It's Time to Artify & Quiltify

In my latest book I talk about the cycle of creativity.
I introduced and defined a couple of new words:
ARTIFY  & QUILTIFY
and passed along fun, simple exercises to encourage playing and learning about basic design elements:
LINE, SHAPE, TEXTURE, COLOR & COMPOSITION

with 2013 upon us -- a cycle is set to begin again....
with art and creativity of course...

So start following the blog today -- and be ready to join in the cycle of creativity fun!
while together we'll learn, experience, gather...
sort, examine, incubate...
dive in, do, pull it all together...
then
share, sit back, view, examine, re-examine
and enjoy it all the more as starts over again!

As a gatherer, collector and researcher by nature, and lover of the creative process, sharing each stop it takes along the way is what I'm planning to do...
(OK, I do fancy the idea of being a Flight Coordinator for creativity adventures)

My sharing ways to
ARTIFY your life,

and QUILTIFY the world, begins as the clock strikes midnight...
Happy New Year's Eve!
~Rose

Phew! 18 Degrees

Morning was quickly approaching and it promised sunshine, so in my most typical manner I threw on some walking clothes and headed out.

I knew it was cold and felt like I had prepared adequately, but I have much to learn about cold. It did not deter a wonderful time, just now I know a bit more.

I learned were the ice forms and is more likely to to lay in wait for you to slip n'slide, and I will not venture out without a tissue. I also took some fun pictures of setting moon, and rising sun along with some frozen stuff.

I'm sure the neighbors thought I was nuts, but I did not check the temp until my return.
Any pointers you more experienced snow & cold folks can pass along to this new silly snow-person in training, I would love to hear them!

Back inside now sipping my hot chocolate/coffee
and working towards the New Year's rollout out of

BASIC ART-ELEMENT -EXPERIENCE & PLAY

as we
ARTIFY our lives
& QUILTIFY our world...
together, of course!

Looking Forward

Well, happily we all made it through the predictions of ending of the world...
and on a more personal note,
I made it through the remodeling of kitchen.

Back in August when we found our new house in Kentucky I knew the kitchen had to have some changes made....ASAP! The 1960's kitchen had some big, fun pluses but the oven was just not gonna work, and the idea of cooking on the electric cooktop - that was the majority of counter space overall... well...I hope you can see my concerns.

Luckily, within just a couple of days of moving here I was introduced to Ron Rock --- (keep telling him he needs a web presence). Another transplant to KY from CA, a finish carpenter, and an even better NICE person. When all the wheels of ordering the appliances and materials were in the works, he promised that my before Christmas kitchen would be done.

True to his word, the truly final touches were completed in time for a big batch of cookies to be whipped up for Santa's arrival. The pictures will show just how wonderful it all looks.

Now, with the kitchen 'all together' my mind has turned back to other goals, and I have been busy working on some really fun projects to be part of a month of
Basic-Art-Element Training Month -Line
scheduled to begin with the turning of the calendar to 2013.

There will be quilty and non-quilty sharing.
Follow now-you'll not want to miss anything!

Join the fun...
Artify your life...
&Quiltify your world!

The Counter-Top Saga

It is a rainy morning here in Paducah -- all the better to enjoying the smell of banana bread cooking. I have got this in the oven to share with our favorite contractor Ron. He has been really great to work with and this week he is getting in the new countertops, backsplash and lighting --- and, it is a holiday wish come true for me.

I thought I would share a little of the day, by day changes.

before Ron's arrival

this is the before of the center isle countertop -- this cook top will soon be a thing of the past

see, GONE! this was the end of day 1 - demo and framing done

this is just a closer look at the tile we selected

here's the end of day 2 -- all ready for tile installation on the counters by the stove and the backsplash

This is how it looks this morning --- beginning of day 3... stay posted for more updates.

Some Fun News!

As things here slowly are pulling together I am pleased that the world keeps spinning without me.

Now, Just a quick, fun announcement.

WKPT ABC Radio is having a special show on this week.
Buy A Book for Christmas
and they have chosen my own -
Design, Create & Quilt
to feature & review as part of their
Best Books for the Holiday

You can hear their reveiw:
Tuesday, December 18th at 10:04am

They serve locally East TN, Southwest VA, West NC through their AM stations:
1400 - 1490 - 1590, and FM stations:  94.3 - 97.7 - 97.9

They also have an app for listeners not close enough to catch it locally.

If you do get a chance to hear it please let me know!

Life Out of Hand

I love Mondays -- always a great opportunity for a new start... on what?
On whatever your heart desires. In my case as I sat with my morning coffee contemplating my day I was really feeling a bit tortured. Things here in the new house are really coming together and I am really pleased and grateful... so what's up?

Well, so much of my focus has been new house and new community related that 'life' has kinda of taken the back burner. Life for me is all about creating and finding new stuff -- admittedly mostly fabric stuff, but I had put so many ideas down in my master plan book back in July and it's time to crack it open and start sharing it.

