Karen Ruane

not applique

Yesterday I spoke about adding applique to this piece.....I changed my mind, a woman's prerogative. Cutwork won over applique, cutwork with inserts of silk and trim and little clusters of French knots and beads. 

I hope I don't shock you now but I'm bored....bored with this. I like it, I will finish it but for some reason I need a new challenge today. I haven't a clue what, I'm completely blank on that but I will pull some stuff out and play around for a while and see if that sparks something.

Next week I am going on holiday. I'm going here and here. You may remember I taught at the Nantes show two years ago. This time I'm going as a visitor, I can browse, I can shop, I can wander round aimlessly, I can be a tourist, I can be a fabric and thread addict, I can be inspired and in awe.....

The shop will close on Monday so if you wish to sign up for the new class or the 12 month 'artist book blog' bear that in mind.

Wish me luck with my afternoon of play, of searching for inspiration.

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Adornments part 3

Adornments part one and two can be seen here and here....this is part three and why I chose to use all white is a very good question as these were sooooo difficult to photograph on this gloomy day in Lancashire.

You can see two stages of creating these little embroidered beads here. The first three images are of before...'pre stuffing'. The last two images are 'post stuffing'.  I will use these as a finishing touch on something as yet unknown, for an edge or a seam. 

It's been hectic here today. I have taken tons of photos of a finished cloth book, of machine made cloth for embroidery, paper pieces, hexagons. I'm juggling. I have made a final video for 'embroidery school', (miss you already) they will get that video some time today hopefully. I have made a video for 'artist book class', they will also hopefully get that later today and I have had a flurry of late sign ups for my new class which starts tomorrow. (thank you..insert heart emoji)

Next on my list is 'clean the bathroom'.....no needles and thread required.

And if you are one of the only two people who haven't yet listened...below is a podcast recorded for ''stitchery stories'' where I chat about my creative life.

 

 

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adornments part two

Cast your mind back to Sunday and those little partially stitched, titivated thingies. These are those....finished. There are two hand embroidered buttons and six cloth beads or puffs. For  now these sit on a glass shelf in a cabinet and I gaze at them every time I walk past. I have been known to pick them up and fondle them occasionally too.

I think tomorrow is 'podcast' day.  I recorded the podcast a couple of weeks ago with 'stitchery stories' and am hoping I have the day right. There will be links on here for you and on my Instagram and Facebook so you can listen to my ramblings.

My new class begins in less than a week. Later today I will be playing with a few ideas for our first set of videos. If you would like to read more about 'create and embellish' just go here.

adornments

There's a family celebration going on here. It started on Wednesday and finishes on Monday.....boy do we know how to celebrate!! I've got a cold....sneeze, blow, sneeze, you get my drift but in the quiet moments I've been feeding my stitching addiction and have created these little things. They will most likely end up as buttons, you can never have too may little pretty things to adorn your embroidery.

Normal service will be resumed on Monday at some point. My new class starts on April 16 if you would like to join me to create lots of embroidered white lace and frothy stuff. Who knows, we may even replicate these little things in white and sparkles.

You can read more about the new class here.

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sequins on an embroidered stem

There's a ten minute video today, chat, demonstration...thoughts about this piece. It's by way of an apology as I'm going to be missing for a few days.

The shop will stay open for you to register for my new class.

I'm starting to think this piece is almost finished in terms of the surface embroidery. I mention in the video how I am trying to decide how to finish this....forget about the bag idea, the pocket, the pouch which I speak about in the video. I've gone off that idea already. This will almost certainly be backed, have the edges titivated and live it's life as a simple cloth, to gaze at but more importantly to pick up and feed more work. The surface embroidery on here in addition to being decorative is a record, a record of every stitch and a reference to composition, what lives well with what, what compliments and what perhaps doesn't.

I will be back at the weekend.

 

 

bling on bling

Do you remember these hankies I was embellishing with sequins, bling and heavily embellished silk recently? Well yesterday I made an executive decision to join two of them to this paper and lace cloth piece (which still has me in raptures). As you can see in the next image for this to work I need more paper and lace cloth, another panel. That will be a chore.....not...that will actually now be the first thing we do in the new class. 

One of the seams where hankie meets lace and paper is embellished with bead droplets, white and gold seed beads. The other has 'floaty' dangly sequins. I do hope you can make those out in these images.

Before I go...the date for 'live' access to my recently recorded podcast has been changed. It will now be April 11 not April 4. I will have a link on here when it happens so don't worry there's no chance of you missing it.

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still practising

The large sampler piece on silk continues to grow and meanwhile more work is happening on my 'stitch ledger' for embroidery school. I honestly can't tell you how much I love this work. Embroidery school has fed my library of favourite stitches and inspired more than the large silk panel you see here. I have many more ideas for using this work, for developing it and moving it forward.

I am so inspired I have almost worked my way through a yard of silk Dupion I bought last week. More was ordered this morning. Just goes to show you can never have too much cloth whatever your favourite might be.

 

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an embellished lace page overlay

An embellished lace overlay for a page which has evolved over on the 12 month artist book blog. This particular ''artist book'' will have an overlay of some description protecting each page....I think I would like one more page before this book gets 'put together' , pages, overlays, front and back covers. More images of pages from this piece, this artist book can be seen here, here and here.

Yesterday, (although anxious to finish my cloth book) I worked some more on the workshop folders for London 2018. I will continue with those tonight as well as adding a little more embroidery to this piece.

I must be restrained, be patient when it comes to my cloth book....I am prioritising. I hope you're impressed.

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Saturday

A few images from around the house this past week or so. Nothing is 'normal' this week. There's been a lot going on. I had my first Christmas dinner last week and of course will be having Christmas dinner number two on Monday. I've been shopping...and shopping. I've been wrapping....and wrapping and I seem to be constantly playing the domestic goddess role, seeing dust everywhere. I do hope the big guy is watching.

I've also been blessed and spoilt with lots of early gifts......the Paris gift is from my little girl, she was lucky enough to go there a couple of weeks ago.

And.....I treated myself to a ''fabric advent calendar''. Some of the goodies from there are below. It was always my intention to gift some of these pieces and I have done that with some already but if there is one you fancy let me know and I will see what I can do.

(sadly I can't give to everyone who expresses a wish for one of these but I hope I can make one or two of you happy)

and then there is this....it makes me want to cry every time (in a happy way), thank you so much.

(press play and have your sound on)

 

Embroidery School 2018.

Not long now.....

Thursday

 

These pieces will be more familiar to some of you than others. Some are from online learning classes, some have been sold.....did you buy one? You will already be aware that I spend a lot of time looking at past work, for inspiration, to help with the occasional creative block and also just to ''remember''. Sometimes I look and wish I could do it all over again.......all of these pieces fit into that category. 

With that in mind you can definitely expect to see toggles in the near future along with a little stitched colour study. Those are the ones which have me itching the most, the remainder will call for a little restraint on my part......something I am not renowned for.

It's the time of year when plans have to be made for next year...........with that in mind does anyone fancy coming along to ''embroidery school 2018''? Can you sharpen your pencils before January 15? There will be more news of that in the next couple of days but think ''stitch ledger'', think toggles, think buttons, basically....think all things embroidery.