Scarlett Rose's Blog: Scarlett Rose's Celtic & More
July 2, 2022
Time to post again - Surprise!
Am I still quilting? Of course I am! I've spent this pandemic learning more about the Modern Quilt movement and experimenting with their style.
It's been easy in some ways, since I have already done quilts in what are now considered "modern" ways, but there are variances that I've been exploring. I'm not good at accepting labels for my work, but they are needed for social media tags. I've added modern to my list of art, traditional, contemporary, etc. besides the usual applique vs piecing, plus foundation paper piecing techniques.
I'm also on a journey to learn more about my ethnic roots. Through recent research by paper trail as well as DNA, I'm still processing the latest revelation. I knew that I'm half Japanese, but now the confirmation of indigenous Japanese heritage leads me on a new adventure. We'll see where that leads!
It's been easy in some ways, since I have already done quilts in what are now considered "modern" ways, but there are variances that I've been exploring. I'm not good at accepting labels for my work, but they are needed for social media tags. I've added modern to my list of art, traditional, contemporary, etc. besides the usual applique vs piecing, plus foundation paper piecing techniques.
I'm also on a journey to learn more about my ethnic roots. Through recent research by paper trail as well as DNA, I'm still processing the latest revelation. I knew that I'm half Japanese, but now the confirmation of indigenous Japanese heritage leads me on a new adventure. We'll see where that leads!
November 4, 2016
Bad Moon Rising art quilt shown online!
A website has just come online that features all 179 of the art quilts chosen for the Fly Me To The Moon special exhibit, which celebrates the upcoming 50th anniversary of Man Landing on the Moon.
I'm very proud to have a quilt, Bad Moon Rising, in that exhibit! Have a closer look at my quilt and then view all the other fabulous art quilts too. This exciting exhibit will tour until 2018/2019.
I'm very proud to have a quilt, Bad Moon Rising, in that exhibit! Have a closer look at my quilt and then view all the other fabulous art quilts too. This exciting exhibit will tour until 2018/2019.
October 10, 2016
Art Quilts on tour!
Time to update everyone on my quilt adventures! I'm fortunate to have several art quilts on tour this year, some ending soon and others traveling through the next several years in one case. So here they are:
Phoenix Flight is in the Feather Your Nest with Quilts Challenge, which is currently at PIQF October 13th thru the 16th. This exhibit goes to Road to California in January 2017 before the quilts are returned to the makers.
Remember Who You Are is in the Lion King Challenge by Cherrywood Handdyed Fabrics. This Challenge is set to tour extensively throughout 2016 & 2017, ending in January 2018. A full color book has been published by Cherrywood, featuring all these glorious quilts.
Bad Moon Rising is in the Fly Me To The Moon Challenge, which celebrates the upcoming 50th anniversary of man landing on the moon. This exhibit premieres in Houston this fall, then the quilts will tour through 2018 at national and international locations.
I'm waiting to hear if Arianrhod is accepted into competition for Road to California this January. That would mean I'll have four quilts there.... Pretty exciting!
Cherrywood Handdyed Fabrics will announce their next Challenge at Houston, so I'll decide then if I want to go for #3. I had Defying Gravity in their first Challenge in 2014, which was for Wicked.
Phoenix Flight is in the Feather Your Nest with Quilts Challenge, which is currently at PIQF October 13th thru the 16th. This exhibit goes to Road to California in January 2017 before the quilts are returned to the makers.
Remember Who You Are is in the Lion King Challenge by Cherrywood Handdyed Fabrics. This Challenge is set to tour extensively throughout 2016 & 2017, ending in January 2018. A full color book has been published by Cherrywood, featuring all these glorious quilts.
Bad Moon Rising is in the Fly Me To The Moon Challenge, which celebrates the upcoming 50th anniversary of man landing on the moon. This exhibit premieres in Houston this fall, then the quilts will tour through 2018 at national and international locations.
I'm waiting to hear if Arianrhod is accepted into competition for Road to California this January. That would mean I'll have four quilts there.... Pretty exciting!
Cherrywood Handdyed Fabrics will announce their next Challenge at Houston, so I'll decide then if I want to go for #3. I had Defying Gravity in their first Challenge in 2014, which was for Wicked.
February 9, 2015
Too many Scarlett Roses!
