Karen Ruane

ingredients for a pin pillow....

Embroidery is now complete on the pin pillow cloth from this post. It was damp stretched last night and now the fun of putting these two pin pillows together can begin. That will involve adding beads to the surface, tiny glass cubes.....they will be given an edge of gimp, (like spaghetti) and there will be buttons, label buttons just like these. I am going to miss working on this cloth, it's such a beautiful surface to embroider. I would watch this space as the pin pillow cloth could reappear in another form some time soon.

hankies, pin pillows and almost finished work....

It's been a busy week and a mixed week. I've started new pieces and almost finished others. I've pinned a lot and tacked a lot. I have looked at old work hanging next to new work whilst planning new pieces. I have acquired emery sand....the jury is out on whether that's a blessing or a curse. New labels which were ordered have arrived....they excite me a lot!! I commissioned those from the very talented Anna.....they arrived so quickly too all the way from the USA.

Today I have a real feeling of satisfaction with where I am creatively...I mean in terms of preparation for upcoming events. So far so good. So far the plan is working. So far I am making good progress.

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loops on white, a video

pin pillow cloth part two

Following on from this post.....I made more cloth, pieced strips of silk with cotton and metallic tissue. This one has a ''frothy'' feel,  a lightness. That may alter when it's damp stretched....we shall have to wait and see.

So far there is minimal embellishment, I am picking this up in between other things...so many other things...beautiful things which are happening in class and things coming together for my France stash.

The piece from yesterday has been stitched up three sides and later today I will play a little with ideas for the lining. Adornments will be embroidered too....for edges.

This morning I have been creatively starved. I have been ironing. That's a good thing though, it's my nod to the domestic chore department which now gives me a free run for at least five days!! Time well spent then.

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pin pillow cloth

This pin pillow, this bling pin pillow, possibly my favourite pin pillow started life as a piece of cloth just like the piece of cloth here. I created the cloth myself. I then ''blinged'' it and hand embroidered it. There is enough cloth here for two pin pillows. Actually, I want to make half a dozen pin pillows so along with embellishing this cloth I will make more, today, this afternoon.....

 

(thank you for the input re the emery sand...especially Pamela!! I have managed to source a small amount. I stalk my postman with baited breath!)

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lace and mirrors...

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a new pin pillow

I had a visitor earlier this week....the lady that cuts my hair. (yes, she comes to me, I'm not a beauty salon kind of girl) She has been cutting my hair for almost 20 years and not once have I given her a gift. Not because I don't like her, it's just not that kind of relationship although I do like to think that I care about her. She probably doesn't feel the same about me however as I am a very bad customer. I have a 'thing' about getting my hair cut, can't abide it, don't know why, just detest the whole process. My son used to cry every time he got his hair cut when he was a little boy....I wonder if there's a connection there.? Anyway....what on earth has this got to do with embroidery I hear you cry.....I will tell you. Every time she comes she scans the room for whatever I am working on, looks, touches, (if she is allowed). This week she was very taken with the pin pillows in the last image which are in my cabinet. Obviously she had never noticed them before. So......and here's the embroidery bit, I am going to make her one, a surprise. The top has been put together and a little of the titivation has happened. What do you think? I hope she likes it. It will be five weeks before she comes again but I will let you know whether she was delighted or underwhelmed. (and just in case you were wondering, she doesn't visit my blog, doesn't even have internet so we are safe)

I am going away on Monday night, holiday time. The shop will be closing on Sunday night so if you were wondering about signing up for any work on your own classes or even our live class, Sampling for Stitch then please be aware that nothing will be available after Sunday. If you do sign up for Sampling for Stitch you would have the two weeks I am away to catch up. (although catch up isn't compulsory as you have access forever)

I am determined to doodle a little whilst I am away. With that in mind, I got a little excited earlier about an idea I have had. I will share that with you tomorrow.

threads, samples and that pin pillow

A snapshot of the past few days. Sampling has been happening, thread has been bought and pockets have been lined. The bling pin pillow is ever present at the moment, it seems to pop up in most of my images. It's well used.....and much loved. There is a whole post dedicated to that piece here, from way back...when it was created.

The most exciting thing for me in this post is the book cover....written on by me, many moons ago. Those were the days, my own little piece of history. When I think back to the little girl who wrote that I am certain she never would have guessed what she would be doing at this stage in her life. If she had she would have been very happy indeed.

the white ones....

You may have noticed that I have been somewhat preoccupied with pillows over the last few weeks....I gave them a rest for a while but last night finished a tiny white one. That makes three white pin pillows in total. The new one, the tiny one, is positively festooned with beads, tiny glass beads that glint. Unfortunately that doesn't show up so well in the images but trust me, they're there. It also has gimp and quite a few bullion knots.

I'm not sure what to work on today. I think I need to assess my ''to do'' pile otherwise known as the pile that keeps giving. Oh I just remembered, I need to make buttons for this. That will be my first job then.

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lace cloth and glass beads....

it's not a pillow....

The first of three

This one is finished now, backed and stuffed, edges hand finished with running stitch and a little puff on one corner. There are two more pieces like this still to work on, lace, silk and white which need to be embroidered. This one measures 6 x 5 inches and the others should be around that size too.

In the background, out of sight, I'm still playing with my scribble doodles.....I'm also mentally playing with ideas from yesterdays post, making lists in my head, wondering what I can mix with what, doodle and paper, doodle, scribble on cloth and what any accompanying paperwork  might look like, what form that might take. 

Later today I'll be cutting pages and sharpening my pencil not forgetting the embroidery I want to do too. Embroidery is the main focus, the pencil and paper a quick ten minute distraction every now and then.

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the beginning

three

They're finished, three pieces of piecing, stitched, backed and stuffed with little pin pillow tags attached. There is no embroidery to speak of on these, a few stab stitches securing the strips, points and loops. I'm keeping these for myself, to use in London and any other workshop which may or may not appear in my future. These will be trusty companions, tools, table additions....now I need to make another three. 

The plan was to put the next three together today but I have just read an e mail where the word ''gimp'' was mentioned and I now have a hankering for gimp. See how easy it is to distract me? to throw my plans off course? I can resist anything except temptation.

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two embroidered panels

this morning

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a new plan

ten days....

I didn't actually count, make notes, use a mathematical formula or anything but my best estimate is that these pieces were all finished during the course of the last ten days or so. When you look at it like that it allows you to focus, to check that you're not being frivolous with your time, that even though you may also have had a creative meltdown during that time the fingers were still prepared to slog it out whilst you hid in a corner desperately searching for your mojo. (any doubts re the meltdown just ask the girls in class, they were witnesses, eye witnesses.)

As I have been finishing these I have been putting them safely away in a glass cabinet and moving on to the next thing. This post happened today because I needed something from the cabinet, it also holds precious cloth, scraps, buttons....I then thought, oh, that's quite a lot of stuff, get it out Karen, have a look. I am so happy I did.

Today marks the almost half way point of our  ''swathed in stitch'' 12 weeks. We have created ledger pages, embroidered with gimp, made our own lace, titivated cloth, doodled on paper, doodled on fabric, made buttons....phew. I can't keep up. If you want to join us you would be most welcome. This class will not be available as a work on your own, if you want to do it you have to be quick. We are almost half over!!!  Time really does fly when you are having fun....

Swathed in Stitch