Ruane

a seam and a pocket

Pockets are still the ''in thing'' round here. I'm still working on finishing this one from yesterday for class and I have four others pieced and in various stages of completion surface embroidery wise. I gave this one a ittle attention last night, a tiny circular pocket now sits on the surace and one seam has been secured with buttonhole lace.  There is cross stitch running across a narrow section of patterned cloth with bullion loops forming a decorative edge on the tiny pocket.

Later today I am going to cut out pages for my little books. I have quite a collection of samples for the pages now so figure if I cut pages and start to attach the samples I will have a better idea of what I still need to create, how much doodling, how much stitching.

I'm also debating with myself about this piece. I want to keep it. Then again I want to make another. I'm leaning towards the idea that I should make a new one for me, different somehow....perhaps a fold over one with a central reverse opening, or maybe even a drawstring one. What do you think?

Related articles

new doodling on white silk

front and back

It's coming together, the final pocket from class. This is where I was up to yesterday, an embroidered front and an embroidered back. Since then another section which shall remain nameless for now has been completed. All three pieces have been damp stretched and this has moved on enormously this morning, on camera. 

The circular embellishments you can see in the first image on the left are also pockets......three small  one large. There is piping cord snaking up the front too, secured with colourful bullion knots.

Embellishment on the reverse has been kept to a minimum although there is something else to add there. The curved line comprises bullion loops with French knots at their base. 

I am hoping to have this finished later this week. Then I can concentrate on my little books and the other pockets I have been putting together. 

Thank you for the feedback from yesterday's video. I appreciate the positive e mails more than you know.....

Related articles

my schoolwork

New Class. Sampling for stitch.

a pocket, gimp and buttons

a single web stitch

This piece has been picked up again. You last saw it here just over two weeks ago. I have completed embellishment on another stem and am thinking about whether to add more patterning, more doodling. Hopefully I will get a sense of what else it needs in terms of pattern as I am working on it. It may be that nothing else gets added, I just haven't reached a final decision on that yet.

Sampling for stitch, my new class, begins a week on Monday. This type of surface design is very likely to appear in that as I sample surfaces, colours, patterns and stitches. If you want to know more you can read about that class here.

Tonight I have to work on the final pocket for pocket class which is coming to an end. Progress was made on that piece earlier this week and I hope to share that with you tomorrow.

Related articles

new doodling on white silk

lace cloth, another page, a video.

little samples for little books

It's a start, a start at building enough tiny samples to put on pages and pages of little books. The blue and white was created this week, painted, cut up, beads added. The flowers are from a bigger sheet I made a long time ago in the same way as those I spoke about here in the painting video. There are these to stitch too.....I am getting there.....

Meanwhile I am stitching pockets in the background. Class finishes this Sunday, or does it? Actually, as usual, we are overrunning....my fault entirely. Can't stop starting new things and can't stitch fast enough....my fingers are a blur...

a drawstring pocket, part two.

Do you recognise it? Is it familiar? This is how the piece from yesterday looks now. It's a pocket, a drawstring pocket lined with Broderie Anglaise and with many, tiny pockets adorning the surface. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm in love, it's a keeper.

The channel in which the drawstring sits was removed carefully from a vintage domestic cloth, as was the actual drawstring before being attached to the top of my embroidered piece. The outer pouch is constructed from a mix of vintage with a little new upon which I have stitched pocket upon pocket. The lining is new cloth. It measures 12 inches in height with an opening of 5 inches........................sigh.

Do you remember I spoke about being in a magazine? Not me personally, my work? Well the magazine is here. I don't have my copy yet as it's coming all the way from Australia so I guess you will all see it before I do....I do hope it's good.......I'm a little nervous.....

Related articles

new doodling on white silk

New Class. Sampling for stitch.

my schoolwork

a drawstring pocket, part one.

This piece has been ongoing for quite a while. Vintage whitework cloth with new Broderie Anglaise cloth, joined with raised seams and embellished with pockets. I think of this as a field of pockets, there are lots of pockets on here, tiny pockets.

Some eyelets have patterned fabric behind, some are left open. There is chain stitch and there are bullion knots and French knots. There is also a lot of buttonhole edging going on, on seams and on pocket tops.

Today this looks very different. Today this is a completed, finished, backed and lined pocket with a drawstring top. I will show you those pictures tomorrow.

My watercolour paper arrived this morning. So far I have only looked at it, stroked it and gazed at it. This afternoon I might take a piece out of the pad and add some glass beads to it......

Related articles

the beginning....

gimp and patchwork, a finished pouch.

New Class. Sampling for stitch.

Sampling a surface

A new surface, put together a couple of days ago and now being embroidered, in sampler fashion. This may find it's way into my new artist books, small sections of it. I think quite a lot of it will find a home in the larger book I intend to make for myself.

There are strips of various silks and some cotton laid on a dupion surface. Up to now the hand embroidery is minimal, a little gimp, some bullion loops, a few French knots and a tiny area of buttonhole lace which I add today on video.

Related articles

my schoolwork

Suffolk puffs on a page

circles and ledger pages....

swatches

Five tiny fabric swatches pinned, ready to be stitched and then mounted onto pages in my next batch of little books. Once again, don't hold your breath.......I am aiming to have them finished in around 4 weeks, that's the plan. I also want to make one for myself, a larger one, bigger pages which equals more samples, more doodling, more stitch.

This morning...(listen up girls in class...pay attention)..this morning I made a series of videos which bring together the final pieces in the pocket class puzzles. I have a very real feeling of satisfaction as I sit here and have given more than one huge sigh of contentment. Why tell you? Because I now feel relaxed enough to begin my own book and to give the little books more attention. I am waiting for watercolour paper  to arrive however and knowing my luck that will be delayed and the books and pages won't happen. Meantime I will continue to work on the four pockets from yesterday.....

Next week I will begin to sample for the new class. Truth be told I am a little nervous, it's like the fear of the blank page, making that first mark. The same thing happens when you switch a video camera on.....I will carry out some deep breathing exercises.....count to ten....meditate......chant....perhaps take up drinking Gin.

 

Related articles

a pocket, gimp and buttons

four in progress

There are four pocket tops now, all in different stages of completion. I pieced another one yesterday because I had a hankering to see how the lilac circle cloth would look next to white and Broderie Anglaise.

I won't be picking these up again this week , I am frantically trying to finish my work from pocket class. Next week, my free week, I hope to make progress for sampling class and work on these a little more.

I am also getting requests for more Artist books.....big smile here......so that is going to start happening in the background too. My first little play pieces for that have been pieced this morning and I will share those tomorrow.

Related articles

the beginning....

a pocket, gimp and buttons

wiggly gimp

I made it.....my day so far, 30 minutes on the telephone to my internet provider and even longer to my mobile phone provider.....modern technology? Don't make me laugh. Press one for insanity, two for fury and three when you have lost the will to live........anyway, happy things, cloth things, sewing things, embroidery. Thank goodness for the serenity that is embroidery.

This piece is from here, hardly anything has been added but what a difference it has made. A wiggly line of gimp extending under the piping and coming out the other side in a straight line. One tiny pocket, of which there will be more, edged with bullion knots and French knots. What's not to love.....

 

Related articles

lace cloth, another page, a video.

a pocket, gimp and buttons