Pages

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Freedom Quilt 7 ~ Finishing up the Ironing

The ironing is finally finished! I'm glad to, cause after 40 yards I was getting tired of that!
I have 80 fat quarters, a zillion 3.5 inch strips and then all these lovely chunks!
 
I can't wait to see what comes of all this!

Thing is... I just realized I have ten more yards of cotton... and there are still come colors that didn't quite come through in this...

I'm considering a whole new round of dying! LOL!
(I may need more than 40 days!)

Happy Creating!
-Carmen Rose

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Freedom Quilt 6 ~ More Ironing

It takes a while to iron 40 yards of freshly dyed cotton! Today I ironed some of the purples.
I'm ironing, cutting and folding as I go along. Here are today's colors along with yesterday's colors:
And here is one of the purples, I just LOVE the textures in these colors!
Tomorrow I finish this!  It takes a while, but it will be worth it.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Friday, January 28, 2011

Freedom Quilt 5 ~ Ironing

I've started ironing, cutting and folding the fabric for the Freedom Quilt.
I love the textures and tonality of these! There are some bold ones and some milder ones, all of them have a beauty of their own. Ironing feels like a process of discovery. I love it!
And somehow I manage to turn colors again... that is why we call it hand dying!
Today I ironed about 16 of the 40 yards.  I have been cutting fat quarters and 2.5 inch strips and these are the leftover chunks of the yellows.  Such a range of colors, I love them all!

Happy Creating!
-Carmen Rose

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Freedom Quilt 4 ~ Laundry Day

YAY!  It's time to wash the fabric!  Now to see how it all turned out.
First the yellows:
 Then the blues:
 Then the fuchsias:
Wow, this is starting to feel like laundry day!  Now it's time to iron.  Oooo.... boy!  
Why did I do 40 yards again?  This could take a while... BUT THE COLORS!

MERCY ME I DO LOVE THESE COLORS!!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Beautiful drive

A beautiful evening at dusk and I was driving with one hand and trying to aim my phone with the other.  Was so nice to soak in the Beauty.

Happy Trails,
-Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt 3 ~ Hand Dying Fabric

It's day three of the Freedom Quilt project, it's time to dye some cotton, ya'll! And I'm pretty excited, I always love this part!  Playing with color is my thang!  I started by mixing dyes, dying small samples to see if I could manage to get the colors I was looking for.  I was working with primary colors though I did use some orange, and I also mixed up some black for adding some tonality to colors.  It's not easy to tell if the colors are off at this stage, but once they come out of the dryer there is no doubt.  There is a learning curve!!
I started out with the first ten containers.
Then closed them, made some changes to each bottle of dye and then added dye to the second set of ten.
This is why I call it hand dying... because even with gloves, I will certainly turn colors!
Forty containers, forty yards. 
All that glorious color hidden in there...
No idea which ones are going to work out beautifully and which ones I'm not going to like...
Forty containers of infinite possibility.
Before long I'll send these through the wash and begin to see how they turned out.  Anticipation is part of the fun!  Day three of the freedom quilt is complete.

Happy Creating,
Carmen Rose

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Freedom Quilt 2 ~ Cut & Soak

Freedom quilt, day two!
Today I turned 40 yards of fabric
Into forty yards of fabric...
in one yard sections. 
I soaked it all in soda ash solution, then wrung them out and put them in containers, ready to dye.

Tomorrow... I dye!
Unless life gets in the way... in which case it will need to wait a while.  But that's fine.
No worries,
-Carmen Rose

Monday, January 24, 2011

Delicious Bacon-Chicken Tortilla Soup

The perfect meal for January, I've had a pot of this soup in my fridge for a few days and I'm still loving it!
 Once the soup is made, get out a bowl...
 break some tortilla chips in the bottom of the bowl
 sprinkle on some cheese
 ladle over the the soup, it melts the cheese...
 finish with a healthy dollop of sour cream
Delicious cold weather food.

