New Year - New Quilt

This is a lovely day -- New Year's Eve 2009 and I'm off to deliver the last quilt of the year.
The piece here was created as part of a special invitational traveling exhibit art quilt artists. The Noble Seasons: Summer exhibit will first be seen over the weekend of January 14 at Road to California....

but, more importantly it is completed and I am ready to celebrate the arrival of 2010. Here's a picture of the final piece.

Happy New Year Everyone!
~Rose

Birch Tree Art Quilt in Progress

Good morning all-
As the days move quickly towards the new year I am carving away minutes and hours to work on my last quilt art piece of the year. In my earlier post I showed the birch tree fabric being painted. Here I have taken a photo of the basic elements in place... and over the next two days I'll be embellishing the quilt. Delivery of the piece is to take place on New Year's Eve, so look for the final version very soon.

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season as much as I am. Family, friends, fun times and A QUILT to finish!

~Rose

Fabric Surface Design - Birch Needed

Well, in between shopping, wrapping, and holiday events I've been working on my final quilt of the year (I think it will be). It is a piece due for an invitational and I have been looking forward to working on it for a while. The 'Summer' piece is about a romp in the woods... Everything was progressing well but there was a need for a special fabric to represent the birch trees that are featured.

The following are photos of the surface design process I used to create my own birch tree fabric.

I started with white velveteen that I cut to fit and taped to a foam swimming noodle.

Then I mixed up fabric paints and brushed on some larger spots.

Donning gloves, I placed string into the paint and proceeded to using the string to apply the paint.

I then removed the fabric from the form and hung to dry.



Lastly, before using the fabric I heat set the paint. The fabric is working out well...





Back to holiday, fun for a bit!


~Rose

California Live Oak

The oak that has been appearing over the last month in my blogposts has been finished and it was shipped out on Monday. It was a lot of fun bringing that quilt to life and sharing it here. The inspiration photos were posted back on a warm day in August, and the finished piece brings me back to the morning those photos were taken. Since that day there has been drawings and fabrics played with, considered, chosen, and even manipulated in order to bring about the feelings of that warm morning sunlight with the grasses slightly swaying and the rocks thrown there from another time peeking through.

Also since that time in a Twitter moment there was Beth, known to me as @moonflowernco who summed it all up with her Haiku -
wind passes over / the tall grass whispers softly / stay here forever

I hope you enjoy the photo here of the completed piece and the close-up of the leaves,
finally finished especially for this piece.
~Rose

After -Open Studio

A big thank you to everyone that came by my open studio last weekend.

I had a great time chatting with everyone and loved making the gratitude postcards. For those of you that came and those that didn't get a chance to there I'm posting several pictures of the postcards along with the person who made them. Total there were probably about 20 postcards that are now winding their way to the many folks we all want to say thank you to.

Today's The Day!

Open Studio starts today, and it's been a fun week getting everything pulled together. It's always interesting to see just where all the quilt art ends up and to see the transformation of the space as it takes place.

For now, gotta run. Hope if you're in South Los Angeles - Long Beach area you'll stop by.
Email for directions....

Quilts & Open Studio

This week has been crazy busy. I have been working on all sorts of fun things for my upcoming Open Studio. Not only will there be fun art to see, food & drinks to enjoy, but a fun way to show someone how much you appreciate them... How? Well, I always love to have a little hands on project during my open studio and this year we'll be creating postcards... OK, why a postcard?

Thru my recent Twitter-rompings I befriended a woman in Ireland-Roisin is the creator of an event called The Global Gratitude Postcard Project. You can read about by clicking on the project title, and you can be part of it by making a postcard at my open studio! We'll make them, snap a photo and give you a stamp so you can send your words of gratitude out there into the world!

The other part of the crazy-busy's this week for me have been working on two large pieces. One is a commission piece, and I am happy to say that it is done... the last of the bead were added, binding stitched just in time to have it's picture taken to show you all here. The second of the larger pieces is being made for a Kaufman Fabric invitational. Right now this quilt has been couched and machine quilted and is awaiting stitching and beading. Beading in this instance may not really cover it, for I'll be creating some specialized leaves from air-dry clay that will be stitched in place as well, BUT that is for another day!

I hope you enjoy seeing the quilts done & in progress, and if you're around I hope you stop by for my Open Studio next weekend. Dec 11-13.

