Karen Ruane

whites

I've been gathering white samples, scraps of white embroidery from various times in the past. I'm still playing, yesterday I was playing and here I am again. I think it's time to shake myself down, stop playing , make decisions and get on with it.

My sample portfolios are on hold...I'm waiting for paper to arrive.......meantime I am working on all things Clara for class but I can't share much of that here. I do have this collection to mount.......perhaps I will look at that later today. First I need to make alphabet lace....

circular portfolio?

Just an idea, a query, a curiosity.....wondering how sample portfolios might work with circular mounts. I'm just playing really, aimlessly playing with embroidered scraps, a little fabric, lace offcuts. I'm laying them down, coming up with mini compositions and mounting them, in this instance on circular mounts. I like the ''tied with silk ribbon'' aspect of these, the more uniform holes. 

Where do I go from here? Good question.....please mail me when you have the answer.....lol. Seriously though, I'm in no hurry to go anywhere with them yet, I'm thinking, pondering, there's no rush.

flowers and letters....

Yesterday I mentioned the embroidery for Clara was inspiring me and I had begun another, separate piece. Here it is, flowers, petals, on silk.  It's the stitches, the colour combination and the pen, how all those elements live together which inspired the petals, how those things appeal when they're combined. I have no idea yet what this will become, how it will evolve. I seem to be gathering a collection of pieces with no direction, no ''end plan''..... there is this one and this one too...maybe they could all live together somehow?

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petals

three partial flower heads, a show and tell

overlay

I'm playing with lace cloth as an overlay on collaged and stitched paper for my sample portfolio idea. These two pieces were created separately, without the other in mind but they give me an idea of what may or may not work, about placement of embroidery and methods of collage......everything is a learning opportunity.

The work I am doing with Clara is playing a part here too and I am really happy I posted that glimpse for you yesterday as it inspired a couple more people to sign up to class....so thank you. Clara is proving inspirational in many ways....aside from the lace I showed you yesterday I have been inspired to begin something for working outside of class which I hope to show you tomorrow.

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new doodling on white silk

Clara and the alphabet

A glimpse for you of what's happening in class, what I am getting fired up about in addition to my mini sample portfolios. You can see my first page here, my colour study, as yet unfinished.  There is stuff going on over more pages....sorry, can't show you that but it does involve the alphabet embroidery you can see here. The lace, the lace with lettering....I have plans for that, for a lace like structure which will happen in class but which will not form part of a page in my story book so I will share that with you as I progress.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this. For me it provides a contrast to working on the mini samples, equally as enjoyable but very, very different to embroider and plan.

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lace, tissue and edges....

gimp and lace

The first of three

complimentary paperwork

A small piece of paperwork is taking shape inspired by the cloth piece from yesterday. This piece is also for my small sample portfolio although it most likely won't be placed alongside the cloth piece which inspired it. You will see from the video that I am envisaging cloth added to this paper, extending it somehow with fabric........

Stitching a Story girls...stand by your computers. Even though I have been out partying you are still getting the post intended for tomorrow in approximately one hour!

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lace and mirrors...

knots, cloth and drawing.....pages

Embroidered pockets, human cloth. (doodle, embellish, wrap)

stripes, silk, samples....

The latest ''in progress'' sample for my planned mini sample portfolios. This one has striped silk in shades of grey and off whites which I bought in London earlier this year. So far one seam is embellished with French knots and web stitches run the length of a strip of striped silk. When I laid this piece alongside the piece from yesterday it struck me how well they live together, it started me thinking about a bigger piece using this combination of cloth. I am resisting though, trying not to get distracted.

The main reason for my resistance is a plan I have to develop something which I have been working on for class, for ''stitching a  story....'' My girls don't even know yet but hopefully when it develops I can share a tiny glimpse of it on here for you. The girls get to hear about it on Sunday.....

(stitching a story girls......I may be able to post late Saturday afternoon. I will let you know :))

 

Simply Stitch 4 was re-listed as a work on your own class yesterday after a couple of requests.. You will find that here.

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a bling page

just bling.....

adding French knots to a page

white and gimp, for a sample portfolio

Another sample, white, gimp, pleated net...the next step in my sample portfolio play. This one has couched gimp overlaid across pleated net,  a seam of French knots and four tiny cutwork circles worked on a strip of cotton lace. There was quite a bit of response to my queries, my ''wondering'' from Tuesday, thank you for that. I am leaning towards three double spreads, six embroidered pieces in total and keeping them all the same colour, consistent, for example...shades of white, subtle blues and grey in one collection. Other portfolios will have brighter colours, pinks, lemons, brighter blues......it's still very much a ''work in process'' and requires much more ''wondering'' but I am part way there.

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looking back

blue and white on silk

two pieces, with bumps.

bullion knots over piping cord

This piece of work hasn't been touched for almost a week. I rectify that today, adding piping cord and embellishing it with bullion knots.  This piece won't form part of my 'sample portfolio'. It is too big and I really don't want to cut it down. Instead it may be used to form part of a larger cloth as I mention in the video.

There haven't been any decisions made yet about the queries from yesterday.....I'm just leaving my mind empty of that, continuing to create little compositions, hoping the light bulb moment will arrive without any help from me.

Sample portfolio, part two

The second ''page'' of my mini portfolio plan has been put together. I now have more questions to ask myself......should each mini portfolio have one colour scheme, should the whites and blues and off whites all be together? Should the pinks, the brighter ones all be together? or should I mix them up? If each mini portfolio was a similar colour, fabric, stitch combination that would make it a ''collection''. It could be a collection of varied colour and fabric but then where's the consistency? Who knew it would be such a minefield of doubt and query? 

Also.....I may have to remount these.....that thing called ''consistency'' again (plus I am not happy with the mounting of the one from yesterday.)