Hoppin"

Things around here are certainly hoppin'. If you're close enough by I hope you're planning to stop by my open studio this weekend.

It is always fun! This summer, in celebration of all the colorful inspiration around me there will be a couple of color projects in the studio so everyone can join in.

Other things hoppin' include book 2, and I'm having a blast writing it... All is moving along on schedule!

The frogs on the log definitely only number 3 at the moment for I've jumped in.
The video link here will take you to the Pointer Sisters, and if you don't feel like jumping after you see it, I'd be surprised.

More will definitely follow... for now it is Monday... so JUMP!
~Rose

Play Continues

June is shaping up to be pretty busy, but in the midst of all the busy-ness the play group is my oasis. We have now been meeting for over a year and with all our own busy-ness going on we have found that some simple warm up exercises helps let go of all that outside stuff and 'be in the room'. We have a basket that we fill up with simple words or phrases written on slips of paper. Then at the start of each play day we pick one and spend a few minutes letting inspiration come.

Sometimes we draw for 3 minutes per pick, or other times we may use felt and glue. Recently we did quick paintings on sandwich paper (quite fun!), and then this week we did fused fabrics to felt. We up'd the time to 7 minutes for these. They are a great way to refocus... let go of all the other stuff that we may have going on. On occasion these become jumping off points for other personal projects or series... it's always interesting to see what pops up.

The photo I've include here is one from this Tuesdays efforts. The three words were, TRULY, MEANDERING & SMOKIN'. In the photo it shows a row from each of the artists with their interpetations of the words (start left to right). After three rounds of the word game we moved on to try out more things using Lutradur. A fun, relaxing time in the middle of BUSY-NESS.

Hope you get to try it for yourself sometime soon.
Happily stitchin' & writing book two,
~Rose

The Quilt Show - Episode 413

Is it really June!?
It is and I have been too busy trying to update and email to get the word out about stuff happening this month. First, and probably the thing I have been looking forward to for almost a year, it the airing of my episode on Fast-Piece Applique, on The Quilt Show. For those unaware this is a webcast tv style magazine (I guess that kind of sums it up). The guest stars are Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, and I had a ton of fun visiting LaVeta, CO last fall to film my episode with them.

While Ricky and Alex were wonderful, the crew and staff of The Quilt Show were also delightful, and I was lucky enough to share my episode with Clare O'Donohue. She and I were both there with our first books. Mine Dream Landscapes, and Clare's The Lover's Knot! Both of us had a great time! Besides the excitement of being filmed and the live audience there were the visting ghosts at the LaVeta Inn, and a black bear, too!

Clare's mystery was wonderful and she is now writing her third book, with her second due out in September. There's always time for a good mystery and when you add the quilting scene as your backdrop it's not surprising what will happen.

There are other things happening soon that make this month special.
Over the weekend of June 12 thru 14 I will be hosting my SUMMERTIME OPEN STUDIO.

This year the theme will be all about color and there will be a couple of fun color projects to try your hand at while you're there.

Also, this month is the first time I am offering STUDIO WORKSHOPS.This first 2-Day workshop is scheduled for June 27 &28.
Join me for Dream Landscapes. Limited to 4 students. $150 (lunch provided).

CLICK HERE TO GET FURTHER INFO AND DIRECTIONS!

Happily stitchin', writin' and jumpin'!
~Rose

Jump!

Hi All- I hope that you have had a wonderful holiday weekend. Mine was spent close to home and fun was had while attending a number of gatherings and spending time at home working on some of the first deadlines coming up quickly for my new book. All was loads of fun, and though I would have loved to have been up in Seattle wandering around the Folk Life Festival it was not to be this year.

I did want to share a little story that I heard at one of gatherings this weekend, for it's meaning has rung true, true, true for me. The story is really a question. If there are four frogs on a log in the stream and one decides to jump off how many are left? Most everyone there, said OK, it's too easy, so we must have it wrong and answered 3. Well, we were wrong, and the story teller went on to say that the frog had only decided to jump, he hadn't really jumped. Therefore, there were still 4 frogs on the log.

