Karen Ruane

a little notebook doodle

Just a little doodling in one of my notebooks today. It was an itch I had to scratch so to speak.

I'm off here for a few days. I'll see you on the other side.

Miss you already.

pompoms and plaited page ties

The results of my 'Friday workshop table' from yesterday. Another notebook, another stitched double page spread.

You will no doubt notice the pompoms. I love a pompom.

The plaited silk chiffon from yesterday is now attached to the notebook and allows me to tie the book in a couple of ways. I have shown it here in the last image tied with the front and back covers placed together.

As of Monday this will be my view and my back garden for six days.

I will do my best to post tomorrow before I go.

getting the cogs turning

Before I start I should say to my Lace class I am not giving anything away with these images. You will understand tomorrow.

There is so much going on here at the moment, family stuff, house stuff.....it feels like someone has got a whisk on full speed in my brain.

Regardless....I am taking some time to play with ideas for lace cloth.

An old artist book page and some self made lacy stuff.

It's just a ten minute 'look see', 'try', 'play'.

a sleeve for a little notebook

In the past I have spoken about how, as these little stitched notebooks fill up it becomes harder to work on the pages which follow as the embroidered pages don't lay flat once they are filled with stitch, buttons etc.

I think that is explained a little in this post.

Usually I either tie the pages back with ribbon or create a long wrap to lay over those heavier pages to ensure they stay in place whilst I continue to work on the book.

This time though I made a 'sleeve', a patchwork sleeve which slips over the already worked pages, securing them temporarily.

 

adding beads, a patchwork page keeper

I think I mentioned when I made the first patchwork page keep for one of my little books that there would be more.

Here is the second one!

There is a video here of me putting this little book together if you missed it.

embellishing pages

I swear I'm building a library here. That's OK, I love a library.

My son asked me yesterday, 'mum, how many of those books you sew have you got'?

Not enough was my reply.

petals and tiny toggles, an artist book composition.

Last time I was here I mentioned how I was trying to fit some time in working on this little book in between embroidering pieces for lace class.

I also mentioned a couple of artist book classes which are past classes and are now listed as work on your own programmes.

That post also contains images of past artist book work and if you are interested you can read that post here.

There has been a huge amount of interest both in those classes and in my artist book work so once again...thank you!

The work shown today is from yesterday afternoon. The tiny toggles were fiddly and then some....but worth it.

Stay safe folks. Stay home and create. x

new pages, more adornment and artist book learning opportunities.

Two new pages have been worked on in my little notebook. I am fitting this in as and when I have time in between working on lace class.

It will be a slow process to finish this embellished notebook but that gives me plenty of time to think about what I can add.

There has been a lot of interest in my embroidered notbooks, thank you! You can see more of those here, here and here.

I hope you like the latest additions to this one.

The images below are a snapshot of my table over the last couple of days. It's a busy, happy, creative and productive space chez moi.

 

If you are interested in learning the 'how to' regarding my stitched notebooks and artist books there are two 'work on your own' online learning classes listed in the shop.

Artist books can be found here and below is a small selection of pieces created during that class.

A shorter class, 'artist book explorations' can be found here and again, the images below give a snapshot of pieces worked on during that online learning programme.

 

 

a new notebook part three

Progress, albeit slow progress.

I do hope you can see the difference in this litlle book from last time. You can see 'last time' here.

The front wraparound cover is now completely embellished. There is so much more on there than before, buttonhole lace, beads, bullion knots, lace snippets.

There is a beaded page and a tiny beaded page on the little book within a book. That one has crystals too.

Of course, I haven't been able to spend much time with this as I am creating lace pieces for my new class and they will be my sole focus for the next few days. I will share a little of that work with you next time.

Meanwhile....... I'm sorry, I'm getting attached.

a new notebook part two

In my last post I made a video for you of the process I use when creating a little notebook to embellish.

I have posted the video again here in case you missed it.

This is how my new notebook looks today. There is minimal embroidery at the moment but it does have an extra tiny book attached to the first page. (where the cloth covered ring is attached)

I hope you like what I've done so far.

Next up are beads and crystals.

(this little book measures 3 x 3 inches)