Getting Ready for Quilt Week

Just like springtime finally moving in --
Quilt Week rolls in to town.
Are you planning on being here to share in the fun?

It is a time when all the fabricy people around town have been prepping for, for some time...but it is fun to see all the last minute primping. Almost everywhere you go things are being put into place to share with all the quilters that visit us this week.

I feel lucky to have moved here and feel a part of the primping and prepping.

You'll find my own quilts on display at the Mayor's Office -- yes, you can go see where the business of running the city takes place and see quilts, too!

There's a special selection of my springtime quilts at Ephemera of Paducah --- and you may also want to add my 1 or more of my mini workshops to your schedule while you're here.

But, there are quilt and fiber art works going up everywhere...
one of my favorite places -- and a must for anyone looking for amazing hand-dyed fabric is the Jefferson St. Studio of Bob & Helene Davis -- The ladder here with Bob hanging quilts will have been put away by now, but oh, what a treat of color, fabric and BEADS awaits.

I also will be doing book signings at the Antique Mart on the corner of 4th & Jefferson on Friday & Saturday from 11-1. Stop by -- for behind this door you'll not only find wonderful antique quilts but amazing silk Kimonos --- wonderful, yummy fabric!

Breathing in & out

Well, the crate arrived safely and all has been checked in -- the next book is officially underway!

At my place, as soon as the crate was lifted onto the scales at FedX, measured and paid for the breathing in & out re-commenced.

Happily since that day I have been working on all sorts of things --
New things -- setting up workshops big & small & ONLINE!
and of course cleaning the studio...

but, the best thing has been taking some time to continue working on my Caribbean Boardwalk.

If you check in every once in a while or follow me, you may remember over the summer I gave a whole list of summertime words to inspire many a 5-minute sketch session.

Back in July I shared my boardwalk drawings and you got to see a bit of the quilt top I stitched together -- then tucked away until now.

We all tuck projects away -- sometimes for a week, a month, and all to often they may get so buried they may not see the light of day for years.

Do you have a project on the back burner?

Mixing Words & Fabric - Meet Cindy Rinne

Talk about fabric and someone always asks - ' what do you do with your scraps'.

My answer always involves Cindy Rinne. She is a long time friend, amazing art quilter and the one who loves getting a bag of its and bits from me. Cindy then takes them and transforms them through her collages.

Over the last couple of years she re- committed herself to one of her first loves, poetry... and she found ways of combining this with her fabric works.

Enough, now it's time to Meet Cindy...

Which came first the poetry or the quilts, and how did you get started with quilt making?
The poetry came first as I started out as a watercolorist and then acrylic painter. I have always liked collage and included texture in my water media works. I was adhering photo transfers on fabric and fabric squares in the 9-patch block onto wood when I was invited to my first quilt meeting. Both of my friends were painters and had gotten involved with quilting. I enjoyed the guild meetings, especially learning about the history of fabrics and the history behind the various traditional blocks. I attended for three years before trying quilting. I was having my photo transfers done at a quilt shop. The owner, assuming I was a quilter, said that these photos on muslin will make beautiful quilts. I drove away thinking that I am not a quilter, but the idea stuck. I designed my first art quilt and never looked back.
When did the light bulb go off about combining these?
The light bulb went off last summer. I helped to start a poetry critique group called PoetrIE. I was seriously getting into poetry by last summer. I even had a bio of poems being published. A poetry friend of mine and I decided to do a drawing-a-day for the month of July. At the same time, my PoetrIE group decided to write a poem-a-day. It was a crazy month trying to write and draw everyday, but transformation came. The story I was writing became the source for my drawings. I translated the word "drawing" into using fabric, ink, pencil, etc. I will be having a solo show of this work next spring including a reading at the opening of the poetry we both wrote for this story.

I know you like using others scraps ....when did this begin, and what's the best thing about using these scraps?
As I said, I have always enjoyed collage. Before I was mostly collaging paper. Now I began to collage with fabrics. In art quilts I could use most any fabric as my pieces are not washed. The best thing about using scraps from others is that I think about them as I use their fabrics, including you! This way each of my fiber pieces is a community. I've even had people come to my exhibits and pick out the fabric they gave me. It's fun for them to see what I did with their treasures. I receive some special fabrics (international, vintage) because I only need small pieces.

What is one of your favorite ways to spend an afternoon?
I enjoy being in nature which inspires both my art and poetry, but as much as I quilt and write alone, friends and community are vital to me.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed meeting Cindy.
Fantastic use of scraps don't you think?!?
(btw - Cindy is in one of the pictures on my header -- can you find her?)

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!

Sources: Photos & How to Use Them

Digital cameras and having a camera in our phones have just made snapping and sharing a way of life for most of us. We post them on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter & Facebook (to name just a few online share opps) and as viewers we are treated to almost every subject imaginable.

It stands to reason that photos are a very convenient and powerful source for letting our creative juices out for a whirl, and there are a lot of different ways that we can use them. Over the next few days I will be sharing some ideas on just that. Photos & How to Use Them.

Today I will be sharing the way I have been using for a number of years to take a photo and turn it into a pattern that I then stitch together using my own Fast-Piece Applique.

starting with a photo - here is one I took of a walkway in Glacier National Park.
I loved walking through the trees and the zig-zag of the path.

in order to see the lines more clearly I made a black & white print to work from

then using tracing paper I went over the main lines -
I eliminated details and sought only for the strong identifying shapes
for these would become fabric that would further tell my quilt-story

there are sometimes many sheets of tracing paper
and many different versions of what is selected - what is left out during this process
but once I have it completed I can enlarge it and use it as my  pattern

I have used this pattern many times --
having my choices of fabrics and embellishments change the time
of day conveyed on this walk thru the woods -- this is just 1 example

 
I hope you enjoyed this how-to.
There will be some others - so check back in...
Meantime,  you can start looking at your photos --
that one snapped yesterday or last year might just be the source for your next project.

I'm heading back to stitching.
~Rose

Observation -- My favs from #QUILTMARKET

The talk has been about Quilt Market, and I've promised some pictures. So today I am sharing some of my product finds -- though tomorrow I'll be sharing some other faves!

Market can definitely be overwhelming - all the new FABRIC....
and loads of amazing quilts along with their patterns. Sometimes its hard to see the other stuff.

I love, love, love stitching threads, and new products that make my life easier and fun --
hope you enjoy my finds--

the to over-dyed wonders of Weeks

the amazing new magazine Generation Q

products to help us make or instruct us on making these fun take aways

Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts new book- always well written and illustrated!

this is Coats & Clark's double sided bonding sheets for fabric
and that funky thing is a bracelet I made with the product -- fun, fun, fun!

this game from Stitchin Tree Quilts was easy and so much fun
you just followed the sound of laughter to find their booth!

and then my friends at Bo Nash - it was an iron challenged show for them
but the products never missed a beat - love the PEN!

Did these get you thinkin?

Which one you going to try and find first!?

Another look (but different) at market tomorrow.

'til then...

Stitch On!

~Rose