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

First One

This is the first in the "Whole" series, plus the press release went out today for my exhibit and opening.

I'll keep working at it and see if I can get a head start.

Have you seen the video I made yet?

Check this out

Happy Creating!

-Carmen Rose

Kickstarting a new project

I'm very pleased to announce my brand new "Kickstarter.com" project.  If you haven't heard of Kickstarter.com yet, check it out, it's an excellent way to fund and follow creativity.  I am pleased with how the video turned out, even with an audio malfunction on my little flip cam.  Surf on over to see my project and watch the video with me in it.  If you like the project, please share the information with your friends.  Thanks!

Happy Creating!
-Carmen Rose

Tease!

Oh, alright....

Here is another teaser:

This should be fun.

My project has been approved by Kickstarter.com and I'll be going live as soon as possible.  

Here are some teasers:

 I love old skeleton keys.  These are the ones I keep by my front door in case I ever lose my keyring. 

 I put these marvelous old keys in the kiln with enamel powder just to see what would happen.  

I love how they turned out!

Just a photo of three canvas sizes.  6x6, 9x9 and 12x12. 

Check back for more information in the coming days!

(and wish me luck!)

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

For lo, the winter is past

 "For lo, the winter is past"

 hand dyed cottons & batiks, prairie points, machine quilting

12 x 12 canvas frame, ready to hang.

SOLD

Gone Daffy

 Machine pieced and quilted, embellished by hand.

 12x12 on canvas frame.

$75 

email me

Art in the Park

Here are a few photos I'm sending in with an application for an art show this summer. I'd love to send more but they only want four per media... and since I'm a multi-media type woman... or perhaps a little ADD... it looks like a lot of photos. Quite a few of my friends are at this show, so I believe it will be a lot of fun!

Sorry, they are completely in random order, I'm on my way out the door here shortly to see what I can do about this monster "to do list."

Happy Creating!

(And for heaven's sake put a little color in it!!!)

-Carmen Rose