I still have house things to deal with -- Since some of the big remaining ones involve storing my quilts and getting the studio workable this week I will share some things I'm doing to clear the decks for fun, creative playtime to come!

On the list for Monday was---
the quilt - closet!
This closet is dedicated to store my quilts, and it is much bigger than it looks in this picture. Lots of room, but
truly in need of additional shelving.

So as much as I wanted to get back to 'life', the measuring and shopping occupied most of Monday -- but, the week is still young and hopefully this large stack of quilts will soon have a space to spread out, be counted and be happy.

Anybody having torture problems this week?

Explore Further

Several days ago I was sitting, stumming my fingers at the dining room table, early...early, with coffee in hand. In all honesty I was wandering through Pinterest -- when I came upon a pinboard titled Explore Further.

Love this title, and naturally I dove in to see what wonders could be found amongst its 94 pins.

Finding several must haves, repining began... but I really fell in love with the title.

Exploring Further , to me, this is what life is about.

We search out things that make our heart sing and get our minds spinning.
.

It has been quite some time since I began to cook up the idea of using my blog to do just this thing.

As my life begins to settle my need to explore grows, and in January my blog will start exploring the basic art elements. Each month will be dedicated to one of the elements and there will be opportunities for everyone to jump in.

As we explore we may uncover all sorts of things. Some BIG, some small, but really who is to say.
I want to become a place where peeps could come explore, or be inspired and be encouraged to for their own personal exploration, and share.

As for the pinterest board Exploring and Sharing.....
What would you pin onto this board?

Do you have a subject that you've wanted to delve deeper into -- become the explorer!

Please, please share it here --

Stitching On
~Rose

New Book Wonders

One of the fun things about writing a book or teaching a class is seeing some of the amazing things that appear from sharing a technique. This week -in the middle of all things moving- I heard from Theodra Rijkhoff up in Canada.

She was sharing a gift that she had just made using a couple of different projects from my latest book... Design, Create, Quilt.

Theodra made an e-book cover as a gift for her daughter-in-law. (lucky daughter-in-law).

 But, this is only the latest piece Theodra has shared. There have been others posted and I'd love to share them again here. These go back to 2009 and use Fast-Piece Appique as only Theodra can.

Thanks for sharing with Theodra.... Happy Holidays to you and your entire family!

Stitching On...
~Rose

The Baby's In

Sorry I kind of disappeared last week but the plan that started on my second visit to my new home was in the works. I love cooking and for this you need the best (and favored) tools. So as Dave and fell in love with the house on Clay St...the existing stove and oven had to go. This would not be as easy as just buying new, for the oven was from the 60s and they just don't make things the same size anymore... then there was the change from electric to gas.

As the unpacking was underway so also was finding just the right person to take a saw to my vintage (perfect) cabinets and rework the whole space. We were lucky indeed to be introduced to Ron Rock.

The space began its facelift with the removing the wallpaper, and from there the noise began. There is still painting and finish work, but the old is out and the new's in. What fun it was to see it in place and ready to go.

The plan had been to bake some yummy puff pastry chocolate treats first, for they had been the first thing I had baked in my last stove, but alas Kroger here in Paducah did not sell puff pastry, so I tried something else.


Decided to go with biscuits....





They were yummy.... and fed the work of painting that came next.

Location:Hughes' in Paducah

Pondering Gratitude

I have been sitting here in my new place in Paducah pondering gratitude...
how I would love to share some wonderful playful, adventuring way to nudge everyone to ponder along with me.

Well, the idea is there -- percolating -- like one of those old time coffee pots -- do you remember when the water boiled, then popped up to the top to percolate down through all that yummy coffee --- making everything smell wonderful.

Only my idea is still just boiling and the yummy stuff is still a bit out there yet.

See how distracted I am?!?
Luckily my friend Karen Johnson at Martingale was not daydreaming as I was, but having a grand time enjoying my new book... and writing about it!

After reading it, I know you'll enjoy hearing about it from her, and her page is offering big deals on my book and all the others at Martingale, too.

I promise to keep that idea popping...
and a huge thanks to Karen and everyone else at Martingale...they are really the best!

~stitching on

The Last Box

Several months ago I started looking for a new camera...one that would let me take great photos and also create fun videos. It didn't take long for me to fall for this wonderful little Nikkon, but things seemed to keep taking a higher priority than getting that camera.

I knew once I got it that I would want to take it out for a spin and might have a hard time putting it down, so in the middle of emptying boxes at the new house I decided to buy the camera and make the opening of the box a reward for getting through all the others. Well, the boxes have been opened -- they've even been hauled away for recycling and reuse by a couple of other will-be movers.

So please indulge me as I share the opening of the last box ---

and the beginning a what will be lots of picture opportunities!

