buttons and bling

As you know I am about to get new cabinets in which to keep all things stitch......so....I've been sorting out which mainly consists of moving one pile of stuff to another space and replacing it with another pile of stuff. Whilst shuffling piles of stuff I came across a couple of things which came back from France with me, a blingy pillow and two sets of buttons. They are now in the shop.

I've been embroidering lace cloth quietly for a few days now, for a class related project. Meantime, whilst my mind is wandering to all things sample and portfolio related whilst I stitch  it also wandered back a few years to a past project. I don't want to say too much about that today in case I create a huge mess which I can't share but this afternoon I plan to doodle with that project in mind, alter it, move it on and hopefully it will be the start of something ''quite'' new....by that I mean, same stitches, same cloth (one trick pony here) but different patterning....hopefully....

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beads, French knots and an ironing board.

It's finished, another piece of paperwork to add to the collection. Can you spot a theme here? Domesticity, ironing boards, patchwork, domestic cloth......

This one has bling....little glass beads, cubes. An ironing bard like you haven't seen before and which in truth would be absolutely useless for ironing on. Imagine the creases those beads would cause.

 If you are registered for ''Reinventing the Page'' you should have received sign in information for our private blog and an invitation to our private Flickr group this morning. If you haven't received that please let me know.

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Bling on paper

More work on the same theme as yesterday, the same collection, another piece. There are beads on this one....In case you missed my explanation a while ago..... the ironing board...it features heavily in my life as I'm sure it does in yours and in my case in a negative, groaning, moaning, awful task kind of way. So why not make it into something special? Why not transform it into something pleasurable just as I do when I use it to press cloth for embroidery or to piece cloth for a project. This is me turning my ironing board on its head, turning it into something I love to look at as opposed to something I dread getting out. 

Some time ago, for a project when my children were small I asked them to name everyday items they associated with me, with mummy. They said cups of coffee, the radio, a particular favourite trinket box I own, needle and thread.....and the ironing board! From that moment I have been determined to turn the ironing board into something pleasurable, for me at least. Hence the stitched ironing boards and the paper ones too.

You can see an embroidered ironing board here and here....

To answer the questions I have been getting about this paper collection, this paperwork is being created in the current class ''patched pockets''. Reinventing the page begins on Monday. That class does not include this paper technique but does include other fun things to do with paper in order to create sheets of work or to enhance your ledger/sketchbook work.

- See more at: http://karenannruane.typepad.com/karen_ruane/#sthash.rwFYFuNN.dpuf