This made me sit up and take notice, for it hit home. While I consider myself a person of action, I'm no different than everyone else who knows what they should do, decides to go for it and then finds something, anything to stop us (ha) from jumping. If we never jump, even the first hop then we'll never know whether or not it is successful or not.

Today, I JUMP!
and, I know the thing that needs that action.

There are so many things that we want to do, decide to do and then fizzle out. I hope that you now will remember the frogs and pick one thing and JUMP!

Happily stitchin' & Now Jumpin'
~Rose

Catching Up with May

May around my house is normally pretty busy, for there are so many birthdays... then with the permission of a very fine quilter recently met, I was told that the whole month is one that should be celebrated. Mind you it can get a bit hectic when 4 out 6 of the people closest to you have the birthday right to have their own way for a month. But it does sound like fun!

This year May is also ushering in the first due date for my next book. It is very exciting. In my new book I am able to share many of the things about embellishments that I have been finding long the way while on my own quilt journey.

My first book, Dream Landscapes: Artful Quilts with Fast-Piece Applique was incredible to put together. All the folks at Martingale Publishing could not be more wonderful to have worked with, and I am really pleased to be working with them on book two as well.

Needless to say that there have been a few days totally dedicated to stitching up and writing for the book this month, but that has not stopped the search for all those wonderful found things. Circles seem to be the focus.... Dots, balls, bubblegum... seeing spots everywhere! I would love to see some of the things that have caught your eye this month!

Back to stitchin, and having a blast!
~Rose

More Seeing & Collecting

Hi All-
It has been a fun week with lots of meeting with this person and that and sharing and catching up.




It has included birthday celebrations and visits with mom, having fun with the play group... trying out the new Texture Magic product from Superior Threads (more, definitely more on this to follow), working night & day to finish up my Whether You Think You Can or You Can't, You're Right quilt for submission into an exhibition opportunity for Quilts On The Wall, fitting in time to work on chapter 3 of my NEW BOOK (more, definitely more on this also will follow), and the all the other stuff that happens. It is in the part where all that other stuff happens that I had found some wonderful and fun images to share with you know. I think you get that I have been looking for texture and pattern in all things around me right now, but I was just hanging out at the mall, waiting for my husband to finish up getting his eyeglasses that I ran into an intriguing sight. Not one or two, or three but a whole big rack of giant gumball dispensers filled with large, colorful stuff... which of course had me gleefully enjoying the mall outing. There were pink ones, and red ones, round ones and funky shaped ones as well, but I really loved the purple ones and of course the GREENS. And just as my mind was finishing up the focus on the colorful shapes creating wonderful patterns, I notices how the silver plate and knobs of the gumball machines themselves were a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Happy Mother's Day!
Happily Stitching & Collecting,
~Rose

No BUTTs About It

Birthday week started out with a family outing to the LA Zoo. If you have never been, it is a wonderful place, not small, though there's lots of hills. We therefore, ordered up one of those electric scooters for mom and she had a blast running circles around us all.

We thought it might be a quiet day... Monday, at the zoo, but as we arrived we saw close to 20 school buses... obviously lots of folks taking in the sights, sounds and oh, yes... smells of the zoo on this beautiful day in LA.

Once through the front gates it seemed liked all the swarms of kids headed off to parts unknown, and we ran only into packs of them at various points along the path. You'd see a gathering of purple, bright apple green, yellow or red tee shirts hanging about the exhibits then they would vanish again.

In the spirit of
Being an Explorer of the World I had decided to collect pictures that day of texture and pattern. It gave me another way to check out the zoo dwellers and as it turned out the visitors, too. The photos I am sharing with you here are just a few. It turned out that in my search for the texture and pattern of things I took a bunch of butt shots. Meerkats, zebras, giraffes.... well, you can see for yourself.

Happily Stitchin'
~Rose