Karen Ruane

inspired

The colour and pattern I have been using recently have inspired me to create another little cloth book of stitches and embroidery tecniques.

There are three pages almost finished......

Don't forget, you can sign up to either of my current classes anytime and not miss out on anything that has been posted up to now.

In 'stitch along' we are working on this little dress among other things.

In 'ledgers a record of stitch' we are creating an inspirational record of colour, pattern and stitch reference.

Meanwhile I am hoping to finish my new pin pillow later today and begin another page for the little cloth book of embroidery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm inspired to make another cloth book of stitches ❤❤❤ #book #embroideredbook #embroidery

A post shared by Karen Ruane (@karenruane) on Feb 21, 2019 at 6:16am PST

stash building

Although my little workshop isn't quite finished I am getting very excited and am buying things to fill little jars which will then be used to fill little cupboards. These tiny pom poms and gold coloured thread beads are my latest indulgence. The threads were ordered as I was running out of those....any excuse.

A few of the tiny gold thread beads will be used imminently to embellish a little pin pillow I am putting together. I don't want to get too carried away with these though otherwise I won't have any for my jar. Then again......I could just buy more.

If you saw my video earlier this week where I pieced cloth I wanted to let you know I have begun to embroider on that piece. I just want to make a little more progress before I show you and in case you missed the video I have put here at the end of this post.

(it's a long one....15 minutes.)

 

 

gathering pages

I've started to play with placement of all these pages. This placement will change I'm sure as more pages are created, more inserts finished. I'm loving working with the ribbon especially. Who knew I would become a ribbon addict?

Things are still a little topsy turvy here, workmen, mess, drilling. It will be going on for a while longer I guess. I will just have to keep trying to work round it all. They have been working on my new workshop this week and I'm hoping they'll be finished by Wednesday and I can start to move my stuff in there. Keep everything crossed for me.

You can see a picture of how that's progressing on my Instagram feed here.

This morning I made you a very short video, a closer look at this work.

 

 

doodling

Don't faint.

I picked up a pencil this morning and doodled.

Actually, I enjoyed it.

I'm about to say I should do it more often but I won't.

I'm averse to pens, pencils and paint.

I'm as surprisd as you are that this actiually happened.

 

this morning

Today is the first day for quite a while that I have been able to devote to me, just me and I am making the most of it. So far I have made a video for embroidery school, a short video for artist books (yes I know.....you thought you had seen the last of me. It will be with you shortly) I've also made a video for you whilst I have been toying with page ideas following on from yesterdays post. 

Yesterday I got new pins. It's a measure of how much the little things mean that I was compelled to take a picture of them and whilst I was doing that I just had to take a picture of a little pile of cloth which was close to hand. Maybe for the rest of the day I should walk round with my eyes shut so as not to be distracted.

Sunday morning stitching

Sunday has been good to me so far, embroidery, cloth, titvations, all things stitch.

Mostly I have been creating work for my 'stitch along' group but I took a little time out from that to have a chat with you too.

still practicing

Yes, still practicing, sampling, sewing litle bits together and adding beads, buttons, ribbons. It's fun, you should try it. I'm cramming my head with all things embroidery and making the most of the inspiration whilst it's here. I could go on and on and on.....not sure if my fingers agree and they certainly don't work quick enough to keep up with my head.

Practicing.

 

• repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency:
• Practice makes perfect.

 

 

 

 

Still practicing. #embroidery #broderie #embroideryschool #stitchalong

A post shared by Karen Ruane (@karenruane) on Aug 29, 2018 at 5:04am PDT

a little follow up

I made a very short video to answer a couple of points which arose from yesterday's video where I demonstrated 'guilloche stitch''. I hope it helps.

 

Guilloche stitch

During the first 'embroidery school' of this year we learnt a lot of new embroidery stitches. I had hoped to continue exploring new stitches after class finished but failed miserably. Today I start to put that right.

Guilloche stitch.

This stitch certainly fits the definition of the word 'guilloche'.

guilloche

noun

noun: guilloche; plural noun: guilloches

1. ornamentation resembling braided or interlaced ribbons

    

    

    

    

    

embroidered silk and discovering lost treasure

This panel of embroidered silk is now finished and damp stretched. If you remember this will be the cover of a ''rolled book'' in which I'll store embroidery samples. I still haven't decided whether to line this yet, I'm waiting for that penny to drop in terms of inspiration. For now I will lay this out safely and glance at it every so often. There's a short video at the end of this post speaking about that finishing process for this piece but first....I have been doing a little sorting out. Yesterday I found forgotten treasure, there was great excitement lol. I have been exceptionally good too as they are now all wound neatly on cards....

Just over two weeks now until the start of my '12 month stitch along', a full year of embroidery school. I am so excited.....

you can read all about that here. 

 

 

 

 

One little box, the first to be sorted today and look at the treasure I found 😲❤🏡

A post shared by Karen Ruane (@karenruane) on Aug 12, 2018 at 3:37am PDT