Best Dishes, as Paula Deen would say,
-Carmen Rose

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Scramble

Scrambled eggs with fresh veggies.
Some assembly required.
Happy yum,
-Carmen Rose

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Lemon Blueberry Crumble Cake

I was trying for a beautiful slice to photograph but it was warm and it crumbled into bits when I tried to take it out of the pan, and plus... by that time I was starving and salivating and that piece was MINE!  No worries, it looked crumbly but it was DELICIOUS!  And I have eaten the whole thing!  

Wishing you a happy yum,
-Carmen Rose

Friday, January 21, 2011

Freedom Quilt, day one ~ Gather Supplies

I'm starting a new quilt project. This one will be different than anything I've done in a long time. First of all, I have been out of the studio for a LONG time.  It's time I remember who I am and get back into the swing of things.  This will be a quilt close to my heart, it will be bed sized to replace the first quilt I ever made that I'm losing in the divorce.  
Secondly, it will certainly NOT be a double wedding ring, I'll make up the pattern as I go along. And finally... I'll be hand dying these fabrics so ANYTHING can happen. I may use some commercial fabrics also, it is a "freedom" quilt after all. But at this point I'm thinking it will be pretty free form with a mix of colors and textures. I plan to create the quilt top in forty days, though those forty will have to be a day here and there as I'm working three jobs and I'm still on the board of directors at a gallery north of here.  There is not much free time around here!

Day One, Taking Inventory
I have taken inventory of the things I have.  Lots of dyes and fabric paints:
 How on earth did I have this much yardage just sitting around waiting for a project?  More than 40 yards of good ready to dye cotton fabric.
 And of course this is only a portion of the commercial fabric collection in boxes in my new studio.
Anything is possible, I have no idea what this will look like when I'm finished. 
But it will be good.

Here's to Freedom,
-Carmen Rose

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Keeping warm in the bleak mid-winter


I love fire.

A warm and cozy day to all my favorite blog readers,
-Carmen Rose

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

No Knead Bread

No need to knead...

Since I live alone I take half the recipe and bake it.

And put the rest in the fridge to bake another day. This one had some saffron in it, delicious exotic flavor.
Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Spicy Shrimp Alfredo

Don't you love it when you come across a great sale? Shrimp, big ones... great price! I know what my dinner will be!

 Spicy Shrimp Ramen Alfredo (Some assembly required... it's like Ikea food or something.) Shrimp cook quickly, ramen cooks quickly... this really is a meal in minutes!

 Turned out looking really good.

Went down EASY! Yum Yum Yum!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Monday, January 17, 2011

Giggles

Giggles are like Snickers... only MUCH better.
Nutella Fudge, Dulce de leche caramel

With sea salt and toasted hazelnuts

Add nougat made with marshmallow fluff.
Cover with another layer of fudge.
Carefully cut into squares once it has cooled. 
I had trouble with this because the stuff tasted SO GOOD!
I kept getting sidetracked by eating.
Dip each square in chocolate.
Package to give.  Most of them I put in small cupcake papers and into gift boxes.  Some went on mixed plates of Christmas treats to take to parties.
They really were amazing and became the hit of every party I took them to over the holidays.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Oreos

Oreo cookies dipped in chocolate.  My favorites were the ones with the green filling, mint oreos dipped in dark chocolate.  I think that may have been one of my favorites from the holidays.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Love This

Some of my friends are huge fans of Mumford & Sons.
I totally see why!
Check this out:

White Blank Page, Mumford and Sons

Happy Creating,
Carmen Rose

Friday, January 14, 2011

A Mischief of Mice

The holidays aren't complete without a visit of the mice.
(Some assembly required of course)
Please don't forget the ears!
the huddle
'the soap opera'
'the choir'

Lovely young mice, slightly crunchy, watch out for the red juice, delicious and fun!

Happy creating to you and yours,
-Carmen Rose
Related Posts with Thumbnails