Karen Ruane: November 2017

« October 2017 | Main | December 2017 »

November 2017

11/30/2017

layers of lace with added metal

Hankies, lace, hooks and eyes, (just the hooks actually) Hankie class homework from teacher........more layers of lace, more embroidery and a few little pieces of metal securing tiny button loops. You may also have noticed there are a lot of sequins here.....you can never have too many sequins.

I've been back a couple of days. I am still playing catch up. I still haven't unpacked my suitcase.

It's time now to make plans for embroidery, what comes next, hankie class, artist books, more embroidery on layers, more piecing.

The shop is open again which means sign up is open for our 12 month artist book adventure. There are a couple of ''work on your own'' classes in there too. (don't tell anyone but ''embroidery school'' is my favourite.)

I'm hopping that by tomorrow things will be on a more even keel. At the very least I hope to have my suitcase unpacked.

Hankie class girls......stand by your computer because class will be ready very soon.

Posted at 12:55 PM in embroidery, handkerchief, hooks and eyes, lace, online learning | Permalink | Comments (9)

Tags: handkerchief extras, hankies, hooks and eyes, lace, layers, online learning

11/24/2017

cloth books

Yesterday afternoon I had a hankering to put another cloth book together similar to this one which will hold embroidered samples. The first picture shows embroidery so far.....it's all white, put together with white cloth and embroidered with white French knots, bullion loops, buttonhole stitch and cross stitch hearts. I'm not saying there won't be colour appearing on the surface at some point but for the moment I am sticking with white.

In the second image laid under my latest cloth book is a glimpse of my first ''goodie bag'' for the London 2018 workshop. It has a pocket label although it is in fact a cloth book too. The label references the inside pockets which I can't show you until after the workshop. That's the first one finished.....I best get cracking with the rest.

I am going away now, my bags are packed. I will be posting to Instagram whilst I am gone if you want to see what I am up to.

I will be back on Wednesday.

Miss you already.

Posted at 12:45 PM in cloth, London gathering | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: cloth books, embroidery, white

11/23/2017

lace cloth and paper

A little collection today of things which have been happening in ''artist book'' class. The lace piece is what we worked on this week. It's a page overlay, protection for stitched paper and delicate surfaces. It isn't finished yet, I have a few decisions still to make about that piece.

The lace like cloth is laid here alongside paper pieces, most of which have resulted from ''artist book'' videos, sampling and testing various paper surfaces and how they interact with each other. I find it really useful to play like this, to mix things up. It informs, it prompts more pieces, I get new ideas, my ''to do'' list gets longer which is a good thing. Where would I be if my ideas dried up?

Tomorrow's post will be the last one for five days. I am off on my travels again...London...family....shopping. The shop will be closed so I want to promote something before I go.

The Artist Book class is running for a whole year. We started in September and continue until September 2018. (the cost equates to £1.25 a week) You can sign up at any point during the 12 months and get access to all video and instructions since we began in September. The work being produced by this group and shared in our private forum is incredible and makes me extremely happy. If you would like to be part of this unique experience you can read more here.

Posted at 12:40 PM in artist books, design, embroidery, lace, lace cloth, paper | Permalink | Comments (4)

Tags: artist books, artist books online learning, design, lace cloth, paper

11/22/2017

edges and surface embellishments...

Quite a few things to show you today. These first images are progress on hankie pieces. The pink sequin piece you saw a few days ago.......since then I have drawn, doodled on to the open areas and added hand stitch. That is now another panel ready for the bag I am making in hankie class. The other piece is a sample for my cloth swatch book. I have now bound the only raw edge on that piece, pinned it together anyway so once that's stitched I can add it to my book.

This morning I have been working on seams, on camera for my hankie class...the sequins were out for titivation purposes and below is an image of my latest sequin delivery. There are a lot of '''07'' as I need those to make my goodies for the London Workshop.

And finally, a few from around the workroom this week. Pom pom auditions have been happening here...can you tell?

Posted at 12:38 PM in embellish, embroider, embroidery, handkerchief | Permalink | Comments (5)

Tags: doodles, embroidered edges, embroidery, hankies, sequins, workroom

11/21/2017

titivations

Yesterdays talk of buttons had me appraising my stash of titivations. I don't have as many buttons as I thought so there may be a little button making happening quite soon. I do have quite a lot of pom poms.....(I didn't make those). I am also making good progress with hexagons and grandmothers flower garden pieces for London so the appraisal was a useful exercise in getting my bearings so to speak.

