Venture - 'Life Sure is Funny' - Meet Maddie Kertay

It is a wonderful thing to be a quilter!
I have a great creative life and
I get to meet incredible people-all the time.

Back in May at Quilt Market, while hangin' with buds at GenQ I met one self-proclaimed Bad-Ass Quilter, aka Maddie Kertay! Her infectious spirit was evident right then & there and just continues to bubble over moment to moment.

Kelly & Maddie at Quilt Market

Since that meeting and acquiring my own Bad-Ass quilter pin, I have watched Maddie's new brick& mortar store  SPOOL become a reality via FaceBook. It has been fun to watch everything be pulled together - Maddie makes you feel quite at home & it is with great pleasure that I get to share a bit about her with you now ---

and, of course get the word out that..
SPOOL is opening next week!!!  On, Saturday - Sept 7th

This week, in the middle of everything else, Maddie answered a few questions about her own quilting adventure -- and the SPOOL venture, too.
So, in her own words & pictures....

When did your quilting journey begin?

While I had made the occasional baby blanket/quilt over the years I was mostly sewing for my kids and my house- 3 years ago I was bitten by the quilt bug when looking online for something else and ran into Tall Grass Prarie.. I decided that I needed to make a king sized wonky log cabin..
and then I needed to quilt it myself ( yes I am crazy).. So I did .. and free motioned the whole damn thing. I used such bad form body wise that my shoulders we around my ears for days afterwards and I then decided I needed a long arm.. 1 quilt +1month = Longarm ( again.. crazy)

After that I was picked as part of the Handi Quilter ad campaign.. Then with some experience I was quilting for others and an opportunity came my way from a company.. but it had strings.. one of them being I had to stop posting " controversial" topics.. well F-that.. and thus I wrote the rant that started the BAQS. - life sure is funny.

Do you have a BIG quilting dream?

My BIG dream would be to see quilting and quilters to be less divisive, play nice and play together .. each respecting each other and the work they are called to. I am doing my best on this front with the BAQS and now SPOOL.

Why Spool? the name?
& Why now?

Funny really.. I am usually very good at naming things.. from babies to pets.. but the store name took a while. I chose SPOOL since I want a simple modern name but also easy to Identify with sewing and quilting.. I mean EVERYONE knows what a spool of thread is. Oddly I had another name I  really loved but in the end rejected it because so many people - even quilters had no idea what it meant.. I was SELVAGE ( American spelling).. alas.. no go.

As to why now... that was a big surprise to all of us and HUGE props go to  my husband for being SO supportive. The largest quilt store in the area was closing due to retirement- it did not turn out to be a good option to buy it due to not being close enough to where I live so with a bit of talking we dived in as a family.... again.. to my husband.. YOU ROCK!!!!

the plan

the family pitching in to help

late-nite planning sessions

shelving going up

 boxes being opened & shelves being filled

 

 

awning is up!

coffee is brewing

 Join Maddie!

I can hardly wait -- and oh, yes I plan to drive down from Paducah to be there -
it's pretty exciting to be close enough to see it all happen!

Adrift in a Sea of Glass - Garden totem tutorial

Back in June I took a short 3 hour workshop from
Val Pollard at Ephemera Paducah.

It was called Garden Totems, and since (having just moved in to a house with an established garden) there was not really going to be any planting this year I thought why not!?! Well, just like that 3-hour tour they took on Gilligan's Island, I found myself in a sea of glass -- for I was hooked.

The process starts by finding no longer loved glassware and dishes, gathering some basic supplies and casting off. The dishes can almost be any kind, but a couple of things to keep in mind when prowling through yardsales and thrift stores:

you need glass & ceramic things of various sizes
colored glass is wonderful,
but don't discount all that cut clear glass
having a flat surface is easier than a carved surface
plates work great to help between sections
and don't forget all those fun finds for toppers

Once you've got your own sea of glass you'll want to wash everything up before using.
Then get some rubbing alcohol and clear silicone(graded for outdoor use) and you're ready to go.

Playing with how things will stack is the next order of business, but once you start gluing you'll want to glue pairs together -- then the pairs -- then the sections. I like to give a couple of hours between section gluing.

Things to keep in mind as you glue:
put enough of the silicone around the edge to form a seal
and plates up will gather and hold water vs plates down will whisk water away

Here are some photos of a couple of my totems in process, followed by some fun toppers:

Be warned -- it can be addictive!
Enjoy.... and send big thanks to Val for letting me share.