I've been too busy, and distracted, to continue with this blog since my last post almost a year ago but I'm going to try and at least check on Goodreads more regularly since I've discovered that there is another author who is using the same name as mine. She writes erotica, which not my genre at all and it's causing me some problems with mistaken identity here and on Facebook. While I can appreciate the idea of having nice looking men wanting to friend me, they aren't quilters looking for advice on how to do Celtic knotwork on their next quilt.
My husband is being very patient and understanding about the mixup. I'm trying to be, too. I have ambitions to publish my own fiction books, but in the fantasy genre and I hope to tie them in with my quilt style. I'll just have to keep a close eye on what books pop up on my bookshelf and correct the author's name so her books are kept separate from mine. Luckily, her author page on Amazon is already separate from mine and I was able to fix the mix-up on LibraryThing as well. No luck with Barnes & Noble, since they don't do author pages or anything like it, so I'll have to email them to separate my books from hers.
I'm sure this bothers me a lot more than it bothers her, unless she has a problem with quilts and/or quilters. Oh well, maybe her getting confused with the female pro wrestler who wears a red leotard and wrestles under Scarlett Rose as her professional name might annoy her too. The only time someone asked me for an autographed picture was when they wanted it from this female wrestler! That's how I found out about that Scarlett Rose.
Now to go and unfriend all those guys........
My husband is being very patient and understanding about the mixup. I'm trying to be, too. I have ambitions to publish my own fiction books, but in the fantasy genre and I hope to tie them in with my quilt style. I'll just have to keep a close eye on what books pop up on my bookshelf and correct the author's name so her books are kept separate from mine. Luckily, her author page on Amazon is already separate from mine and I was able to fix the mix-up on LibraryThing as well. No luck with Barnes & Noble, since they don't do author pages or anything like it, so I'll have to email them to separate my books from hers.
I'm sure this bothers me a lot more than it bothers her, unless she has a problem with quilts and/or quilters. Oh well, maybe her getting confused with the female pro wrestler who wears a red leotard and wrestles under Scarlett Rose as her professional name might annoy her too. The only time someone asked me for an autographed picture was when they wanted it from this female wrestler! That's how I found out about that Scarlett Rose.
Now to go and unfriend all those guys........
May 9, 2014
Paducah QuiltWeek 2014
Had it really been 12 years since I went to Paducah? Yes, it was April of 2002 the last time I was there. So much had changed, but so much has stayed the same. The quilts were stunning, with so many wonderful designs and new techniques. I enjoyed viewing them all and I learned a lot in the process.
This time, I stayed with friends in their motor home at the Fern Lake Campground. It's on the free shuttle route, so getting around works pretty well. The only snafu I hit was the night I had planned a party for some Japanese quilter friends. They came around 5pm and we had a gift exchange, food and fun until just after 8pm. I had talked to the bus driver for our route and thought he would be making his last run about 9pm since that was when I had come back to the campground the night before, after my class. He ran very late though and we wound up taking the quilters back to their hotels by car. Luckily, my friends had their tow car and the campground manager offered to drive some of them in his SUV.
Other than that, everything else ran fairly smoothly. I enjoyed the foundation pieced Double Wedding Ring class I took from my friend, Sumiko Minei. I also learned some new tricks from the All Star Review. That event was set up differently than it used to be. Before, you went around to different tables as teachers demonstrated their tips. Sometimes you didn't get around to everyone before the event was over, but you did get a stack of all the handouts. Now, the event is videoed and projected onto a big screen so you can see the teacher doing their demonstration while you sit in the audience. No running around! You get all the handouts as you come in so you can follow along as they talk. It was awkward for some teachers if they weren't used to being on camera, but it worked much better overall than the older way.
I talked so much while I was there that I'm still hoarse two weeks later! Big quilt shows like this one are wonderful opportunities to meet and chat with quilters from around the world. I met Australian quilters, German quilters, English quilters, Canadian quilters and quilters from all over the USA as well as meeting up with my friends from Japan. I found out that of the 405 quilt entries in the Paducah quilt contest there were 68 quilts from Japan, 36 from Illinois, 26 from California, 21 each from Florida and Washington state. Most states were represented, as well as a wide range of countries, some with just a single entry.
Going through the Quilt Museum was very informative. I really looked at all the previous Best of Show quilts, which have changed radically in the 30 years this show has been held. They set the quilts in pairs, one older quilt next to a much newer quilt, to contrast the changes that have occurred in the quilting world. Very dramatic!
