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

Doors of Opportunity

I'm really behind on posting photos and updates, but one of these days I'll catch up.  For now here are photos of a series of nine fairly small square quilt tops I made recently that I call "Doors of Opportunity." 

Hand dyed cottons, not yet quilted.

Happy Creating,

Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt progress plus

Well hello there!

Glad you dropped by!

I was looking at the photo of the quilt I lost in the divorce and found myself comparing it to the one I'm working on to replace it.

Back in the days when I made the double wedding ring, I was stuck using commercial fabrics greatly limited by the color selection available at the time. I went to lots of different stores to find those fabrics and had piece after piece after piece cut at the counter. These days I buy it by the bolt and cut it myself and dye whatever color I want. I must say, this is a VAST improvement. All those prissy little calicos, I did think they were pretty at the time. Tastes change, but my favorite colors have remained the same.  Look how consistent those colors are, the only addition is that delicious mojito mint/lime green!  Yum Yum!

Of course the Freedom Quilt has a little wild thang in it. 

A friend of mine tells me that donkeys and zebras are closely related, that in some places they are called (translated) "Stripey Donkeys."

I guess it's not too hard to see why.  

The only difference is that donkeys can be domesticated, zebras can not.  

They have been

And will always be 

Wild.

He he!

Plus, they don't take themselves too seriously!

I think the wild and not-too-serious zebra is a perfect addition to my Freedom Quilt!

Color remains the one true love of my life, color has never despised or neglected me.  

It's true, color has been gladly faithful all these years and I remain a student of its many wonders. 

The very undomesticated, 

-Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt, one big square

I'm making progress on the Freedom Quilt! 

The blocks for this part are made, now to sew them together!

Careful not to get them out of order!

and...

Voila!

It's not too serious, 

It has good contrast,

All my favorite colors are in it.

I'm lovin it!

HAPPY creating,

-Carmen Rose

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

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

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

Quilt Auction

A recent trip to old stomping grounds was multi-purpose.  Mostly I soaked up some quality time with dear friends.  I also sang in a friend's wedding and attended the Michiana Mennonite Relief sale where a quilt I designed (about 250 quilts/afghans/comforters were sold that day) was sold to benefit MCC.

Here it is in line to be sold.  The black, pink and white one.

Here it is waiting to be the next one on the display.

Difficult to fit a King size quilt on such a small display piece, but they did what they could.

They stretched it up high enough to cover the auctioneer... (Still not showing the whole diamond in the center) clearly that wasn't going to work!!

I was disappointed to note that it sold for only $550.  I guess it's the economy, of course it's a size that most people can't use and it's feminine... but I thought it was a pretty quilt.  It sold at 9:05 am.  Shortly after that they got an auctioneer that was much higher energy and then people started to focus a little better, I sure wish he'd been the auctioneer just a bit earlier!

Here are some of the other 250 pieces auctioned off.  From small wall hangings to the large ones.  There were some really pretty ones in the mix but mostly ultra traditional stuff in very federal colors.  (Not exactly my thing.)

The front row showed some of the quilts unfolded, this was an especially pretty one.

Lots of time and detail in these two!

I was pretty amazed with how low things were going, people bidding that morning were getting bargains.  But it's all for charity and every bit helps.  I designed and cut the the fabric as we went along, my mother-in-law pieced it and I don't remember who worked with us at the ironing board.  It was hand quilted by a group of Mennonite women from her church with help from the sewing circle at another Mennonite church nearby.  I never did actually get to study the quilting, things just went by a little too quickly for that.  I wish I had a good photo of the whole thing, but it was a little big to get good photos.  I also wish I knew who bought it, but like I said... it just went by a little too quick for that.     

I'd like to do this again some year, a smaller quilt that is less gender specific and hopefully in a season when money isn't so tight for everyone and it can go for a little more money.  I would use hand dyed fabrics this time, no commercial fabrics.  I don't have any interest in hand quilting it though, which may explain why I have so many unquilted quilt tops in storage.  So maybe some day I'll find sewing and quilting buddies once more that can make projects like this possible once more.

Time will tell.   

Happy Quilting,
Carmen Rose

Cool!

Blog? What blog? I know I haven't written much lately, and I may not be around for a while. I have moved and don't know quite what to do about studio space. All in good time I suppose.

I did want to pass along this little treat.

