Karen Ruane

ledgers, bling, silk, velvet and titivations

Better late than never.....Typepad had a bit of a meltdown earlier. Today it's September and October.....it's like a Ledger convention! Pages....pages....pages. It's also the end of Clara and the start of my ''happy cloth'' which by the way is now damp stretching!  Yes, the front is finished, embroidered, titivated.....all I need to do now is finish the reverse and we're good to go. It's momentous.

I'm not a big celebrator of ''New Year'', it's just another day to me and besides.....I want you to always be happy not just in 2017 so I will share something I posted on Instagram earlier this week which was written by someone else....

''Merry everything and a happy always''.

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more pockets, tiny pockets.

more doodling, a video

partial flower heads

pockets, pages, lace and swatches....

July and August appears to have been a never ending stream of video....wow. How did I find the time? I still have September, October, November and December to get though too. Let's see what tomorrow brings. 

(Embroidery School. Begins Monday January 9)

A tiny green spotty pocket

A page and a scrap of lace

 

Blue and white, lace and silk.

 

Pinning cloth

 

A lace edge

 

Swatches, a page

 

Sample portfolio

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lace and mirrors...

gimp and lace

gimp....

an hour of play

I spent an hour on my sewing machine this morning with paper scraps, a fine cloth background and a paper background. I would have spent longer but life got in the way. This was a little distracting too, a new app to put together a little flip show. I can't figure out how to get this on Instagram. If you know can you please tell me. ( I tried to embed it on here too but no luck? Any experts on Stellar out there?)

Then I went thorough July and August. You were so spoilt in July and August...so many videos. I am going to post those tomorrow.......today it's the images.

 

 

getting back to normal

Hello! How are you? How have you been? Have you had a good time? Was the big guy good to you? 

I had a great few days, domestic goddessing, kitchen, cooking, eating, washing pots.....loved it, really.  Good company, lots of chat too....I'm tired now though, I could sleep for a week.

I have made it to June in my little ''look back over the year''. I think I will be doing two together next time......can't leave any out! June of course was the month of this event......I remember it well.

There was a video too.....

 

Don't forget.....Embroidery school opens in just over a week!

Four

May, my birthday and four videos and sample portfolios and Clara and the pink gingham and silk wrapping cloth. I can't linger today, I have domestic goddess duties to attend to. I have been up since the crack of dawn today, cheesecake made, trifle made, Ruane towers spick and span......I hope Santa got the letter where I asked for a maid.

I will be gone for three whole days. How will I manage??? 

Pattern

 

Complimentary Paperwork.

 

A collection, show and tell.

 

Bullion knots over piping cord.

 

 

glimpses

There's no looking back today...this is now, this is current....embroidery for my happy cloth and some pinned scraps for accessories for said cloth. Then there are glimpses from this week, Christmas week, gifts, (last two images) I must have been very good this year...shhhh. It was my wedding Anniversary last Saturday too....beautiful flowers. 

I hope you are all getting excited about the upcoming visit from the man in the red suit. If he's not your type and you don't celebrate Santa then I wish you excitement and happiness in other ways. I will be back tomorrow. I can't keep away. I will get up half an hour earlier to get my chores finished.

A reminder.

Embroidery School Stitch Along

Begins Monday January 9 for 12 weeks.

Online format.... Private password protected blog.

Access.... Unlimited. Forever.

Materials required.... List sent upon registration.

Embroidery school stitch along.... an online learning programme, hand stitch at it's purest.

Be a fly on my wall for 12 weeks. Observe my creative process, learn from my successes and my mistakes as I sample, as I construct embroidered surfaces from patches of cloth, snippets of hankies and decorative trims along with other found cloth both new and vintage. Witness the development of paper based works for use in design sheets and ledgers, in sketchbooks. Create what I create or embroider your own pieces whilst observing and learning from my creativity.

This online creative experience will take the form of a very relaxed and gentle gathering of cloth and embroiderers, those who have an affinity with handling cloth, working with cloth. We will gather together and embroider, I will discuss my plans, my inspiration, the preparation and creation of embroidered cloth. I will demonstrate technique and process throughout. I can guarantee that there will be embroidery, embellishment and the manipulation of cloth. I will share thoughts along with the more tangible sources which drive me. 

Through membership of our private Flickr forum join a very supportive and close knit group of stitchers who are there to encourage and advise, to share resources, process and friendship.

***No prerequisites, suitable for beginners and the more experienced.***

You do not need to have participated in any of my previous online learning programmes to take part in ''Embroidery School, stitch along''.

Register here.

one of my favourites

The first image here has to be one of my favourites from this year....yards and yards of lace cloth being put together, day after day for my workshop in France. The last two images are from France, my hand leafing through a little Artist Book and someone from the workshop group working hard embroidering, titivating. I'm on April just in case you hadn't realised. There are labels here which were attached to thread wraps for my workshop packs, colours named in French. (I hope you're impressed!) and lots of ledger pages, tiny samples, little doodles.

There were two videos in April too......

A page

 

Doodle Doo

 

another video?

It's March today and there's another video. (from March) I made a lot of things in March. It must have looked like a button factory for one thing! I was probably panicking abut France, (teaching and exhibiting in April) . Sometimes I wish I had kept some of these things when I am looking back like this but then I think there would be no room for me in the house if I did that. 

The wrapping cloth in the video I kept, that was always meant for me along with the cloth in the second image so I guess I don't fare badly when it comes to retaining things. 

Will I get to April before the year ends? Maybe but I'm not sure I will get to December, we are running out of days and I've got sprouts to peel.

The video? A wrapping cloth show and tell.....

 

 

 

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knots, cloth and drawing.....pages

how unfinished might inspire what's to come

Three unfinished pieces from 2016....I've been sorting out, tidying up, making room for Christmas guests, Christmas gifts, Christmas dinner, Christmas stuff, that's how I came to spend some time looking at these. 

My focus for the early part of next year will be my new class and a little gathering which is happening in London in April.  These pieces may well become the starting point for both those things. My new class will almost certainly involve some preparation for the April gathering. I will be working on pieces for workshop packs, surfaces of lace, paper and embroidery which we will embellish on the day. Perhaps I will create little adornments too, tiny little Suffolk puffs, cupped and embroidered ball buttons....there are many possibilities.

Meanwhile I am beavering away on my happy cloth. I am behind, the girls are waiting. I do hope to spend a little time playing with paper tomorrow morning though. Before I can do that there are chores.........best get to it then.

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an edge of embroidered Suffolk puffs

Embroidery School....stitch along - Karen Ruane

this week

a new folder

moving the idea along

two videos

You were spoilt in February. Two videos?! I've been doing it again, looking back.....today it's February. (I have nothing else to show you, my days are filled with wrapping paper, domestic chores, laundry and school work)

Do you remember January? The same applies here....too many images, too much choice. I have managed to whittle them down though. Most of these things left me in France, the buttons, the pin pillows...... except the pocket in the fourth image which was always intended to be for me. I fondle that every day. 

The videos? One concerns a page, the other a little titivation.....if you have seen them before, if you remember them then skip this next bit!

A five minute page

 

A few glass beads

 

Monday January 9. New class.....Embroidery School. Read more here.