I've posted pictures of the Celtic quilts I found at the show, some of the quilts made by friends who were there and pictures of the party in my Paducah album on Facebook.
This time, I stayed with friends in their motor home at the Fern Lake Campground. It's on the free shuttle route, so getting around works pretty well. The only snafu I hit was the night I had planned a party for some Japanese quilter friends. They came around 5pm and we had a gift exchange, food and fun until just after 8pm. I had talked to the bus driver for our route and thought he would be making his last run about 9pm since that was when I had come back to the campground the night before, after my class. He ran very late though and we wound up taking the quilters back to their hotels by car. Luckily, my friends had their tow car and the campground manager offered to drive some of them in his SUV.
Other than that, everything else ran fairly smoothly. I enjoyed the foundation pieced Double Wedding Ring class I took from my friend, Sumiko Minei. I also learned some new tricks from the All Star Review. That event was set up differently than it used to be. Before, you went around to different tables as teachers demonstrated their tips. Sometimes you didn't get around to everyone before the event was over, but you did get a stack of all the handouts. Now, the event is videoed and projected onto a big screen so you can see the teacher doing their demonstration while you sit in the audience. No running around! You get all the handouts as you come in so you can follow along as they talk. It was awkward for some teachers if they weren't used to being on camera, but it worked much better overall than the older way.
I talked so much while I was there that I'm still hoarse two weeks later! Big quilt shows like this one are wonderful opportunities to meet and chat with quilters from around the world. I met Australian quilters, German quilters, English quilters, Canadian quilters and quilters from all over the USA as well as meeting up with my friends from Japan. I found out that of the 405 quilt entries in the Paducah quilt contest there were 68 quilts from Japan, 36 from Illinois, 26 from California, 21 each from Florida and Washington state. Most states were represented, as well as a wide range of countries, some with just a single entry.
Going through the Quilt Museum was very informative. I really looked at all the previous Best of Show quilts, which have changed radically in the 30 years this show has been held. They set the quilts in pairs, one older quilt next to a much newer quilt, to contrast the changes that have occurred in the quilting world. Very dramatic!
I've posted pictures of the Celtic quilts I found at the show, some of the quilts made by friends who were there and pictures of the party in my Paducah album on Facebook.
February 27, 2014
TESAA adventure!
What an adventure I had this last week and weekend! It was my first visit to Elly Sienkiewicz Applique Academy (TESAA) in Williamsburg, Virginia and I was thrilled to be invited to participate as one of four guest artists. Traveling at this time of the year can be risky, especially with the Polar Vortex storms that have been so devastating for parts of the country, but I really lucked out and had no difficulty in flying across the country from California to Virginia. I changed planes in Chicago, where it was very cold (20's) and got to see the lake completely frozen, with snow drifting across it. The sight gave me flashbacks to the Disney movie, Frozen, which I'd seen a couple weeks before and I could hear "Let It Go" playing from my memory!
Elly introduced all of us guest artists at the Dessert Reception on Wednesday night, where 3 of my Celtic quilts were on display (Triple Celtic Crosses, New Circuitry and San Kamon). The other artists were Lisa DeBee Shiller (my hotel roommate), Mercy Savage and Ann Hondt. We shared a room at the conference center, which was called the Guest Artists Studio.
I taught a one day class, Triple Celtic Crosses, on Thursday. The students had a good time and learned a lot about making your own bias tape, how to interlace the bias to make a Celtic knot and the secrets of my hand applique technique. I really enjoyed teaching this class!
On Friday I dressed up for the Afternoon Social, topping my outfit with my own silk flower fascinator. With space being very limited in my luggage, I made this fascinator so it would lay somewhat flat and be rolled up in bubble wrap so it could travel safely. I used a pair of cosplay cat ears on a headband to hold the fascinator on my head. I'm very glad I had bought the cat ears at SacAnime in January. I didn't wear the matching tail, though....
My Guest Artist table displayed all my patterns, for quilts as well as embroidery. While I sat at the table, I worked with my twilling stitch, hand embroidering a Danu block when things were quiet. It was very busy during the lunch breaks each day, with more quilters stopping by after the classes finished in the afternoon. I had a stack of my workshop brochures (which ran out too soon) and my business cards on the corner of the table, right in front.
