Karen Ruane

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.

Cinderella

Cinderella has found her way into my little artist book. A tiny story book has been added to one page, the facing page titivated with beaded thread cards and hexagons.

This one really is getting full now but that's what I love about my artist books.

I love that they won't close, that they spill open at random pages and I especially love the dangly things and meandering lengths of ribbon falling from the pages.

Embroiderers ledger girls.....remember I said those little tabs had mileage? the tabs which secure the pages in the little books we made? well....how about placing beaded thread cards on them?

If you are registered for August 2020 lace cloth which began this morning you should have recieved sign in details for our dedicated private space this morning. If you haven't received those then please let me know.

patchwork page keeper

Last time I posted about this little book I mentioned I would need a wrap or something similar to hold the pages open as it refuses to stay open on its own.

My intention was to create a wrap which would be attached to the front cover and fold over any page.

Instead I have embroidered a little bookmark/page keeper using one inch hexagons and beads.

Now all I have to do is restrain myself from making one of these for every artist book in the house!

(if you are registered for my new class you should have received an email from me this morning and an invitation to join our private Flickr group. If you haven't received either of those can you please let me know)

A pom pom trim tie

This little artist book is resisting now, resisting any more additions. I won't be beaten, I'm aiming to adorn every single page.

When you get to a certain point with these artist books it becomes difficult to work on the next page without the previous page forcing itself on you! It won't stay open. In the past I have tied the pages open with a ribbon wrap, today I have used pom pom trim but now I think I will make a hexagon, patchwork wrap for this one. It seems fitting as hexagon patchwork features heavily on these pages.

What's new today in this little book? Another Grandmother's flower garden motif and a tiny beaded fringe.....I hope you can see that, it's laid just where the pages meet.

(if you are registered for lace class which begins on Monday you should have received an email from me today. If you haven't received that can you please let me know)

beading

My absence yesterday was house related.....there hasn't been much going on in the way of stitching unfortunately but I did manage to work a little on this. We started this in embroidery school.......there's short bead related video here and at the end a glimpse of my plans for the little stitched piece from here.

beading a tiny edge

A quite short video today (and an excuse to hide in my little shed/studio.) I'm gradually making progress with the wrap for my artist book. I seem to have shared a lot of this process on here, it's almost 'your' project. There are so many videos on here about this piece, videos about piecing, videos about embroidery, embellishment, edges, pinning...so many. If you haven't seen them you can click on the 'video' link in the category list on the right hand side of this page. That will take you there (this post will be first, just scroll past it)

 

This weekend I will be working hard on pieces for embroidery school, two classes, both exciting, both needing lots of stitch and lots of attention.

 

silk chiffon ribbon

It's been a funny kind of week. I have the decorators in and have mostly been hiding in my studio but yesterday I went away for the day to visit my parents so that disrupted my creativity and today I was sent for more wallpaper so nothing creative has happened as yet. More supplies have arrived though and the silk chiffon ribbon is already making me drool.

Once I have finished beading the edge of the page you can see in the second image I am going to play with the ribbon and assess it's suitability for toggles.

adding beads to an edge

This morning was my first time working in my new, as yet unfinished studio. I have been so desperate to get in there, I just can't wait. At the moment it's equiped with an emergency table. It works, it's sufficient. As I've been moving small amounts of stuff in there I've been seeing things which could be worked on more, which although 'finished' wouldn't suffer if I played with them a little more. With that in mind, once I had made one of my videos for 'Ledger' class I began to add danglies to the edge of this page .

(there will most likely be more and more little videos on here now I have a dedicated space to work, free from interuptions)

 

beads and pom poms, a pin pillow

A pin pillow (6 x 6 inches approx).

You saw this in progress a few weeks ago and it's been finished for a while. I got sidetracked with other stuff and forgot to show you.....sorry. There is ribbon across the reverse too but I forgot to take pictures of that............sorry again. It's just two simple strips secured with hand stitch which compliment the front, the pom poms, the big gold thread beads.

This little pillow was made using the same colour palette as my 'wrap' which you have seen a lot of lately. There will be an update on that tomorrow.

(I am gradually moving things into my new studio. I am still waiting for the worktops and cabinets but meantime I will spend the weekend working in there, getting used to the space, creating on an old, temporary table. There's still a little bit of work to do but while I wait I intend to enjoy my new space)

 

Beads and French knots for a seam.

So far I have two pieces which will form part of the wrap for my artist book. I have spoken about this work and the artist book here in case you missed it and haven't a clue what I am talking about. These two pieces on their own won't be big enough, I will need to piece more but meanwhile I couldn't resist joining them. I love to embroider a fresh seam, the temptation here was too great.

This one has French Knots with tiny seed beads randonly scattered. I am actually very disappointed it's finished as I could have gone on forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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French knots #frenchknots

A post shared by Karen Ruane (@karenruane) on Feb 23, 2019 at 4:51am PST