Earth Voices Exhibition

Today was an amazing day.
Susan Willen, Joanell Connelly, Cindy Rinne and I got together at the Koehler Gallery to hang our new exhibit, Earth Voices. It is alway amazing when the four of us show together, for our work is really diverse, but always works well (as we do, too) together. This time is no exception. We had a great time. The Koehler Gallery has been completely redone (beautiful space), since the four of us had showed there about two years ago. For those who attending that reception, it will always be remembered as the reception in 'the dark'. It took place on what turned out to be the first day of the San Diego fires. Winds roared through the valleys and caused the power outage that left the whole area in the dark. We took it all in stride. The food table was lit by candlelight, and flashlights were used to get a close look at all the quilt art. We had fun, but are holding out hope that the reception for Earth Voices on April 25th will be fully lit. The new hanging system in place in the gallery works great, but there was a bit of a learning curve. Cindy's husband Dan kept us on track, and all looked great as we took off for home. There is a picture of the four of us with ladders, hammer, levels and sticks... mostly obsolete for use with this hanging system, but we had them with us none the less. Coffee kept us going and Susan came prepared with a large thermos. Look for the exhibit postcard here as well.

Hope many of you get a chance to see the exhibit first hand, for there's nothing like seeing these works in person.

Happily, getting back to stitchin soon...
~Rose

Weekend At the Quilt Show

We had a great time at the quilt show. Natalie's booth was right at the front so we had a great chance to see everyone and have fun catching up. Natalie, Lisa and I spent time chatting, sharing, cutting fabrics and all the goodies that Natalie carries in her booth. She has been carrying my patterns, and this weekend I also had my book, Dream Landscapes, there. I had plenty of opportunity to sign copies and chat with many quilters about Fast-Piece Applique. I got so busy that I only got a chance to get a couple of photos of a couple of my quilts that I now have patterns for, and one of Lisa & Natalie.

On Sunday I spent the day gathering up and finishing some pieces that were to go up at the Koehler Gallery on Monday. Check out the fun we all had there!

Happily stitchin' ~Rose

Glendale Quilt Show - Unexpected

This weekend has taken a very nice unexpected turn. I will be spending time helping out, signing books, and hopefully getting a bit a beading done... in Natalie Barnes' booth Beyond The Reef.

It should be a lot of fun, and if you by chance read this, and mention it to us in the booth there is a surprise waiting. Pictures will, I'm sure, follow soon.

Have a great weekend! ~Rose

More March Mayhem

It was just a week ago when I visited New Moon Textiles in Pasadena, CA. It was a wild evening filled with quilts, books and sharing a little bit about my journey as a quiltmaker, quilt artist. It was over dinner that Bobbie (owner of NMT) and her husband, both mathematicians, introduced me to the world of those celebrating PI. Who knew? It is wild to think about the folks that planned and celebrated the circle. My mind wandered to all sorts of pies… mostly those with whipped cream…. But it was nice to know that there were lots of people celebrating math and the wonder of geometry. That was last Friday. Since then there were meetings (Quilts on the Wall) that were a lot of fun, and my opening reception at the Soft Expressions Gallery. Thank you to all those who attended. It is a small inviting space, and we all had a nice time chatting. You can tell by the condition of the snack tray… folks enjoyed more than just the quilts.

Since Saturday I have been happily working on several new and old projects. I had even more fun playing with making my own beads, and I've included here a few pictures of these little fun gems.

Time this weekend will be spent with John (the tax man), but beyond that I am hoping to take in some of the springtime sights... wish me luck!

Happy Pi Day!

Celebrate!

New Moon Textile (madness)

Hi All-
The fact that it is Friday the 13th, escaped my notice until I was connecting all my dots together this morning. Friday the 13th, close to a full moon, and a cool visit out at New Moon Textiles planned!

Bobby out at New Moon Textiles has put a really fun weekend together at the store to help usher in Spring Madness, and I am really glad to be part of it. Spring has always been my favorite of seasons. Things coming back to life after a wintertime of sleep... always a great time to start something new.