I'm really hoping that I will pick up some bookings for this September, when I return to the East Coast to teach for the Pine Tree Quilt Guild in Maine. Any bookings elsewhere would be wonderful, too. There were quite a few quilters from other countries attending TESAA, along with all the US quilters. I think the attendance was something like 260 quilters altogether. I got to greet several quilters that I've known from other quilt conferences and who I haven't seen in some time, plus meet several quilters from online groups like Facebook that I hadn't seen in person before. There were quite a few quilters that were happy to discover a Celtic quilt artist at TESAA and I'm glad to have met them.
Sunday afternoon was sunny and beautiful, so I took the shuttle over to Colonial Williamsburg and spent two hours walking around admiring all the old buildings. It was a long hike, but well worth it. There were people in period costume walking around, with carriages taking visitors on sedate rides around the area. I wish I'd had enough time to visit the museums, too, but I hope I'll get the chance to return and spend more time there. This time, it was great to see the old brick buildings, which I went up and touched, just to be able to say that I touched something that old. Out here in California, mid to late 1800 buildings are about all we have!
My flight home was also uneventful, for which I'm very grateful. Another big storm is currently hitting the parts of the country that I was just visiting, so I'm glad to be home. I bought some goodies while I was at TESAA, some absolutely gorgeous hand dyed pearl cotton thread from Sharon Schamber and some beautiful pearl cotton from a German thread company, that I'm looking forward to trying out on some of my Celtic embroidery designs.
Elly introduced all of us guest artists at the Dessert Reception on Wednesday night, where 3 of my Celtic quilts were on display (Triple Celtic Crosses, New Circuitry and San Kamon). The other artists were Lisa DeBee Shiller (my hotel roommate), Mercy Savage and Ann Hondt. We shared a room at the conference center, which was called the Guest Artists Studio.
I taught a one day class, Triple Celtic Crosses, on Thursday. The students had a good time and learned a lot about making your own bias tape, how to interlace the bias to make a Celtic knot and the secrets of my hand applique technique. I really enjoyed teaching this class!
On Friday I dressed up for the Afternoon Social, topping my outfit with my own silk flower fascinator. With space being very limited in my luggage, I made this fascinator so it would lay somewhat flat and be rolled up in bubble wrap so it could travel safely. I used a pair of cosplay cat ears on a headband to hold the fascinator on my head. I'm very glad I had bought the cat ears at SacAnime in January. I didn't wear the matching tail, though....
My Guest Artist table displayed all my patterns, for quilts as well as embroidery. While I sat at the table, I worked with my twilling stitch, hand embroidering a Danu block when things were quiet. It was very busy during the lunch breaks each day, with more quilters stopping by after the classes finished in the afternoon. I had a stack of my workshop brochures (which ran out too soon) and my business cards on the corner of the table, right in front.
I'm really hoping that I will pick up some bookings for this September, when I return to the East Coast to teach for the Pine Tree Quilt Guild in Maine. Any bookings elsewhere would be wonderful, too. There were quite a few quilters from other countries attending TESAA, along with all the US quilters. I think the attendance was something like 260 quilters altogether. I got to greet several quilters that I've known from other quilt conferences and who I haven't seen in some time, plus meet several quilters from online groups like Facebook that I hadn't seen in person before. There were quite a few quilters that were happy to discover a Celtic quilt artist at TESAA and I'm glad to have met them.
Sunday afternoon was sunny and beautiful, so I took the shuttle over to Colonial Williamsburg and spent two hours walking around admiring all the old buildings. It was a long hike, but well worth it. There were people in period costume walking around, with carriages taking visitors on sedate rides around the area. I wish I'd had enough time to visit the museums, too, but I hope I'll get the chance to return and spend more time there. This time, it was great to see the old brick buildings, which I went up and touched, just to be able to say that I touched something that old. Out here in California, mid to late 1800 buildings are about all we have!
My flight home was also uneventful, for which I'm very grateful. Another big storm is currently hitting the parts of the country that I was just visiting, so I'm glad to be home. I bought some goodies while I was at TESAA, some absolutely gorgeous hand dyed pearl cotton thread from Sharon Schamber and some beautiful pearl cotton from a German thread company, that I'm looking forward to trying out on some of my Celtic embroidery designs.
