A "WHOLE" big Thank You!

I'm so pleased to thank Steve Betz and Nikki Ross for being backers #11 and #12 for my kickstarter.com project.  Only 70 hours to go before the project ends.  Yeah, I'm feeling the suspense of whether or not the project will be funded!  LOL!

This display window for the show went up Saturday afternoon. Here are four of my 12x12 art quilts with some art glass.  The top one is "Buttoned" the second is "Set Aside."  The third is "In Pieces" and the forth is one of my personal favorites.  I titled it "Neglect."

It's really fun to have my work in the window, but since these works are so personally expressive it does make me feel a tad vulnerable.

Cloths pins in the branches hold notes that read: "A broken heart" and "A vibrant hope." 

Lower in the window the sign on the ped reads:

* * *

C A R M E N   R O S E

Whole

"An exhibit of art quilts, washed, framed and embelished.

Hand glazed art glass, found, glazed and fired.

An exhibit with a broken heart and a vibrant hope."

* * *

I hope this brings people in the gallery to have a closer look!
My Kickstarter.com project where this exhibit was born.

Still dreaming big dreams,

-Carmen Rose

Thank you!

I'm up to ten backers on my kickstarter.com project!  Only six more days to go to make this dream a reality!  Today I'd like to thank those who have backed the project so far:

you_will_succeed

Dawn Wampler

William Martin

Anthony Vilgiate

Xaver Wilhelmy

Sara Homeyer

Kim Scales

Melissa Chonka

Dawn 

Wendi Dunlap 

You all are my ANGELS!

 I'm working on quilting this one today.  I don't know what it will look like when I'm finished.

 These two before I quilted them...

 Became:  "Set Aside" and...

 Buttoned.  It really makes a difference when I've finished the quilting...

...put them through the laundry and them framed and embellished them. 

As you might imagine, sometimes it's tough just to choose which side is up!

I can't tell you how much I love what I do, and to have others partner with me

in the process is a genuine privilege and honor!

Thanks to those who have pledged to the project!

Would you like to get in on the fun?

My Kickstarter.com Project is here, go check out the video 

that explains the whole thing and then choose what you'd like from the cool pledge options! 

Thank you so much!

-Carmen Rose

Hurry Up!

The previous display in the gallery came down ahead of schedule and I was scrambling to get SOMETHING up. So... the "Whole" exhibit will begin with just these pieces.

And plus, my lovely camera doesn't always open it's eye all the way and so my friend snapped this cool shot. I love it!

The display isn't at all what I planned, but this part of the exhibit is in place for now until I can get the rest finished. And it's a good thing because it looks so different in a sketch than it does in person. I think I will need to spread it all out a bit more, it is a lot of color in a space that feels smaller than I remember... even though I had the measurements. So I suppose I'll tweak the plan to fit the space a bit better.

In the mean time... there is lots of work to do and I feel like I'm coming down with the plague. So... a bit of rest and hopefully I can get back at it tomorrow.

Only 14 days to go, are you the sort of person who helps make miracles happen? If so, check out my kickstarter.com project. Your pledge would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Creating
-Carmen Rose

More pieces of the Whole

Here's a fun one, I haven't finished the quilting on this one yet but I like it so far.

And what about this one?  Another cheerful little confection!

 Here are some of them on the design wall together:

I've finished up a pair of purple 12x12's.  This pair has hand dyed white on whites, hand marbled fabric, and some commercial batiks.  Machine pieced, machine quilted.

And after they go through the laundry they are nicely crinkled up, then framed on 12x12 canvas stretchers.

And the second one in the pair:

I added some storm tossed pieces to these, the purple in the shells seems to go nicely with the purples in the pair.

A particularly interesting shell for this one:

And a row of five shells for this one:

It's all about the details in this series.  I am having so much fun making these, does it show?

Like these?  Then pledge here.

Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

Dragonfly

I wanted to post another of the series before I go and bury myself in the studio again this afternoon.  This one is a 9x9 piece in pink, purple and a sagey green.  The main square is hand marbled fabric and the rest are hand dyed white on white, hand dyeds or commercial batik.  The color is a little off on this first image.

I quilted it and set it through the laundry, framed it up to 9x9 and added a lovely little forgotten dragonfly from my jewelry box.  I'm really enjoying adding an expressive little detail to each quilt.  The dragonfly has a little sparkle and the tail moves. 

