Karen Ruane

this and that

New fabric, new cloth, gifts of beads and paper and purl along with stitched paper, lace cloth, embroidery, titivating. It's been a busy and exciting few days. I'm not here today, I am here...drinking coffee whilst my other half takes photographs. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow. Behave yourselves whilst I am gone.

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paper and cloth...... collage - Karen Ruane

one piece damp stretched, one piece lined

toggles are fast becoming an addiction

I'm back..did you miss me?  London was fab, London is always fab. Returning to a dead PC monitor not so fab. It's replaced...ordered at 17.55 pm last night and delivered at 19.05 pm. Now that's what I call service. However.....it's new, it's bright and then some, my eyes are complaining already.....so, these images. Are they OK? It will take some getting used to I think. 

This work? Well I know I said I wasn't making any more pockets for a while but I changed my mind. This will be a tiny one. And anyway, it's an excuse to make more toggles which are fast becoming my latest addiction. 

I must dash, I have suitcases to unpack and a loft ladder to climb.

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an evolving white stitchery doodle

presentation....

pen, Broderie Anglaise and stitch

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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wrapping with gimp....the next one - Karen Ruane

buttons, fastenings, adornments - Karen Ruane

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 - Karen Ruane

wrapping with gimp....the next one - Karen Ruane

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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wrapping with gimp....the next one - Karen Ruane

wrapping with gimp....the next one

White silk Dupion, Ivory silk velvet, gimp wrapping and bullion knots....the start of another little pocket. I have laid two hankies at the side of this, they are auditioning to be part of the decorative and embroidered surface. I think they pass with flying colours.

This afternoon I will play with hankie placement, cut off a few of these hankie corners and move them around on here. I will keep you posted.

 

ingredients for a pocket - Karen Ruane

beaded loops and tiny stitching - Karen Ruane

gimp and bullion knots on a pillow top

Embroidery is happening on one of the pieces of cloth from yesterday. One of the pieces has been cut in two and a piece of silk Dupion has been tacked into the space created. I then added a curly gimp edge secured with bullion knots. So far there is  a single bumpy bit on the silk Dupion...there will be more.

Yesterday I also spoke about my ''octagon'' situation. I ordered pre cut octagon templates. My excitement was mounting. They have just arrived. Only one problem......they sent me hexagons by mistake. Can you hear me crying? 

(I will be calling them)

the last one

It's the last one, it's November and December. These will be more familiar maybe as they are more recent. November and December were busy. I went to London, I went to Berlin, I had a decorator camped here for almost a week. I mostly worked on my happy cloth but there was  a little bit of other stuff going on too.

The stitching, the paper, the collage, the ledger work, the buttons and beads and titivation's I've shown on here over the last week or so will all be present in one form or another in my new class which starts next Monday. 

Embroidery School.

I would like to say a huge, humongous, massive, enormous thank you to all of you who have stitched with me this past 12 months. It's been an absolute joy! I hope to see some of you in 2017.

two videos

You were spoilt in February. Two videos?! I've been doing it again, looking back.....today it's February. (I have nothing else to show you, my days are filled with wrapping paper, domestic chores, laundry and school work)

Do you remember January? The same applies here....too many images, too much choice. I have managed to whittle them down though. Most of these things left me in France, the buttons, the pin pillows...... except the pocket in the fourth image which was always intended to be for me. I fondle that every day. 

The videos? One concerns a page, the other a little titivation.....if you have seen them before, if you remember them then skip this next bit!

A five minute page

 

A few glass beads

 

Monday January 9. New class.....Embroidery School. Read more here.