December 31, 2013
New Year's Eve 2013
I'm starting off the new year with an anime convention trip! SacAnime, in Sacramento, CA, is featuring one of my favorite manga artists, Svetlana Chmakova. I'm taking my Dramacon Ultimate Edition hardback of her first manga series in hopes of getting her to autograph it for me.
My great niece Whitney is coming with me and we plan to cosplay, of course. She's into Vocaloid characters, so she'll be dressing up as her favorites. I have a costume for Konan, a character from Naruto and I've just made a costume for Kaede, a character from Inuyasha. I haven't watched Inuyasha in years, so I've been rereading the manga to refresh my memory. A little research on the Internet gave me all the details I needed for my costume.
It was easy to make a white kimono top and red hakama since I have the Folkwear patterns for those traditional Japanese articles of clothing. Whitney has a long gray wig that I can borrow, so I'm all set. I also made a duffle bag that I can wear cross body to carry my purse stuff and be more in character.
Time to start packing and then prepare some food that we'll have for our snacks and lunches. We're staying with friends, so I'm cooking beef curry the first night as a thank you. A blackberry cheesecake is also planned. Yum!
My great niece Whitney is coming with me and we plan to cosplay, of course. She's into Vocaloid characters, so she'll be dressing up as her favorites. I have a costume for Konan, a character from Naruto and I've just made a costume for Kaede, a character from Inuyasha. I haven't watched Inuyasha in years, so I've been rereading the manga to refresh my memory. A little research on the Internet gave me all the details I needed for my costume.
It was easy to make a white kimono top and red hakama since I have the Folkwear patterns for those traditional Japanese articles of clothing. Whitney has a long gray wig that I can borrow, so I'm all set. I also made a duffle bag that I can wear cross body to carry my purse stuff and be more in character.
Time to start packing and then prepare some food that we'll have for our snacks and lunches. We're staying with friends, so I'm cooking beef curry the first night as a thank you. A blackberry cheesecake is also planned. Yum!
October 22, 2013
Work and play, same thing?
I've been stitching like crazy on my block samples for Ireland next June. I love the Brigid's Mantle colorway and I hope that quilters will like it too. I've gotten three blocks done! Want to have a look at them? They're in my Samples Album on Facebook. You don’t need a Facebook account to see them, so you can just click on the link and the album will be available to you.
I'm working away on the Brigid's Cross pieced and embroidered quilt top. I have four more crosses to embroider, then it needs to be quilted. I'm going to do some hand quilting with metallic thread and the usual stitch in the ditch by machine. The embroidery is with gold metallic pearl cotton, which is a bit tricky to handle, but it's worth the effort. I'm doing the stem stitch and it looks fabulous in gold.
Each year in October, I go to Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California. It's the nearest international quilt show that I can even drive to instead of fly, and I've been to all but two of them. I was amazed to find so many Celtic quilts at this year’s show! I’ve uploaded the pictures to a Facebook album on my Celtic & More business page.
These are the high resolution pictures that I took with my digital camera. I just love Sue Prins’ quilt! She's the most amazing Celtic knot designer, with intricate patterns that just blow me away. Her quilt was all hand done, too!
I also took pictures of quilts that just caught my interest and I put those in another PIQF album on my personal Facebook page. These are quilts that had themes, techniques or embellishments that caught my eye. The designs are eye popping on some quilts and they are pretty amazing!
I used my iPhone 4s for most of these and I was pleased with the way they turned out. I just got this new cell phone at the beginning of October and I’m amazed at the quality of pictures that it takes. It even has a flash! Technology sure has improved with these phones. I think we've got Star Trek communicators beat, easily. I used to wish for one of those back when I watched the various Star Trek series on TV.
I'm working away on the Brigid's Cross pieced and embroidered quilt top. I have four more crosses to embroider, then it needs to be quilted. I'm going to do some hand quilting with metallic thread and the usual stitch in the ditch by machine. The embroidery is with gold metallic pearl cotton, which is a bit tricky to handle, but it's worth the effort. I'm doing the stem stitch and it looks fabulous in gold.
Each year in October, I go to Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California. It's the nearest international quilt show that I can even drive to instead of fly, and I've been to all but two of them. I was amazed to find so many Celtic quilts at this year’s show! I’ve uploaded the pictures to a Facebook album on my Celtic & More business page.
These are the high resolution pictures that I took with my digital camera. I just love Sue Prins’ quilt! She's the most amazing Celtic knot designer, with intricate patterns that just blow me away. Her quilt was all hand done, too!