My heart goes out to those in storm flattened areas.  I was there after Katrina, I remember what that was like.  Then to see such amazing damage again, it simply blows my mind.  My love to all of you in the South East today, I hope you and yours are safe and sound.

I'm working on this series of quilts for an exhibit called "Whole."  Each quilt has a found object piece included representing different aspects of my life in the last year.  Some pieces have included items from the junk yard, puzzle pieces, scrabble tiles, broken china and now a forgotten dragonfly from my jewelry box.  These bits and pieces are a little unexpected in my work but express my broken and discarded condition as my divorce nears completion. 

I was shaken by images of the storm torn parts of my homeland, as we all are.  Here the power went off and on a few times during the night and a tree nearby was down this morning.  We had no tornadoes in this area, just high winds.  The images of great loss that I saw this morning on the news reverberated with my own losses of the last year.  My home on the golf course, my dogs, my sense of security, my losses were by my own choice, theirs were not.  So as I continue to incorporate broken and discarded images into my work, I'll do so with a prayer for those who lost everything in the storm last night. 

I just updated the Kickstarter.com project with this note

"Dear friends, in light of the brokenness caused by the storms last night, I will be donating 10% of the project total to a disaster relief charity at the successful close of this project.  Please pray with me for peace, protection and provision for our friends in the South-East United States today.  Thank you, -Carmen Rose"

Another piece of the "Whole" exhibit.

I was going to try to spread these out some over the next few days, but I couldn't resist showing more photos today!

Here is one of the 9x9's of the exhibit.  It started with a very drippy piece of hand dyed fabric from ages ago.  I'm really dipping into the stash these days, never know what you'll find in there!

I quilted it up, threw it in the laundry.  When it came out I framed it up and added the little key, and this is how it looks now. 

These silly little elements of this exhibit are SO FUN TO MAKE!  For some reason it looks downright edible to me, I think I'm  hungry for Popsicles and cupcakes now! 

Want it?

A $75 pledge and it's yours.

Kickstart me!

Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

Update on the pieces

I've been in the studio creating all kinds of fun stuff, having the time of my life!  I have REALLY been neglecting my blog, I struggle to find the time between my three jobs and trying to get ready for my featured artist exhibit.  However, I do love sharing the joy in the journey with you folks, so here goes.  I can't wait to show you some of the pieces coming out!  Here is one of the first sets I created:

This shows the pieces just after they were pieced:  First this one,

 And then the matching one.  This one has some of my favorite hand marbled fabric in it that I created ages ago.  It was so fun, I need to do that again!  These pieces include some hand dyed commercial white on white, hand dyed fabrics and batiks.  And the hand marbled fabrics as well.

 I quilted them on the machine and then tossed them in the laundry. 

 I love that washed crinkle texture!!  Then I framed them up on 12x12 canvas stretchers.

I added some details, this one has a pair of rings.  One says "316" on it, so I've titled it "316."

This one has a gasket that I found in the parking lot, a washer from a trip to the junk yard and a lovely new washer from a trip to the hardware store.  These little details please me very much!

And finally, here they are, the pair of them!  I can't tell you how much I love my job!

I'm doing exactly what I love the most!

My kickstarter project was stuck at 21% funding for a few days.  Today it bumped up to 22% and that made me very happy!  Learn the story behind the series and give me a good SWIFT KICK.

Very Happy Creating to you and yours,

-Carmen Rose

Puzzling

This is the second piece in the "Whole" series. It consists of hand marbled fabric I made ages ago, some hand dyed white on white, hand dyed fabrics and commercial batik.  I think it's fun to see how different they look flat like this when the piecing is done:

Then after I've quilted them and run them through the laundry to get that cool laundered texture, then framed them up on canvas stretchers. This one is on a 6x6 canvas stretcher.

And of course it doesn't stop there, this one has three puzzle pieces added to complete it. Isn't this fun?

I sure think so.

I've been really struggling with my sewing machines. The Necchi acts like it's clutch is slipping, I just took it BACK to the repair shop to try and see if they can get it fixed this time.

The Singer drops stitches like a drunk co-ed even though I got it back from the repair shop on Friday. However, the problem is very erratic. I never know when it is going to happen but I can't use it for quilting when I can't get a happy seam out of it.

I just got my third machine back from the repair guy today and this one works. I hesitate to even mention that it works because it may decide to quit on me also. We shall see.