My work is on the cover of a local weekly paper:

That's my display at the Oasis gallery, my art glass with my dyed scarves, there is a corner of one of my dyed skirts showing and a portion of one of my art quilts on the wall above. I have asked my friends who live in the paper's coverage area to save me copies of this paper. I'm very pleased.

And this excellent article is inside:
http://www.rocktownweekly.com/rocktown/focus.php?AID=3961

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Jacob's Ladder Quilt

I think this might be my favorite quilt that I have in the show right now:

Here is how it looks with some art glass and hand dyed scarves in the display:

Jacob's Ladder

Hand dyed cotton, batik

Hand marbled cotton

Machine pieced and quilted

17 x 24

$426

Fraternal Quilts!

I made this pair of quilts the other day, here they are on my design wall before they were quilted.  I just realized that I changed them just after this photo, now I think they are more balanced as a pair.  See if you can figure out the changes I made. 

I framed one up, here it is with the vases that inspired them.  Jacob's Ladder #3:

Then I framed up the second one. They are difficult to photograph now that they are behind glass, this photo turned out kind of washed out.

Now they are both on display at Oasis gallery, here is the second one.  Jacob's Latter #4

Jacob's Ladder 3 & 4

Hand dyed cotton, batik

Fused and Machine quilted

12 x 15 framed to 17 x 20 inches, dimensional frame.

$279 each

I Carried out my Quilts on Stretchers...

No silly, the quilts aren't ill... they've just been hanging out in the art department, that's all.  I found these quilts in an unfinished pile of unfinished work.  Every self respecting ADD artist has these unfinished piles full of projects started with the best of intentions... languishing somewhere.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Sometimes when they're IN sight they are still out of mind... or perhaps I'M the one out of mind... but I digress.

Here they are, two small quilts wrapped around a stretched canvas.  They are 12 x 12 and the canvas is "gallery style" which means it 1.5 inches deep.  Again, I'm loving the dimensional quality of these.

The quilts are hand dyed fabrics, cotton, linen and silks.  Machine pieced, machine quilted. 

I'm coming down home stretch on work for the exhibit I'll put together on Monday.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

The Quilt Inspired by a Vase

This quilt top that I made the other day... (colors not true)

Today I quilted it and combined it with one of these dimensional frames.... (These have glass and the artwork is raised about a half inch off of the surface and there is a spacer so that the quilt is still not touching the glass.)

This resulted in this piece:

And here it is with the vase that inspired the color choice... a vase that I glazed sometime last year. I LIKE them together! These will be fun to use in my exhibit on Monday.

Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

Framing more Mini Quilts

I've been looking around for projects to finish up to make my "one woman show" coming up next month. (Next MONDAY to be precise! EEK!) I discovered these four small quilt tops, fused but not quilted.

Misde wanted to help me photograph these, wasn't that nice of her?

I found these frames at TJ Maxx ages ago and when I realized what could happen when a mini quilt was glued on over the artwork... I bought all they had.

So when you put these ready made frames together with these mini quilts...

Then the artist tends to get happy.  Check out how dimensional they are:

Yeah, I like that!
(I should have tweaked the color, they look a bit washed out in these two photos.)

I was back at UVA today for a post op check up.  I'm doing pretty good, still not 100%, Doc tells me maybe another two weeks before I can expect to get my strength back.  They took blood to see how I'm doing with the anemia.  I'm trying to be patient... but putting recovery and prep for a featured artist exhibit together on the same schedule... well... it's not exactly working for the show or the recovery.  Here I am again, pulled in a variety of directions.  I am beginning to think it's the story of my life!  Do you ever just want to stomp your little foot and tell the world to just stop spinning for a dad-blamed second?!  Yeah, I do.

On the way back from my doctor's appt, I stopped by Waynesboro for a little shopping.  I was doing it mostly for the exercise, and because I'm always so happy to get out of the house these days that I have trouble going home before I've had a little adventure, somehow, some way.  Today I happened in the door of Ross, (like TJ Maxx) and I always check the cheesy reproduction "art" section for frames for quilts...  

GUESS WHAT I FOUND?!  

More of these dimensional frames!  I'm so tickled!  I snapped up all they had!  (Only four)  I may have to take a day and just drive to all the TJ's and Ross's in reasonable distance just to see if I can find more of these!  (Put down those car keys, step away from the car!)

Time to get back in the studio again, time's a tick tockin right on by.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose