Do Words Inspire You?

I started out this morning, coffee in hand scrolling though Facebook when a message from a friend asked for folks to list their 10 all time inspiring books. She did not tag me to answer, but this set my mind wandering.

Books have always been important to me and I for this I have to be grateful for a high school education where we were rats in an experiment.

Back in the early 70's as I entered high school, the school system put us on quarters --- there were to be 5 quarters each year and you had to attend 4, and if you chose to get through faster you could go all five. The best part was that you signed up for classes like you were in college -- every quarter. There were requirements of course, 4 quarters English at each grade level, 4 of Math, Science, History in 10th grade - you get the idea. BUT, there were amazing choices, too.

My first quarter of English in 10th grade was Rock Poetry...
OK, stop laughing... it was a great class, and if you want to know what my final oral presentation was on you'll have to ask.

English and Art were amongst my favorite subjects so in between quarters on Basic Expository Writing and Vocabulary for College Bound there were classes like -- Science Fiction Literature and Psychology in Literature... you can see where this heading.

Keep this all in mind as I share my list:
The Collector - John Fowles
1984 - George Orwell
Brave New World - Alduous Huxley
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
works of Anne Rynd, Kurt Vonnegut
The Handmaids Tail - Margret Atwood
Bird by Bird - Ann Lamott
He, She & It, and Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Piercy
Almost any book by Mary Stewart -- the Hollow Hills just to name 1
Pride & Prejudice and again almost any Jane Austen book
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman
Broken For You - Stephanie Kallos

I did get a bit carried away, but good books do exactly that!

Right now there's a couple of books on my night stand, and a list of potential next reads posted up on my studio wall. Most of the time life seems to make it almost (almost) impossible to fit a book in --

but there is nothing better than getting carried away with a good book.

What's on your list?

just an aside -- it's all your fault Kristen

Painted Ladies = Cat House

August brings with the start of new projects
and winding up and down of others.

Winding Down:
Yesterday I painted the last bits of colors to the shed...
luckily I chatted with my daughter-in-law, Dawn, for just at the right moment she said it should have some inspirational words, and I had just the right spot.

Now, I look out the window to visions of
Live, Laugh, Dream, Love, Create

The Start:
Shaping up with Fast-Piece Applique is underway, and I am loving being able to share with students literally from around the world.

Winding Up:
Book 4's next tick in the schedule is due mid-August..
with early announcement's on Amazon, etc, so I have also planned something fun for around the 15th... so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the cat houses are calling.
Below you can begin to see how the wild colors of the painted ladies are starting to take shape.

UPDATE: APRIL 2015

Looky what happened to the CAT HOUSES!
Find all the patterns and instructions in Generation Q Magazine.

Painted Ladies

I've written quite a bit about houses lately...
well, at least about all the projects I have been undertaking around my own house.

For all this time, and admittedly sometime before I have had a quilt in my head -- I call it 'the cat house'. More for the fact that I wanted it to have a bunch of cats than for any of the other places some may call cat houses.

It started as a bit of a sketch on a piece of paper--long gone now.
and, there was little time to jump into the quilt making process since there was so many other things happening. But, this week I was able to focus on getting the pattern made and fabric selected.

The houses (now there are three) were loosely based on the painted ladies of San Francisco with their varying portals and FUN color.

Here's a few pics so far.

these are the houses that inspired the design
and below are the colors I chose for each of my 3 houses.

Feels great to finally get this quilt underway...

Hope you're finding some stitching time --
or inspirational time.

~Rose

Where the shapes take me!

I have been taking time this week to:

• Get the word out about my on-line workshop opening its cyber doors on Friday
• Starting a quilt that has been buzzing around my head -- seemingly forever
• and putting the final stitched & beads onto a couple of almost finished quilts

So, I thought I might share one of these now finished pieces.

Last summer when I shared my five minute warm up drawing exercise. The word 'boardwalk' produced one of my favorite resulting pencil drawings.

I loved it so much I took it further until I came up with a quilt design that celebrated my time in and the color of the Caribbean. Some of my fabric was actually purchased on my 2013 Quilt Cruise and some popped up in the new colors that were being offered by Cherrywood Fabrics.

The quilttop was stitched together lickity-split using my Fast-Piece Applique, but note it did not stop me from piecing my boardwalk directly. The quilting & decorative stitching though took longer to complete..... more so as right around this time I started making this quilt my mind turned to book projects.

Feels wonderful now that the piece is done, and loved working all the stitching.

Hope you like the final results!

Summertime Checklist

Doing both...BLISS!

This summer my personal checklist is a bit longer than most...
OK, maybe not.
I admit that I create an ongoing list of things I want to do and things that need to be done that gets kind of long at times. BUT, this summer I filled my list with fun projects, BIG and small and happily things seem to be clicking along.

One of these projects is getting my 1st on-line workshop up and ready for students.
And, I can hardly wait for the students to arrive.

I chose the workshop that has been a long time favorite at guilds and conferences for a while and revamped, reworked, reinvented into an on-line version which:

• lets you learn my favorite way to design a  quilt
• use this process to create your own design
  (with me guiding the way)
• then learning Fast-Piece Applique to stitch it all together

So, if learning tools and methods to create your own designs...
Or, adding the perfect construction technique to stitch together any shape, any curve:
ANY IDEA...

then add my
SHAPING UP WITH FAST-PIECE APPLIQUE
August 1st - On-line Workshop
through Academy of Quilting

to your checklist;
follow your heart,
and be a blissfully happy quilter!

Flower Power

Long about noon yesterday I started to pull all the stuff together that have been planned & prepped for a Tea & Paint party I was throwing at my place.

I had invited friends & family for a bit of painting fun --
easy, colorful flowers were needed on my shed...

Then to dive into cold, cold tea & sangria -
to help cool down,
along with a star line-up of sweet & savory treats
that I made to show how much I appreciate them all.

I put out a table full of primary color paints and we all had at it!
From the plain unpainted shed at the beginning of summer...
to the wild view of the NEW shed from my studio window!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the rain held off for the painting spree!
Big thanks to all the painters & the backup crew.

p.s. an unbiased review of the day was posted by my friend Chris on her blog-Crafting from the Underground. .

The Complete Tale of 2 Planters

From the time David & I found our house on Clay St. in Paducah I knew these two giant planters had to have red mosaic tile.

Not to mention the awful grasses that were planted there -
HAD TO GO....

Finally, taking time off from travels this summer I have been able to finish them.

In my mind they took no time at all, but in reality they were a ton of work,
and managing the project while competing with the weather made it much further drawn out. Here you can see where they started and where they are today and some things I learned along the way.

the start-cleaning out the plants was quite the job

ordered my tiles from Home Depot!

cracking tools

cracking time takes time -- don't forget protective glasses &
bundling the tile in a towel when cracking

laying out the tile takes tons of time
lesson learned - glue as you go
clean glue as you go, too
-- for it does not come off as it claims once dry
(used outdoor Liquid Nails - 5 tubes)

grouting --
also another lesson in clean as you go

plant shopping -
always the best part

an amazing difference - woo hoo it's done!!!!!!!

There were other things I planned to use this red tile mosaic on -- but that it just gonna have to wait....

What's on your summer to do list?