So far I've spent more $$$ on repairing sewing machines than I had budgeted for fabric for this project. I do hope that at least one of the four will stay working long enough for me to finish up this project in time for the art opening.

Have you seen my project at Kickstarter.com? I really love the whole concept of kickstarter and have my eye on a few projects that are happening there. A friend of mine is an inventor and I hope to bring one of his projects to Kickstarter.com. I also know of an artist killed in Iraq who documented the people and war in Iraq through his photography while serving in a medical mission there. His voice, his vision... is one that should be seen even though he is no longer with us. I hope to host a kickstarter project to see an exhibit of his work come together as well. So many ideas, so little time. I hope you'll check out my project and consider buying one or more of my quilted textile and found object pieces like the one in this blog post. Or perhaps one of my cool enameled keys, those are just SO COOL!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Shine

This is the first one of the "Whole" series, a small one (though the small ones take as much fabric as the big ones because of how deep they are.)

This was before it was quilted, washed and framed.

And now it is finished.  A little 6x6 canvas wrapped in hand dyed fabrics and batiks with scrabble tiles.
Want it? Pledge here to support the "Whole" project and become part of my creative process.
Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Once around the block in Spring

 "Once around the block in Spring"

 Hand dyed cottons, machine pieced and quilted, washed for texture.

Stretched on a 12x12 frame.  $75

email me

Freedom Quilt, the center squares

Goodness, it DOES take a while to make that many blocks!

I put them on the design wall as I went, making whatever color seemed to be needed.

I got a little bored with that after a while and started sewing strips together.  

Just for a change of pace.

Lots and lots and lots of strips!

(To go with lots and lots and lots of blocks!)

I've finished all the center blocks now, as well as all the blocks for the triangles that come next. 

I'm enjoying this process!

Here's to freedom and the freedom quilt,

-Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt 8

It has been a while since I showed you the progress of the Freedom Quilt, so here is an update. 

I started a small study for the quilt, a combination of batik and hand dyed fabrics.  I'd been wanting to try the ultra simple log cabin squares and this was an opportunity to try that.  I got it partly finished and realized once more that contrast is a quilt designer's best friend.  Sometimes I forget that and this little project was a very helpful reminder.  Even all those lush colors together start to turn to mud when there are to many of them to close together.  I laid it aside, having learned a lot from the process.

 Next I decided that I wasn't going to use *just* hand dyed fabrics, I wanted to use my very favorite batik.  This happens to be my very favorite batik of all time, it's a Bali batik from Hoffman.  Ages ago I blogged about a pre-cut combination of Hoffman fabrics that I had purchased at Rachel's Quilt Patch (my favorite fabric store.)  That led to an email from the lovely folks at Hoffman and an offer to pick my favorites from their fabric line.  I was THRILLED of course, and before long this delightful confection (along with a few others) showed up on my door step from them.  I was (and am) delighted!!  All my favorite colors are in there, and so it has become the icon of my color scheme for the Freedom Quilt.

 Plus... zebra print!  Ages ago I bought a king sized duvet cover in zebra print, so I'll have all the zebra print I want for years to come!  And a duvet of zebra would be crazy, but a little touch here and there is perfect.  I love zebras, their stripes remind me of finger prints... they are alike in that - each one unique.  God's genius at work in the perfect high contrast organic design.  I love it.

 2.5 inch squares of Hoffman batik, and a small strip of zebra... 

 Then it's time to add the hand dyed fabrics, all cut in 2.5 inch strips.  This is going to be fun!

 

Then I decided that I wanted a contrasting block.  It would have zebra in the middle, a small stripe of hand dyed color, then white.  The small project reminded me that I wanted contrast, and white was exactly what I needed. 

The pieces are coming together, I have about 40 of each of these blocks.

We'll see what happens next!  

Here's to freedom, to beautiful batik and wild zebras!

Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

Quilt Design

I am enjoying a bit of time in the quilt studio from time to time.  It doesn't seem like I get nearly as much time there as I'd like, but when I get the chance... I sure do enjoy it!

When I saw this image of a stained glass window, I knew I had to try it in fabric.

So I played a bit with the drawing to explore some other color options.

You'd think it would be a simple exercise to put this one together in no time flat?

Not so much!

But I am pleased with how the pieced top turned out!

Hand dyed cottons and un-dyed white.

Happy creating,

Carmen Rose

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

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