Back to Stitching
~Rose

Venturing via Computer

Earlier this week I was asked to share things that inspired me, and to identify styles that I liked. I sort of interpreted this to be asking....

"What makes your heart sing?"
what colors, designs, artists, fabrics..... you get the idea.

Well, I started writing myself notes and got to thinking how to find examples...hmmm?

Then last night it hit me --- time for a Pinterest Hop!
If you have only started following me recently then you may not know what I am talking about so I'm linking to previous hops on SHAPE and COLOR here.
The first pin that I clicked on to repin took me to someone's Things I Love board, so I felt I was on the right track.
That first one was a quote
illustrated by Mara Girling:

The hop began in earnest when I came
across this design by Rene Beauclair --

that led me to Sonia Delauney --

and by the time I found
Eloise Renout I knew I love asymmetry --

I had a grand time venturing this morning, and highly recommend asking yourself...
'what makes your heart sing', then taking a Pinterest Hop of your own.

Enjoy!
~Rose

Where the Ar-Kansas Meets

This week my venturing found me in at least one place that I just shook my head and said---to myself of course---"Rose, just what are you doing here?"

Here, mind you I would have to point to it on the map -- and you would not find any notation -- for it truly was 'out there'. But, once there was no other choice but  muddling or puddling on. Eventually, those back, back roads - led to back roads - led to the road that led to Wichita.

Unlike that back door entrance, Wichita was a really wonderful place. Good people, and a really fun, creative city. My first full day there was spent with the great quilters of Prairie Quilt Guild. They have daytime and evening meetings so it is whole day of guild fun! There was an awful lot of rain - causing flooding in many areas of the city but the members were not deterred from attending the meetings.

On Wed, the Fast-Piece Applique workshop gave me a great day of sharing. You can click over and see a couple of samples of finished designs by Susan & Trudy.

After class, Susan (my delightful hostess) took me on a bit of tour-- not a single drop of rain, and not in the least 'sultry'. (sultry is my new word -- used by women in the guild instead of that nasty word - humidity).

The tour was mostly of sculptures around the city -- the Douglas Streetscapes throughout the downtown -- the giant centipede on the university campus and Keeper of the Plains - made by Blackbear Bosin in 1974 and standing where the Arkansas and Little Arkansas (called by locals the Ar- Kansas) rivers converge. He stands close to 600" tall and weighs in at around 5 tons. Quite a greeting.

It was a lot of fun -- here's a few pics of the Keeper and his surrounds:

Thursday found me headed home -- and as I have learned in the past there is almost always another way out --- So, I headed north, then east along many roads -- though none as back, back as those on Monday.

Tomorrow a new week -- new ventures.

stitching definitely
~Rose

Venturing to Kansas

I am happily sitting and typing this out to you all from my hotel in Wichita KS. Later this morning I will be giving my trunkshow lecture for the Prairie Quilters Guild. I drove -the distance- from Kentucky yesterday --- no, I'm not gonna tell you how many miles. It was a long day that started with driving in a lightning storm and torrential rain, and ended ...
well, there are pictures.

Along the way there were not many photo opps, but when the sun came out later in the day the vastness of Kansas was rolled out in front of me --- low lying landscape, covered in green that stretched out to meet the sky in every direction. At one point there were loooong mounting clouds that seemed to have cabbage roses float along top for the ride. I even tried to sketch them out for you here.

 

 

 
I'd better hustle off and get going....
have you been 'venturing'?

All I got...

I grew up on Miami Beach -- land of tourists and all sorts of assorted stuff, you know..
souvenirs...
and, there was a time when t-shirts that said something like -'my parents went to Florida and all I got was this stinkin' t-shirt'.
Do you remember these?

Well, my sister & brother-in-law went off to New Mexico a couple of weeks ago and I got a grand package of art catalogs and travel stuff... no 'stinkin t-shirt for me!

I love these -- they allow you to gallery hop,
and take in sights, in-between all the ads.
It is a way of venturing - or if I was lucky enough to collect these in person -
re-ventuing....

Many of the pictures found on these pages have been cut and are now part of my color book..

These can be used in tons of ways..
what would you do with some of
the pictures from these pages?

& btw
LOVE & thanks to Sherene....
for sending me a big package of goodies!