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