Karen Ruane

buttonhole stitch marathon

I have been trying desperately to get the lining finished for my stitched notebook wrap. The lining is the all white piece. It is purely paper, paper and buttonhole stitch. Each raw edge is being finished with buttonhole stitch and there is around eight inches left to sew.

Why am I desperate? Because I am excited about what comes next.

The lining will be attached to the front cover of the wrap which is the central, long piece and there will be gaps where the reverse of each piece is visible. That gives me an opportunity to add more layers, more stitch, that's what excites me.

Once all that is done I can attach my wrap to the cover of my stitched notebook....

buttonhole loops, ribbon, a needlecase

A needlecase. Do you need another one Karen? Well I'm of the opinion you can never have too many and if you want to play with an idea it's occasionally good to play and make something at the same time. I had just started this the other day....you saw it here...I changed the ribbon, the one from earlier didn't make enough of a statement and if you saw my recent pom pom you will know I do like to make a statement,.

Am I informed now? Are the ideas flowing? Well yes actually they are.

joining front and back with buttonhole lace and sequins.

The day before yesterday this piece was pinned.....I had plans....the plans are taking shape. Buttonhole lace, sequins, two pieces joined and more edges to work on.  My dilemma? What to work on next, today, this evening? Artist books are calling me, my own artist book specifically and then this piece today, I'm itching to stitch on it a bit more whilst over in class it's all about pink gingham, white silk and bullion loops with added sequins. (I will show you tomorrow.) I want to work on that too. I guess it's the best kind of dilemma to have. I'm thinking of writing a list of my current stitch addictions, closing my eyes and sticking a pin in it. It might well be the only way I will reach a decision.

 

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lace cloth and buttonhole stitch.

I'm still not here, I am probably here. To keep you entertained in my absence I have edged a tiny section of lace cloth with buttonhole stitch. 

I will be back tomorrow...all going well I won't need to leave the house again for weeks.....

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buttonhole stitch and colouring in

pin pillow

a buttonhole edge

I'm working on some pieces which are in progress on a kind of rotational basis, changing which piece gets a little stitch each day. I'm hoping that way they will all be finished at the same time......it's a plan. It remains to be seen whether it will actually work out that way but nothing ventured nothing gained.

This one had five tiny applique motifs added over the weekend, this morning it has a tiny half circle pocket edged with buttonhole stitch which takes shape on the video.

If you are registered for 'Sampling for Stitch' you should have received links and passwords this morning. If you haven't received those please let me know. I will begin to invite you to our private Flickr group this afternoon.

a seam and a pocket

Pockets are still the ''in thing'' round here. I'm still working on finishing this one from yesterday for class and I have four others pieced and in various stages of completion surface embroidery wise. I gave this one a ittle attention last night, a tiny circular pocket now sits on the surace and one seam has been secured with buttonhole lace.  There is cross stitch running across a narrow section of patterned cloth with bullion loops forming a decorative edge on the tiny pocket.

Later today I am going to cut out pages for my little books. I have quite a collection of samples for the pages now so figure if I cut pages and start to attach the samples I will have a better idea of what I still need to create, how much doodling, how much stitching.

I'm also debating with myself about this piece. I want to keep it. Then again I want to make another. I'm leaning towards the idea that I should make a new one for me, different somehow....perhaps a fold over one with a central reverse opening, or maybe even a drawstring one. What do you think?

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new doodling on white silk

White

You saw me put this little piece of white together yesterday, on camera. It's having an easy beginning, buttonhole lace around the edge of the lace cloth, bullion knots securing a seam with another row of bullion knots half extending across the main body of the piece. That row will eventually extend across the whole piece.....I just ran out of time. 

I intend to play with the placement of folds for this one before I decide on final surface embellishments just like I was doing here. There is a hankering for buttons building with this....big buttons, white buttons....

I am almost back to normal after a great weekend, disruption but amazing company, disruption of the best kind. Helen goes back this evening....I miss her already.

 

(if you are registered for ''embroidered pockets, human cloth'' you should have received passwords and things this morning and you should also have received your invitation to our private Flickr group. If you haven't received any of those please let me know)

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a surface, embellished....

paper and texture

prairie points

as promised.....

I promised yesterday, the lace, remember? Here it is.......I want to make more. I want to spend every day making this, all day. Then again I feel like that about other pieces too...not enough days never mind hours.....

It looks different now. It's been laid over another embroidered piece. It's informing new work  that's yet to be started. I will show you the two pieces together soon, this one and the one it's laid upon, I will show you how that looks.

are you ready for another one?

Another pillow, another one to compliment this one. Today's pillow has a buttonhole lace edge as opposed to a running stitch edge. This one also has  row of what I like to call ''droplets'', ''ringlets'', little bullion knot loops that hang freely.

There won't be any colour for a day or two now. I have a white piece newly started which I added bullion knots to last night. Hopefully I will have made enough progress with that before I go to bed today to damp stretch it for tomorrow. I then want to work some more on the lace piece from yesterday. It's taking every ounce of self control I have to let that one lie whilst I get on with other things.

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a pillow

two pieces, with bumps.

paper, stitch, beads and a January class.

connected?

The main thing here, the focus of this post was meant to be the addition of stitch to my new Liberty pouch. We'll focus on that first. I've added loops, (of course, I'm an addict remember), I've added buttonhole lace, more hexagons and some straggly flower things, wrapped thread with French knots on top.

Before I removed the embroidery from my damp stretching board I was rummaging through a folder looking for something. I came across these two bits of paperwork, paper based, collaged, painted doodle things. I wondered how they'd look with this embroidered cloth as I thought I could see a connection. I still see it, but not with the pinky one. I definitely like the flowery one, the collaged paper thing fits here. I made that years and years ago. Just goes to show, it pays to hang on to stuff.