Check back tomorrow and we'll see what kind of pictures we might take.

Stitch On! or should I say Click On!
~Rose

Booking It!

Well, the new book finally came out -- that is it now officially available!
I came home earlier this week to find boxes of books waiting on the doorstep.

After snapping a picture I lugged them into the house and the fun of signing,
packaging and shipping of all the pre-orders began.

Happily they are now all making their way into many hands all over the country.

Thank you to everyone that pre-ordered the book and I hope you enjoy the pattern,  too!

Now it's time for fun!

Happy Sunday all --

check back this week and see what might be in the final box to be unpacked in my new Paducah home.

~Rose

We have a winner!

Jann Gumbiner is the lucky winner of GenerationQ's first winter issue.

You're gonna love it Jann! Congratulations

Small Celebrations

Each day we progress a bit further into becoming totally unboxed. At times this can be related to the word unglued, but overall seeing more of the floor has been gratifying. Each room is a small celebration.

There is one box that actually has been filled rather than emptied on my arrival here. It contains all the goodies from Quilt Market and I am itching to get to rip off the top and share the contents. But, there is one really great goodie that did not get packed away.

Winter Edition

It is a copy of the brand new 3rd issue of Generation Q.
As in the ones before it is jam packed full of information, fun, giggles for young and old and of course some quilt patterns....one of them is MINE! WooHoo!
(a winter season quilt called --  That Darn Tree Quilt!)

forgive the lighting... there's a box somewhere with the lights

Since the unboxing will continue through this week, I thought it would be fun to offer this copy as a give-away.... 

to get a chance at winning the magazine:
CLICK follow here on the blog
& POST a comment 
all before midnight on Sunday - November 10th

the winner will be announced next Monday - November 11th

Happiness Came Through the Door

I had an incredible time at Quilt Market last week, and my new book is scheduled to become available tomorrow...woo,hoo! So why am I writing about unpacking?

It has been a wild two months that finds me, Dave and the kitties happily unpacking boxes in our new home. (well, the kitties are actually bemoaning the boxes being emptied...less climbing materials.) Since coming home on Monday we have a kitchen that we can cook in, a dining room and living room where you can see the floors and sit in to enjoy.

My pesonal next priority... the studio. So as I walked thru the house this morning, coffee in hand...the plan begins. Here's what it looks like now. Can't wait for the after pics.

Meantime, today is the last day to receive a free download pattern of Poppy Dreamin'. I have BIG&fun plans for the blog and I'll be posting more about it between now and the 1st of the year.... so, jump in-join the fun!  Sign Up as a follower and leave a comment....

What's next? Books should be coming my way soon!
And of course some favs from Quilt Market.

Location:Paducah Ky

Hitting the road

Well, all my stuff arrived safely in Paducah yesterday and it felt great to sleep in my own bed in the new house...but, I've got one more trip before I get to settle in.


This trip is to Quilt Market in Houston where I'll get to hang put with my buds and share my new book, Design, Create, Quilt with shopowners and loads of other quilters...then on Nov. 2 the books themselves will start shipping.

Meanwhile I left early this morning to drive down to Nashville to catch my plane, and I was treated to a beautiful fall drive.



Yes, it was hard to leave Paducah...but the fun of the new house
And, the fun of the new blogging format begin on my return...

Can hardly wait!

Location:Nashville Airport

Begin It...

Here I sit in Paducah, KY...not just visiting but getting ready to sign the dotted line on a new home, and a new life. Just a couple of months ago this was not even on the to do radar, but then David took early retirement and the wheels began to roll. Who knew?

Way back at the beginning of the summer there was a list of things I wanted to do in conjunction with my new book coming out. Top on the list was reDOing my website and my blog. More on this will follow over the next bit of time, for with the help of my webmistress this huge project went on in the background of 'the move.

Long ago I read the words of Walt Disney who said...
"We keep moving  forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new pathways."

and we certainly have kept moving...
With the home in California sold, and the home in Kentucky awaiting it was time to set out, the packers finished and we hit the road. Thank goodness for our moms - mine in Arizona and Dave's in Missouri for in these two places our kitties found more home than hotel, and we found home cooking. It made the journey a bit easier. Here's the tale in pictures:

Nikki & Edgar were great troopers along the way.

we chose the RT 66 trail that took us through AZ, NM, TX, OK, MO

Stay tuned here for the 'after the move' fun .... and remember--
Sign up to follow me here before Nov 1, leave a comment & receive a free Poppy Dreamin' pattern via email.

Change Is

Well, we have hit the road...me, Dave and the kitties. On Tuesday the movers came and left us with an empty house. It tugged at my heartstrings to wander thru and think of all the our life moments that happened here. On the flipside it was the signaled the reality of our move to Paducah.

Here's was the last look around of the old place.









Now we're off for grand adveterous, change!

Location:New Mexico