Karen Ruane

applique

I hope you enjoy these.....I'm not here. I'm here. See you tomorrow.

paper

I am going to repeat myself now but I stand by the thought process which tells me it's always a good thing to look back at past work. I say it a lot.....because it's true. Generally it reinspires, invigorates, excites....today it does all those things and has me hankering after another distraction. Now I am wondering do I even have the time to begin a new body, a new collection of paperwork. The answer is probably yes, I just need to manage my time more efficiently.

The reason for showing old work today? (and probably tomorrow too) I have the dreaded lurgy....cough, splutter, sore throat, headache....this will pass....

dreaded lurgy noun [ S ]

UK ​ /ˌdred.ɪd ˈlɜː.ɡi/ US ​ /ˌdred.ɪd ˈlɝː.ɡi/ uk informalhumorous

 

​

any illness that is not very serious but is easy to catch

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new.......and old 'in progress'.

blue and white, paper and cloth

hello again....

Neglected? according to someone not a million miles from here....(3779 miles to be precise) you know who you are. Actually, I have to agree.....it's been languishing, cast aside for newer and more urgent cloth. It wasn't forgotten though, never. Just as I am desperate to finish the gingham cloth, (like I said yesterday) I am the opposite with this, prepared to play the long game. I actually think I will be a little sad when this is finished, it will be like saying goodbye to an old friend. This piece has been ''in progress'' for years......and years.....that's a big chunk of my life. It may well not get finished for an equally long time but for now I wanted to add a new panel, to extend it a little more and handle it for a while...lovingly.

If you are new to my blog there is a short video here (from some time ago) about this cloth.

 

Stitching a story girls....I can't remember if I'm supposed to send your videos today or tomorrow, can't remember what I said so I will do it today, in around an hour, sharpen your pencils!

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pink, green and Broderie Anglaise

pockets, panels and French knots.

The final panel for my pink and gingham coverlet has been put together. Two tiny, spotty pockets have been inserted into two of the seams and one seam has been embroidered with a mass of French knots. That is my ''favourite thing of the day'', that seam. A smaller panel is also finished and damp stretched, you can see the applique and cutwork from that piece in the second image.

I do have a certain amount of doubt about posting this piece in progress for you to see as it can be quite repetitive. Perhaps you are fed up of gingham, fed up of pink. I do want to keep working on it though, to finish it, to be able to use it. I guess if you're bored with it you can have a holiday from me, go off somewhere, put your feet up and put the kettle on. I would completely understand......so long as you keep a bit of cake for me too.

Later this week I am hoping to buy some cloth to back this piece. I can't decide though, white or bright? I think I will have to wait and see what my options are when I get there. Ideally this coverlet will be backed, titivated and finished before the new class begins.....then  you will be seeing a wrapping cloth evolve, a bright and cheery wrapping cloth....at least that's the plan.

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two....

silk thread, paper, press studs

Wrapped and bound in Stitch - Karen Ruane

my pink and sugary world

 

 

It must seem like I get thread delivered everyday......I don't, I just run out of everything at the same time. This coloured broder arrived a few days ago, it's only a part order so I expect more any day soon.

These images were taken over the past week and you will notice the reappearance of my gingham pin pillow. I have so many pin pillows I decided to rotate them....it's the turn of gingham. If I was organised I would place pin pillows strategically around the house. I'm not organised. They are all piled together.

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Gingham, dots and loops.

a little lemon pocket

tiny scraps equal a tiny artist book

Piles of little scraps, embroidery offcuts, samples, all stored carefully and neatly, kept safe on a shelf. Thing is you can't really ''see'' them, can't be inspired by them as they are stacked up, piled one on top of another. What to do? Separate them in a kind of ''one for you one for me'' way then make two little books, ''one for you and one for me''.

I was going to say shortly......but I don't know if it actually will be shortly so I shall say ''sometime'' in the future these will be finished and one will go in the shop. The other will go on the shelf in the gap left by the scraps....for me.

And....3 weeks from now ''wrapped and bound'' in stitch will begin. A cloth making class, an embroidery class, a fabric, thread, pocket, applique, cutwork, titivation, embellish, adorn......and on and on class. You can read more about that here.

and I must tell you.....one of my neighbours had a baby boy on Thursday.....I visited this morning bearing gifts. You forget how wonderful it is to cradle a new born baby, how comforting and warm that is. He is so tiny, you forget that too. Holding him this morning was all I needed to complete my day.

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looking back

triple bullion knots

an embroidered lining and a button

a white surface

I've been a bit ''off'' this week creatively, a little short on ideas and excitement for embroidery. I know.....it's a curse. It doesn't happen very often, (thankfully) but it's so hard to accept and climb out of. The ''page'' post from yesterday was all wrapped up with those feelings as was the blue and white post from earlier in the week.....I have many ''light bulb'' moments in a queue, all waiting for the big switch on.  

There is class of course.....I have a ton of ideas for that, no struggling where Clara is concerned. 

Meanwhile, last night I picked my white piece up and added a few little appliques, relaxing stitch, applique and bullion knots, extending a white surface.....try it, it's calming.

I think I am going to cut some paper now, play with a few little pages, maybe put a little artist book together, lose myself in scraps and little samples. I will let you know if that does the trick, brings the spark back.

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continuing....

two applique flowers....

pages

 

Compositions, collections, pages, samples, a selection of what I choose to look through when I have a little time to ponder. Some of these are from way back, some more recent. They are all ''favourites'' but today the light grey with fine pencil lines is my first choice. Tomorrow it might well be a different one which attracts my attention more. 

the next piece of the coverlet puzzle

First picture, top left corner......the next piece for this coverlet which I fall in love with a little more each day. This latest piece needs more embellishment, more cutwork, more applique but in the last image I have pinned it to the main body of the piece just because....because I'm impatient maybe. Impatient to imagine how it will look, impatient to get it finished. I'm not usually in a hurry with my work but I'm breaking that habit with this cloth.

Thank you so much for all the Clara love after yesterdays post....wow.....who knew you would be so fascinated by that. I wish you could see the work the girls are producing in that class.......you would definitely be blown away.

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I promised

white, gimp and flowers

my pink and sugary world

white

Progress with Clara

 

 

 

 

 

You haven't see Clara for a while have you? There is a glimpse for you today of how she is progressing...who knew a storybook could provide so much inspiration for stitch? 

She has new clothes, several very prettily adorned skirts and she frequents the most highly embellished houses and galleries imaginable. She even has wallpaper which zips together. Her home is tied together with ribbon and chain stitch......I wonder if we can move in? 

This piece is progressing....I am not showing that yet because I don't want to induce a yawning epidemic as really it doesn't look much different from what you have seen before. That's usually the way with a big cloth, cohesion and continuity dictate the use of the same colour and process throughout. At the moment I am working on a gingham section......you will see it soon though because that's all I am doing at the moment, (aside from class work) and the blue and white doodle from yesterday is waiting patiently for my light bulb moment.............I will keep you posted when that happens.

(a reminder about my new class which starts in less than four weeks......you can read about that here.)

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my schoolwork