Posted at 12:40 PM in buttons, hexagons, pom poms, titivations | Permalink | Comments (7)

Tags: adornments, buttons, embellishments, embroidered buttons, pom poms, titivations

11/20/2017

hankie class progress

Drum roll!! My finished needle case from hankie class. I'm keeping it for now, can't bear to part with it. Now we are moving on to make ''floaty'' bags with long straps. I've never done ''long straps'' before.....how hard can it be....

Back to this needle case....a pom pom, a little strip of vintage French laundry tape, two hankies, some buttons, a little doodling and lots of hand embroidery. There are French knots, web stitches, chain stitches and running stitch.

It's not too late to make one of these for yourself either. We still have a couple of weeks left and you get access to everything we have done already, all videos and images. There's more information here.....

I now have a hankering to make buttons, to embroider for buttons, to piece cloth for buttons. I'm not sure if I will though. I am trying to resist adding to the ''to do'' list. What I might do first is gather all the hand embroidered buttons I already have and perhaps doing that will satisfy my button needs for a while.

Posted at 12:50 PM in big cartel, design, embroidery, handkerchief, needlecase, online learning | Permalink | Comments (8)

Tags: embroidered hankies, hankies, needle case, online learning

11/19/2017

simple pockets

In this post I said you wouldn't see these pockets again until after my workshop. I should have said you wouldn't see them in their entirety until after London 2018. It's ok if you see this piece. This is the start of the inside, the pockets which will hold the workshop supplies I am providing. This morning I was thinking about what I could include and laid a few things out to help me make decisions. This isn't the final selection, some of these things may not make it past this audition. I am however very happy with the simplicity of these pockets,the minimal stitch. That will allow the contents to shine, to not be overpowered by heavily embellished cloth and in all honesty as there are a few of these to make I can't go overboard with hand embroidery no matter how much I want to, there just isn't enough time.

Posted at 12:41 PM in embroidery, London gathering, pockets, workshop | Permalink | Comments (7)

Tags: embroidery, London 2018, pockets, workshop

11/18/2017

cutting up hankies

Hankies.....handkerchiefs.....cut up and rearranged handkerchiefs. This is my progress from hankie class. There are three separate pieces here, all started in hanke class. Now it's up to me to crack on and embroider them before we use them to make a ''floaty'' bag.

Last night I added a row of cross stitch to the upper area in the first image. I also added the web stitches you can see hugging the row of sequins on the other piece. The gold coloured sequins on the Broderie Anglaise and lace piece were added earlier in the week. At least they know in class that I'm not slacking.

(Your post will be ready in around an hour girls. Stand by your computers!)

Posted at 12:43 PM in embroidery, handkerchief, online learning | Permalink | Comments (6)

Tags: embroidery, handkerchief, hankie class, online learning

11/17/2017

just embroidery

Embroidery on lace cloth...lace cloth which was made for my workshop in France last year which is ''spare''. It hardly seems like over a year ago. Picking this cloth up again and adding a few more stitches took me back, happy memories.

This piece and the other pieces left from that workshop probably won't ever become ''anything''. They will be part of my stash though and we all know how useful a stash is don't we. Some may be snipped off for artists books, some may be used to lay behind open areas for cutwork, this could even be used to cover buttons or padded to make puffs, it could be rolled into toggles or even stitched over with more snippets of lace.

What you get when you make lace cloth is a unique surface, a yardage of fabric which is unique to you. You can then treat it like any other yardage of fabric, the difference being nobody else will ever have any exactly the same.

Posted at 12:36 PM in embroidered lace, embroidery, lace cloth, video | Permalink | Comments (8)

Tags: embroidery, lace cloth, video

11/16/2017

little pages

Although I am working on pages regularly in ''artist book'' class I am also working on them intermittently on my own, building ideas and little pages to grow my collection for the series of ''artist books'' I hope to have before the end of next year. These are a couple of my latest results from an afternoons play. Layered lace cloth, paper, a little hand embroidery....the ever present sequins and a hand embroidered button which I made some time ago. (that's another stash I add to regularly, my button stash).

These aren't necessarily quick to put together. At times things fall in to place easily and yes, quickly but at other times there is a lot of moving around, changing positioning involved before the final touch of a button or bead can be added. With these pieces I changed my mind over the button, which button to use about five times before I finally settled on this one.