Karen Ruane

two....

Two pocket tops, one moved on more than the other. These are this one and this one with added titivations. One has a new pocket with lilac cloth with little circles, the edge of which is crammed with bullion loops and French knots. There's also a tiny double cloth applique on that one, edged with bright pink bullion loops.

The other, the one that has had least attention now has a length of gimp attached which is secured with multi colour bullion knots....I think I need to work on that one some more tonight.

I have been cutting out pages for little books and collaging scraps of tissue paper with torn paper doilies too. I may show you that tomorrow if I make enough progress....

Gingham, dots and loops.

Aside from pockets, paper, hankies and zippers I've got dots and gingham on my mind. I kind of started thinking out loud with cloth, piecing, playing, mixing, folding, adding snippets of embroidered edges. What i'm doing is considering options for new pieces which could take shape during ''swathed in stitch''....same pillows, same pouches? I'm not so sure. I have a hankering for a happy cloth, a bright, cheerful, pleated cloth of gingham and lace and spots. This is the first audition.

This morning I made a tiny pocket, the girls in five are going to see that shortly. I will share it with you tomorrow and who knows, I may even have auditioned more cloth for the ''happy, pleated'' piece which is yet to come.

These came today, my very own piece of an art instillation and a tiny part of history in my front room.

 

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First of all....wow.....I wasn't expecting the response I got to yesterdays post. Thank you! I meant to give you a link yesterday to where you can create your own mosaics, I forgot. Here it is now, better late than never.

Loops, it's all about loops here at the moment. I just sit down, get my needle and thread, forget to look at the clock and make loops all night. I love them, adore them, can't get enough of them. I am renaming my tiny Lancashire cupboard of a house Loopy Towers as opposed to Ruane Towers. For now I'm resisting the urge to have a plaque made.......

I wanted to share this video with you. When it is released for sale all proceeds will go to ''Children in Need'' here in the UK.  Check out the sets, loving the balloons.

pouch, pillow, Liberty and loops....

Sometimes, of an evening, I am working on things for ''4'' or ''pillows and pages'' and I get to a point that needs to be finished on camera. When that happens it gets put to one side and something else, non group related gets picked up. When this happened last night my Liberty pouch....you are familiar with that......was picked up as it waiting for a ten minute final titivation and then required damp stretching. Check, done, ticked off the list. You can see that here, all that is left is for me to back it.

Rather than then sitting and practicing my thumb twiddling I got out more Liberty, a scrap of silk and a piece of cotton cloth. That's the piece with the pinks and the prairie points you can see here. Another pillow...cushion...whatever. I know. How many pillows do I need?

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Last night I began embroidery on the joining seam of my pouch after I had finished the surface of the pin cushion pieces. (no pictures of those yet...sorry, hopefully tomorrow) I am doing the loopy thing on this seam. It is slow, it is time consuming....it is my idea of perfect.

Today I am getting ready for Lace class. I am soooooooo excited. I have made one video and plan another for today too. I get to play with cloth and as you can see my ironing board is festooned with fabric and my boxes of trims are creating havoc. I don't care, I can tidy up later.

Whilst I am doing all this, playing with lace and fabric and making a mess I am listening to this.....constantly...on a loop. I love it. It reminds me of last Friday night when I was almost close enough to touch.

I meant to say thanks yesterday and I forgot, sorry. Thanks for all the birthday wishes for Helen when I was away and I also wanted to say that yes, it's pretty amazing that we bought her wedding dress quickly without any hitches. That is because we did a lot of research first, looking, searching, google, catalogues. We were prepared. She knew what she wanted and where to go. That's my girl!

I am still having commenting problems. Some of you are still going into  my spam folder. Please don't worry if you comment and it disappears...I will find it in spam which I now check hourly.