Karen Ruane

three hexagons and three tabs....

 

Three hexagons with tabs have been added to this silk cloth doodle. I like them, I think they enhance....they make me smile. The only negative as far as I'm concerned is a distinct lack of stitching in any kind of volume. I mean....three hexagons? I don't know, I have slowed down, events are conspiring against me? who knows....I want to finish this sooner rather than later because I am going to make it into a keepsake pouch for little Lottie Rose. I would like to give it to her before she is 21.

I've been making notes....(oh yes, making notes as opposed to stitching, there could be a clue to the lack of embroidery in that). Anyway, notes, lists, ideas for a new stitching adventure so watch this space. It involves doodles on cloth, Broderie Anglaise, piecing, maybe some lace and a lot of embroidery along with recognition of the body bag.

And now.....Happy Birthday to the most gorgeous girl in the world....Helen. Love you to the moon and back.

 

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Tabs in action....

As promised yesterday, tabs and how they work, where they live, how they fit into the body bag. Tabs lay across the pleated muslin, they represent binding, wrapping, holding, keeping safe. They adorn the muslin panels, enhance the pleats whilst mirroring the embellishment on the silk panels.

I need to make quite a lot more of these, my guesstimate is ten but that could be wrong. Truth is I don't really know for certain until the body bag nears completion, nearer to completion than it is now anyway. Later today I will be adding pleated muslin panels to the main piece along with a new tab, the one from yesterday and perhaps another finished silk panel. It is growing. I don' think we are speaking in terms of months until I have a finished body bag. I think it will be weeks.....I hope it will be weeks....

pleated muslin and a tab....

We're focusing on the body bag this week over in swathed in stitch. Panels are being joined, (after I have decided which piece I want where. I change my mind a million times before anything is actually stitched down!) These pieces, the pleated muslin and the tabs are an integral part of the body bag too. I can't have one without the other. The tabs bind the muslin, lay over the muslin panels as if securing them. Tomorrow I will show you this in action so to speak. I will photograph those sections of the body bag where this is evident. I hope it will become a bit clearer then.

Just a word of warning now. I feel another list coming on. Later today...I need some clarity of thought. I need some kind of plan. I have ideas coming out of my ears. I have pressing things nipping at my heels. I need to prioritise. I seem to float along for a few weeks, lost in my own little world of cloth and thread when suddenly reality jumps in and reminds that this tiny corner of the world isn't all fluffy and pretty. Well, it is but not exclusively. Some of that fluffiness and prettiness needs a little order from time to time, a little more focus maybe.

dotty loops....

 

Yes, dotty loops on white cloth as opposed to the white loops that are on the dotty cloth. I still haven't had the light bulb moment when I will know what this piece will eventually be but meantime I'm just enjoying the titivating.

The edges are a combination of French knots and web stitches....I rather like them......

It's laid on an old ledger, some painting from way back.

The builders are here. I am trying to stay sane, honest. There is black dust in several rooms but thankfully non downstairs except in the kitchen. I am told that the dirt part will just be today. They promise that tomorrow will be cleaner. They say you can't cut a hole in a ceiling without making dirt. Hmmmmmm....

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The playing continues, with cloth. I have spent a lot of time recently playing with ledgers and that will continue this afternoon, I've also been playing with cloth. There are several samples on the go at the moment which will hopefully morph into more. I do have a loose plan but I'm waiting for the light bulb moment before I can be certain of where I am going. 

This one, the cloth part of these images is the latest 'play' piece. Vintage cloth joined to red spotty cloth with French knots and tabs. Technically they're not spots are they, they are tiny squares. I'm not going to quibble though...other work here is ancient, as old as the hills! Again it's just to hide the table, a background but one which works well against this embroidery I think.

This morning I went shopping. I bought blue ink and a rather nice striped mug. Now I am itching to go play with the ink and have a brew in my new cup so please excuse me....

 

 

(Quibble.......argue or raise objections about a trivial matter.)

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bullion knots...

just a bump and a French Knot seam

shades of white....

bumps and cross stitch....

 

 

Phew.....I made it. I have been distracted this morning. Firstly by the supermarket, then by some dirty washing, then the telephone which I must say NEVER stops ringing in this house. I am so tempted to get that taken out....don't dare me....it could happen.

Still, I'm here now. A new tab for the body bag, resplendent with bumps and cross stitch and a tiny piece of paper that I have added cross stitch to...why? I just felt the need. Later, possibly next week, that piece of titivated paper may well find its way into a ledger but not before I've discussed it with my girls in simply stitch so watch this space.

 

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everything

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well maybe not EVERYTHING but certainly everything I have around me today. A gathering on the table. I'm hoping it will inform, spur me to make notes.....I don't know why but I feel the need to make notes. Notes about what? Not sure really...I'm  having a funny day, a good day but a day filled with a lot of ''I want'', ''I need'' moments in terms of creativity, embroidery, goals, aspirations. For example, I  feel the need to have an ''open studio''. It's not going to happen....can't swing a cat in here but It's a hankering of mine. I feel the need to share, to share my environment, my creative environment at least. To have people come and rummage through my things, pick up ledgers and leaf pages, handle cloth, sit and stitch with me.

(no I'm not having a meltdown. Today for the first time EVER I would welcome intrusion into my personal space....... if I had time to clean up first.) 

I think I know why I'm feeling like this. It's the working in isolation 24/7...... 99.99999% of the time I prefer it that way. I'm just at that minuscule percentage point in time where the above would be good. Anyway, enough already. I'm certainly not unhappy. How could I be? Look at all this stuff I have to keep me amused.

 I want to take you back to this post now and the overwhelming response. Thank you again...I'm really blown away. I have made progress in the planning aspect and have an overview with dates and information here. I plan to open this at the weekend, maybe Friday. Meantime go have a look, take time to ponder.....

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sandwiches and tabs

 

 

I'm a little late today. That's because I am doing everything in slow motion, my attempt at taking it easy. I am still getting through more tissues than I ever thought humanly possible so less of that and I would have an abundance of time. I haven't even been to school today. It could be mayhem over there as they have been left unsupervised for so long. Actually....I daren't look. What have you been up to? 

Gentle embroidery on pin pillows is how I spent yesterday evening, when I wasn't nodding off in the chair. Two are now sandwiches ready to be finished. One of them is already spoken for and the other? well I got a bit carried away with that one It's huge....I am not listing anyway until they are all finished. I can't give you a day yet it depends on the tissue, blowing, nose situation. I also made tabs....I love those, tiny little things, very cute.

I also have hexagons on my mind,  a plan,  a plan for part of simply stitch. It is taking all my strength to control myself and not rush headlong into that one. Honestly....I am bursting with excitement, itching to do something with it....maybe a doodle. But then  I couldn't share. I would have to become a recluse...........

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