See you soon!
~Rose

Celebrating A Year!

It's been a Wild and FUN year of firsts for me!
Thanks for clicking in and sharing this one year celebration of new beginnings. Sometimes we get pushed into new things, and we are better off for it. Seems like just yesterday that I sat at breakfast meeting and was told that I just 'had to' have a blog. And, though I went figuratively kicking & screaming, I jumped in and started really enjoying the blog... so much so, that when I was told that Twitter was what I needed 'to do' it only took a friendly nudge from a close buddy to convince me to wade out into the shallow end of the pool.

This time last year I started my blog...
Though life is busy, I have found it fun to share the where, what & when of many of the projects I have worked on-or am working on at the moment. I know that many of you enjoy it too, for I hear it all the time.

It was also this time last year that I did my first webair interview...
this was on Kimberly Wulfert's, Women On Quilts blog. It was just beginning as well, and since then Kimberly's audio interview library has certainly grown.

If you want to hear my 'first' interview CLICK HERE. This will take you directly to the audio of that interview, so make sure you have your speakers on.

Today, well..
This morning on Twitter someone shared a wonderful link to sunrise photos - Sunrise is always my favorite time of day... can be beautiful, inspiring and always reminds me of new beginnings. Seemed appropriate, so I went looking thru older quilts and am sharing this set of four sunrise in Idyllwild, CA pieces done back in '02.

Hope you enjoy them.

Back-Road Journeys Quilt Exhibit

My friend Natalie, from Beyond-the-Reef shared her photos taken of my traveling exhibit of quilts as they were seen recently at World Quilt, Palm Beach, FL. I've put them into a slide show--hope you enjoy seeing them. ~Rose

p.s. on this slideshow your cursor can speed up or slow down or pick one out for special viewing. have fun!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Wooly Gems

I'm off this day to be one of the demonstrators at the Gallery in Whittier where Quilts on the Wall has a wonderful exhibit of work hanging. There will be a gallery walk followed by several of us demonstrating various 'techniques'. I will be showing the process I have been using to create my 'wooly gems', and generally using this as a semi-excuse to make more. They are a lot of fun to make and even more fun to include on my quilts. Hope if you're around, you'll stop by. See yesterdays post below for details and links regarding the exhibit.

Quilts on The Wall: At it Again

Special Event this weekend during the New View exhibit! (the photo here is just a sneak peak at just one of the walls) The "Artist Talks" happens this Saturday, November 21st, at The Framery & Fine Art Gallery in Whittier. The event begins at 1:00 pm and is FREE. There will be a walk-through of the gallery where a number of fiber artists will talk about what inspires them to create their art. Following the walk-through, artists Rose Hughes, Terry Waldron, Teresa Shippy and Cynthia Catlin will be demonstrating their favorite fiber art techniques and showing some of their tricks of the trade you may not have seen anywhere else.

The gallery features beautiful and unique artwork for sale by Cynthia Catlin, David Charity, Patricia Charity, joanell connolly, Melissa Frankel, jo p. griffith, Carol Henke, Rose Hughes, Stacy Hurt, Jeanette Kelly, Marcia Ann Kuehl, Cindy Lemaku, Carol Nilsen, Catherine Ravera, Jo Sarachman, Julie Schlueter, Teresa Shippy, Deborah Stanley, Mary Tabar, Susan Trindle, Vicky Valdez-Green, Terry Waldron, and Deborah Weir.

The Framery & Fine Art Gallery is located at 13105 Whittier Blvd., Whittier, CA 90602. Hours are from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Next Steps...

The piece being made from the Kaufman fabric solid Kona line is progressing along. The wonderful discharged pieces have been incorporated and are here stitched together to create the quilt top. Will next be moving along with some paint before couching and quilting occurs.

Stitchin Continues

I have been working on several pieces over the last month and while there are some that have been completed and others awaiting embellishment, one has been in the back of mind waiting its turn to come together in fabric. It started back in--August, on a warm sunny morning traveling towards Yosemite. The hills covered with golden grasses, the California live oaks and the boulders laying delicately amongst the grass..... I even blogged one of the photos. Well, the piece finally came out of incubation. The pictures here are of this piece in progress... first off the drawing, culled from the photos taken back on that warm sunny morning. Then there were the solid fabrics I had been asked to use exclusively for this piece, and lastly some of those same fabrics after a day of discharging. I hope you enjoy seeing the transformation of these fabrics. They are now all being cut up and prepped for sewing, but it is fun to see the vast array of affects you can get when setting out to remove color. Will post more as the piece progresses.

