Karen Ruane

lace, sequins, scrim and a small fastening

Two  more pages, two sides. In truth there are many more to go, lots more playtime with composition and titivation. My stash is coming in very handy. I speak a little about the value of my 'stash' here. That's not to say I don't need other things around me in order to finish a page, no....the pages come together with a combination of stash bits, new stitching, fastenings, buttons, beads, paper scraps and other things I have around me. 

Some people follow challenges such as ''a stitch a day'' or ''a drawing a day''.  I'm setting myself the challenge of ''a page a day''.

auditioning buttons

I'm still on edges, swatches, seams, adornments. Yesterday I raided my stash of hand embroidered buttons, puffs, fastenings. (last image) The four buttons on the edge of the narrow swatch won. I tried buttons and puffs on the edges of my other swatches but they didn't quite fit the bill. It just goes to show though, it never hurts to have stashes all over the house to call on when the moment strikes.

One edge of the swatch today has been embellished with French knots and silver beads, the other with simple buttonhole stitch, a good contrast I think. I will be turning this one over later today, thinking over my options for embellishing the reverse.....

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looking back

with added buttons.....

a pocket, gimp and buttons

pocket number three

The last of three pockets, you saw the first two here. Gimp fastenings, (purely decorative), embroidered lining, vintage white cloth, silk velvet, applique and more gimp than you can shake a stick at. The list has been ticked, pockets are done.....for now.....

 

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two

Two finished pockets with the third one almost complete.....the list has been ticked and that's very satisfying. Three will be my limit for embroidered pockets......for now. I am too excited about artist books to start another one. Then there's class, sampling to be done, ideas to explore, cloth scraps to stitch, paper based design work to extend and develop.....the list is still long even though two things have been ticked off.

Today will be about creating surfaces for my London gathering which is fast approaching. It's highly likely that snippets for pages, for artist books will spring from that work too.

vintage white, pinks and pale greens

A completed front....now there's the reverse to attend to. Said reverse still needs to be pieced, the cloth needs to be found and pressed and pinned and basted but for now I am content with the front. And the fastenings.....another addiction. 

My pieces, fronts and reverses are stacking up. This one needs to be finished too, lined and titivated....I make plans for finishing, for the sewing machine part and the edging by hand but then I get distracted. Mostly it's artist books distracting me at the moment. Tomorrow it will be something else.

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an edge of cutwork

one piece damp stretched, one piece lined

white and silk velvet

This is the piece I hoped to show you yesterday but the light was too poor for photographs. The last image is how it looked before I worked on it some more last night. Silk velvet is beautiful cloth, luxurious, soft....but unruly....it won't stay where you put it even with millions of pins in it, it slips, it moves and sharp, straight seams are an almost impossible dream but I'm embracing that, it's part of the charm.

I bought coloured gimp and have been feeding the fastening addiction a little since it arrived. I'm hoping these and a few more I intend to make will live on this piece. Over the weekend I hope to work on this some more and also finish this as the titivation's I have been waiting for arrived this morning. There may also be some frothy lace creation going on along with more page creation for ledgers.....

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buttons, fastenings, adornments

Little fastenings, little adornments for the next pocket. They will sit on the silk velvet when the pocket surface is embellished completely, when the other things I have planned for it are added. I'm aware these look like little cabbages....I like cabbages, they are layered, they have natural pockets, what's not to love about a cabbage? 

There are five of these. They took an extraordinary amount of time to make, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Despite that fact I want to make more. I have a love for the time consuming and fiddly......but I guess you knew that already.

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toggles, fastenings, stitching and Christmas....

My house has been prepared for Christmas early this year due to my London trip. I normally wouldn't have done it yet but I'm so glad I have. I won't be saying that when I have to put it all away though! This week has been mixed in terms of creativity, again because of my London trip. I've stitched cloth, I've stitched fastenings and I've made more videos that I thought humanly possible...I really am getting sick of the sound of my own voice so I can't imagine how that must be for you.

By the time you read this I hope to have been here and  here....

hankie corners and fastenings

Hankie corners on a page, a ledger which will be dedicated to the handkerchief as mentioned yesterday. The more I think about what to do with the pieces shown yesterday the more I want a hankie ledger, a beautiful resource for reference, for inspiration. Tempted as I am to create another hankie cloth at some point, now isn't the time.

The little cups from here are now buttons. Last night I made a few little puffs, fabric beads to sit alongside those. I am on a bit of a mission to create quite a few buttons and beads , making one or two in a spare half hour. Let's see how much that particular collection can grow in the coming weeks.

Finally....the kitchen wall is finished, done, dusted.....phew.......

(It's not yet decorated. That must wait until after Christmas to allow for drying out. That's OK. I can live with that, it's just amazing to get my house back)

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hankie number eight

coming together, the hankie cloth....

the hankie cloth has pockets....

another pocket