I will have lots of quilts, books and my new line of patterns with me this evening, am looking forward to the start of a FULL weekend, and seeing lots of folks. I promise to try and keep my camera handy!

happily stitchin'
on my book - trunk show pieces pictured here, that are scheduled to hit the road in a couple of weeks
(from my newly purchased studio chair)
~Rose

March Playday

Tuesday is playday... and this week we kind of went into it with no plan. What we came out of it with was a day of playing with stuff few of us had ever seen before, let along played with. This week one of our group had purchased a package of paperclay. This stuff has been around forever. I had seen is like a zillion years ago on C.D. show (back when HGTV was fun to watch). Back then I purchased some and had all good intentions of trying it out. Right now could not tell you where that package is, but after yesterday I will go looking for it... and probably have to go buy some more.

We split the package amongst us and set off working to create some beads with the stuff. It dries pretty quickly, so putting it into a plastic bag while your working with smaller portions of the stuff is a must. It works fairly easily, but like clay can have little cracks appear. Unlike clay though it seemed like water did not have great affect on smoothing these away. A little yes, great no... but, no matter, the beads we made up in the clay before lunch were very promising, and a quick time of 20 minutes in a 350 oven made fast work of the drying. After lunch we tried painting them with a variety of paints. Seemed like acryllics worked the best. Lastly, we used a gloss medium on each of them. They will definitely make their way onto something, and how wonderful that you can make something so easily to be added to almost anything, for after baking the clay was just like any other ceramic piece. You'll find pictures here of all our little treasures.

There was also a lively discussion about archetype and what is meant by this word. It always makes me think about Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, but I think there's a great definition on wicki:


Play days are really important...
and definitely, too much fun!


Hope you get to yours soon.


stitchin' away ~Rose

Barnes & Noble

Saturday was great fun! The folks at Barnes & Noble went out of their way to create a festive and creative day for lots of folks. There were folks there from a national sorority who had bookplates to color and create. Then for each bookplate you made they would donate a book to a literacy program and your name would be on the bookplate given. There was a table piled high... I mean really high... with all kinds of 'stuff'. Paper stuff that could be cut up, pasted, painted, colored .... or anything you could think of to make Artist Trading Cards. Ideas and methods were shared along with supplies and give-aways. I was there, too... sharing my quilts and of course showing folks how to bead. A really nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Sunday was spent finishing up my quilt 'Eyes Skyward'. It felt great to get the piece done... for there is another bringing up the wings... waiting for it's chance as well.

I'm planning to have this piece with me, this coming Friday evening at New Moon Textiles in Pasadena. I'll be there to speak and give a small trunk show. Books & Patterns will also be available. Bobbie from New Moon has a wonderful store and I'm exciting to be going there!

More info to follow.
Looking forward to MORE stitchin' ~Rose

March Madness

JOIN ME Saturday: 1-3pm
Barnes & Noble - Marina Pacifica Shopping Center
6326 East Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90803

March has definitely come roaring in like a lion... bringing lots of busy times and weather that makes you think the lion is up and roaring and then taking nicely timed cat naps. We are going though days of cool weather and downpours to days of unseasonable warm.... The only thing constant is that you don't want to pack away those heavy blankets.


March is also a busy month for me with book signings, workshops and an exhibit of my work that is now up at the Soft Expressions Gallery.
1230 N. Jefferson Street, Suite M -Anaheim, CA 92807 http://www.softexpressions.com/

This coming weekend (3/7) I will be the Special Guest at Barnes & Noble, Long Beach's Artist Trading Card Workshop. This is a great day where a whole area of the store is turned into a DIY Make-it and Take-it ATC event. Besides all the goodies and freebies related to Artist Trading Card making, sharing and of course trading, I will be there to sign books and demonstrate beading from my recent book Dream Landscapes: Artful Quilts With Fast-Piece Applique.

I have been looking forward to this, and will have some quilts from the book and some goodies of my own to give as well.

In the meantime, though. I have had a great time this week beading new work of my own. An earlier posting spoke about a quilt I am working on called Eye's Skyward... well, the photos here show just how much fun I had pulling out a ton of beads to audition for the quilt. And, I can happily report that the piece has progressed from the auditioning stage for lots of beads to casting and rehersals and well into production.

Definitely more later! There will be more postings about upcoming workshops, openings and other booksignings in March.

Very happily stitching... ~Rose