A New View - QOW Exhibit in Whittier

The opening reception for Quilts On the Wall: Fiber Artists current exhibit A New View is coming up this weekend. Below is a fun picture taken at the hanging of the show just before Halloween. The crew is pictured here along with the owner of The Framery & Fine Arts Gallery. We had a great day and the exhibit looks wonderful. Hope any of you that find yourself in So.CA this weekend can stop by.

Twenty-three contemporary quilt artists will be showing at the Framery and Fine Art Gallery, 13105 Whittier Blvd, from November 3rd -28th, 2009. The reception for A New View: Experiencing Art Quilts is November 14th from 3 to 7pm. On November 21st there will be an artists' talk at 1:00 with demonstrations by 4 contemporary fiber artists from 2-5:00. The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday 10am to 6pm and Saturday 10am to 5pm.

The featured Quilts on the Wall Fiber Artists include: Cynthia Catlin, David Charity, Patricia Charity, joanell connolly, Melissa Frankel, jo p. griffith, Carol Henke, Rose Hughes, Stacy Hurt , Jeanette Kelly, Marcia Ann Kuehl, Cindy Lemaku, Carol Nilsen, Catherine Ravera, Jo Sarachman, Julie Schlueter, Teresa Shippy, Deborah Stanley, Mary Tabar, Susan Trindle, Vicky Valdez-Green, Terry Waldron, Deborah Weir.

New Works

For a few weeks now I have been talking here and there about stitching, stitching and even more stitching. Since heading off to Seattle my sewing machine has seen little use and all the stitching I've been chatting about has been hand work on three new quilts. These were finally completed and I'm pleased to share them here. These pieces are larger renditions of earlier Ebb'n Flow pieces, but each takes a more intense look at the contrast that occurs in their natural situation. Hope you enjoy!

Finally, Book 2 Has a Name

Happy, Happy Monday!

I have been chatting about book two for some time now.... manuscript being due, my trip to Seattle to work and visit with the great folks at Martingale Publishing, but now I can finally put a name to the efforts.
My second book will be called:
Exploring Embellishments: More Artful Quilts with Fast-Piece Applique.

It is really exciting. The focus of this book is about fabricating embellishments and it is something that I love to do -- and love to share -- making embellishments out of 'almost' anything really opens doors to creativity.

Exploring Embellishments is due out in the spring and in the meantime I promise more photos of in progress works and 'just fun' stuff.

~Rose

Book 2-Photo Shoot

Two days were spent working with Brent Kane the photographer at Martingale Publishing last week in Seattle. He is amazing to work with. So much experience and a studio that any photographer would find very comfortable to work in. Though the pix of him here does not show him at the camera it does show him at one of his incredibly organized tool drawers. I do love organization, and Brent has it together.

Day one we spent working with Karen from marketing who was the hand model for the book. There was definitely fun times and laughter happening in the studio that day, but it didn't stop the work from moving right along. Day two was spent on materials set up shots and a day where Brent's background shines through.

Only the quilts themselves remain to be shot. Phew!!! Fun as always, and a treat to be up in the Martingale offices where everyone is just wonderful to work with.

Think this will catch me up with Seattle....
on to the next...
stitching & stitching
~Rose

More Seattle Adventures

Am off this morning to help hang an upcoming exhibit for Quilts on the Wall: Fiber Artists. Jeanette Kelly is curating this for our group and I know she has worked long and hard to get this all pulled together. I'm looking forward to seeing it all in place.... But, in the meantime I wanted to share a few more of my Seattle moments. First off is getting a chance to meet Vickie Swann who had sent a pix of a quilt she had made from my book. Turned out she lives in Tacoma and was able to ferry over to Vashon and spend the day with my when I presented to Vashon Island Quilters. The photo was taken in the amazing quilt store there in Vashon. Over 6,000 bolts of fabric! and yarn, too! The last two pixs are from my visit to Shipwreck Beads. A bit south of Seattle, very close to Olympia but SOOOOO worth the drive. Just be prepared to spend some time for the place is huge, and the folks that work there are incredibly helpful. It a family owned business, and wouldn't you know it but I ran into one of them right off the bat. The bag of beads purchased there was the heaviest thing in my suitcase as I headed home. Better run. ~Rose

