Karen Ruane

books, pages, design sheets...

The most relevant piece here, the most current piece is the circular piece which is prominent in the last image. (It's in the centre of the first image)  That piece which was worked yesterday evening is again from my current ledger class, work from which you have been seeing a lot of recently, yesterday's work was from the same class.

The reason the other work is here is because I'm pondering, kind of reminding myself what's going on round here creatively as it's easy to lose sight of things, of particular pieces. This is a good way to refresh the brain cells.

What has happened though and what nearly always happens when doing this is it inspires, creates an urge to begin a new piece from the imagery and the composition here.

Ledger girls.....pay particular attention to the next bit....

can you imagine a large design sheet which is inspired by and loosely replicates the first image?

Oh well, I can't complain about having too many ideas because it certainly beats having creative block.

maybe a sleeve....

 

A little break from paper yet still book related. It occured to me that Clara never got a pocket. She may still not get a pocket, she may get a sleeve instead.

 

 

 

 

If you haven't got a clue who Clara is....Clara made her debut here during my 'stitching a story'' class where we embellished and titvated a story book. It seems like so long ago.

This particular book is,

Clara and the magical Hat Day by Amy de la Haye and Emily Sutton.

hello Clara

It's been a long time. I found this panel of embroidered silk yesterday when I was looking for something. It's from a past class, stitching a story.  This is a piece I stitched in order to make a drawstring bag for my story book....ooops, I forgot. I hope you weren't holding your breath waiting for it to be finished.

Now I have found it again I'm not sure what to do with it. I'm not inspired by the drawstring bag idea any more and I am scratching my head as we speak.

For those of you who weren't around whilst this class was going on I have added more images from way back then to give you an idea of what it was about. Happy memories for sure.

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Hello! How are you? How have you been? Have you had a good time? Was the big guy good to you? 

I had a great few days, domestic goddessing, kitchen, cooking, eating, washing pots.....loved it, really.  Good company, lots of chat too....I'm tired now though, I could sleep for a week.

I have made it to June in my little ''look back over the year''. I think I will be doing two together next time......can't leave any out! June of course was the month of this event......I remember it well.

There was a video too.....

 

Don't forget.....Embroidery school opens in just over a week!

goodbye Clara (for now)

I have been promising you a final look at Clara for a few weeks now.....here it is. She isn't finished. There are many more ways in which this little lady can be adorned and titivated but for now she is having a rest. A silk drawstring bag is in progress where I can let her rest, safely, free from dust and tattered pages. Tomorrow I will most likely show you progress with that.

This class is now available as a ''work on your own'' option. (there are 91 videos) You can take a look at that here. (please note....access to the private Flickr group is not included with work on your own classes)

I am early today.....I am going here shortly. An amateur photographer not a million miles from here is anxious to take photographs. I wonder if there are any fabric shops in the vicinity?

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final pages

Paper dresses, press studs, hooks and eyes, page overlays. Clara has been titivated to the nth degree. I will miss her. I said earlier in the week  that I would create an image heavy post about Clara. I will....but it will have to wait a few days. 

These images are from our last day in school. our final assignment. The overlay in particular has get my imagination working overtime. There are so many options for development with that one, so many other applications for that process......be prepared to see something similar in the future.

 

 

Yesterday Facebook shared a memory with me. (it does that everyday) Yesterday the memory was of a magazine article from last year....a magazine article about moi :) :). 

I was overwhelmed with the response on Facebook yesterday so thought I would share it here too.

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button page

We made buttons in class last week.....then we made a page to put them on. This page now forms part of the story for Clara. You must remember Clara? You can reacquaint yourself here if you have forgotten.

Sometime over the next week or so I will create a post dedicated to Clara, lots of images, a round up.

(if you are registered for ''Wrapped and bound in Stitch'' you should have received an e mail along with a short video from me this morning. If you didn't receive that can you please let me know)

two silk dresses

Following on from my ''stitching a story'' class I am creating a bag in which to keep my finished book. I think you have seen the early stages of this before but we now have two silk dresses appliqued to the surface, two silk dresses for Clara. I have laid the embroidered silk alongside a page from the book here where Clara is wearing a rather fetching paper dress, an earlier exercise in creating unique clothing for this little lady.

I'm not sure how much bigger her wardrobe will get before this drawstring bag is finished but I will keep you posted.

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a fancy hat and bag

Since you saw her last Clara has acquired a rather lovely backpack and a very trendy hat along with a matching embroidered cloth...tape measure related. It's been such a happy thing to do, this exercise, this class, a children's story and embroidery. Happy images, happy colours and very happy pieces of stitched cloth.

Of all the things Clara owns I covet the back pack. I am hoping to go some way to having one equally as lovely with this piece I showed you the other day. The surface patterning is different but the connection is there.

(I must tell you, the book I am embellishing is a V&A publication. Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day by Amy De La Haye and Emily Sutton.)

I have the paperback version.

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the first pocket from class

Progress with Clara

 

 

 

 

 

You haven't see Clara for a while have you? There is a glimpse for you today of how she is progressing...who knew a storybook could provide so much inspiration for stitch? 

She has new clothes, several very prettily adorned skirts and she frequents the most highly embellished houses and galleries imaginable. She even has wallpaper which zips together. Her home is tied together with ribbon and chain stitch......I wonder if we can move in? 

This piece is progressing....I am not showing that yet because I don't want to induce a yawning epidemic as really it doesn't look much different from what you have seen before. That's usually the way with a big cloth, cohesion and continuity dictate the use of the same colour and process throughout. At the moment I am working on a gingham section......you will see it soon though because that's all I am doing at the moment, (aside from class work) and the blue and white doodle from yesterday is waiting patiently for my light bulb moment.............I will keep you posted when that happens.

(a reminder about my new class which starts in less than four weeks......you can read about that here.)

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