Martingale in Stitches

This next posting is being taken a bit out of order from how it happened last week in Seattle. We actually had the workshop at Martingale on Saturday... and it was about the last thing on my trip before heading home. But, when the mail came in yesterday there was a book & letter from my friends up there telling me that my book Dream Landscapes: Artful Quilts with Fast-Piece Applique just went into another printing.... yeah, the third! So many of the folks that help and have helped make that first book a reality were there in the workshop, I couldn't resist going a bit out of order... They all had a fun day... hope you enjoy seeing them all in action!
~Rose

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Cable Ready

After writing the post on my arrival in Seattle I let the fact that I had left my camera cable at home, and the fact that no card reader readily available could read my card, be a sign. I went along having a wonderful time, snapping photos and just collecting them for my return. Well, the trip home yesterday went fine and I have been downloading photos all morning.

I'm going to just start out slowly.... My week in Seattle was filled with the color of fall, visiting a local store/guild out on Vashon Island, a couple of incredibly fun & busy days spent with Brent out at Martingale Publishing as HE shot the photos for my new book coming out in Spring. Then there was time spent shopping at the largest bead shop in the country - Shipwreck Beads - and lastly at a workshop held at Martingale.

But, I said slowly... so today is just one of my favorite fall color shots and a snap from the upper deck of the SS Issaquah - one of the regular ferries on the Vashon - Fauntleroy route from West Seattle. I'll write more as the week progresses. Now it's back to life & work at home.

Soon to be stitchin - in earnest!
~Rose

(couldn't help myself - threw in a pix of another ferry passing by - this is a color photo folks)

Frazzled No More

The craziness of getting everything ready to hit the road is behind me now, and whatever has been forgotten just is (afraid this includes the cable to download pix from my camera). The best part of letting this go is being able to sit here looking out at the sun coming up over Puget Sound on this quiet Sunday morning while typing this message. So far my trip has been filled with quiet times and fun times taking in some local fun. Since the missing cable makes it impossible for the moment to share some of the great fall photos I've been taking I am sharing the photo of a recent commission based on this very view of the Cascades. The roses in that garden that inspired the piece have all been cut back but with the quilt they are never far out of mind. Wishing you all a delightful Sunday! ~Rose

Sharing More

I'm feeling a bit frazzled today... wondering which way is up, for so much is happening. I wish I could be joining my quilts in the fun places they will be this weekend. One in Houston, as part of the Detours special exhibit at International Quilt Festival. Or the one in Santa Clara, as part of the Noble Seasons special exhibit at Pacific International Quilt Festival. I will definitely miss being in either place...

But, I am excited to be packing up to head on up to Seattle. There I will be working on the photography for my second book with the wonderful staff at Martingale Publishing. I also will be having a trunkshow & book signing at the Vashon Island Quilt Guild. This is one I am especially looking forward to. Vashon is one of my homes away from home.... and my room with a view facing the Sound is one that I am always grateful to visit.

So, better pull this together....
Wanted to share one more student's work. This piece is by Kathleen Russeth, and she attended a recent workshop in Rocklin, CA. She has a wonderful blog of her own so make sure you read her own story by clicking here.

I'm off ----
~Rose

Fall = Orange

Fall is all about ORANGE. If your lucky enough to have some beautiful fall foliage right now I hope you take advantage and get out there and enjoy it! This amazing walk through the trees was shown on a Canon photography site.

Finding Orange in Taos

Morning All- It is such a please to wake up and find lovely photos sent on to me for sharing. This morning jo Griffith forwarded on this celebration of the color orange that she found in the Taos Vacation Guide which then sent her off in search of more photography of Geraint Smith. The photos on his site and incredible no matter what color you are in search of, and I encourage you to read his biography for his love of place can be heard and felt in his words. Happy Sunday! ~Rose

Sharing Life in Color: Orange

I put the call out for orange and I have heard from many of you that have pulled out a sketchpad and started your own color books.... with ORANGE being the lead off. This is always fun and always informative.

Then a recent student of mine -- Marge Nichols shared the National Geographic photography site that sorts by COLOR.

WOW... you'll really want to take a few minutes to check out all the incredible photos & of course the capturing of wonderful color.

Enjoy the search and don't forget to share!
Thanks Marge.
~Rose