I also took pictures of quilts that just caught my interest and I put those in another PIQF album on my personal Facebook page. These are quilts that had themes, techniques or embellishments that caught my eye. The designs are eye popping on some quilts and they are pretty amazing!
I used my iPhone 4s for most of these and I was pleased with the way they turned out. I just got this new cell phone at the beginning of October and I’m amazed at the quality of pictures that it takes. It even has a flash! Technology sure has improved with these phones. I think we've got Star Trek communicators beat, easily. I used to wish for one of those back when I watched the various Star Trek series on TV.
September 22, 2013
Reminiscences
In the last couple weeks, I've been rediscovering some events, unrelated but memorable, in my life. It's amazing to me when this kind of thing happens, usually in bunches like it has. What have I rediscovered? Well, I've been a fan of Frances Hodgson Burnett since I saw the Little Lord Fauntleroy movie back in 1980. I also watched, and loved, The Secret Garden series on PBS in 1987. What I just found out was how many other books she wrote! Wow.... All because I decided to watch some old movies.
When I checked on Amazon, most of her other books are free to download for the Kindle, so I did that immediately. Now I'll read more of her work and see if there are other stories that I like as well as the ones she's best known for. I've seen A Little Princess, too but I don't think anything else of hers has been turned into a TV series or movies. This will give me lots of read for a while and I'm glad to have found more of a favorite author's work.
Because I was able to go to a small quilting group gathering on short notice, a friend passed along some quilt blocks to me on Friday. We'd been talking about our local PBS station, KIXE, who had done a quilting series starting back in 1999 through 2005. I had volunteered a lot of my time to work on the series and I had learned so much about television production in the process. While cleaning out a storage cabinet, I'd come across some VHS tapes I'd made of the quilt programs when they'd originally aired. One of the other quilters has the ability to copy VHS to DVD with a device she purchased some years ago, so I was trying to find out if she would copy my tapes.
Since everyone at the meeting had watched the quilt programs and most had also volunteered at least some time to help out, we discussed the shows in depth. That's when one friend mentioned that she still had a stack of quilt blocks from a contest that was held as part of the promotion for one of the shows. We looked at the blocks and they sure brought back memories! My niece Heather had made a block and she had received 3rd place in the contest, winning $25 as a prize.
All the blocks were supposed to have been put together into a raffle quilt, but it hadn't happened. I think it was because the blocks were so different. They have the theme in common, but the fabrics and colors are so varied that it would have been a real challenge to make a pretty quilt out of them. What am I going to do with the blocks? Well, I'm going to take them to the Thursday quilt group this week and see what the quilters think. It's a larger group, so there will be more opinions to choose from. If I can find a volunteer, then I may pass the blocks along. We'll see... In the meantime, I'll photograph and document them for my records.
I finally took my wedding video into Costco to have it copied onto DVD. That VHS tape I wanted to have done professionally since it's so precious. I got the dvds back last week and we watched one of the dvds to see how well the video had transferred. It looks okay, but when we watch the video on our old VHS player, it still looks better. Oh well, if that's the best that can be done, at least I have it in a form that will last longer. I was getting concerned that the VHS tape would go bad at some point.
Several trips down memory lane and all of them very good memories. I'm working away on my new projects and getting plenty done, but there's still lots to do. I have a two day class coming up this week and I'm looking forward to teaching at that as well. Back to work I go!
When I checked on Amazon, most of her other books are free to download for the Kindle, so I did that immediately. Now I'll read more of her work and see if there are other stories that I like as well as the ones she's best known for. I've seen A Little Princess, too but I don't think anything else of hers has been turned into a TV series or movies. This will give me lots of read for a while and I'm glad to have found more of a favorite author's work.
Because I was able to go to a small quilting group gathering on short notice, a friend passed along some quilt blocks to me on Friday. We'd been talking about our local PBS station, KIXE, who had done a quilting series starting back in 1999 through 2005. I had volunteered a lot of my time to work on the series and I had learned so much about television production in the process. While cleaning out a storage cabinet, I'd come across some VHS tapes I'd made of the quilt programs when they'd originally aired. One of the other quilters has the ability to copy VHS to DVD with a device she purchased some years ago, so I was trying to find out if she would copy my tapes.
Since everyone at the meeting had watched the quilt programs and most had also volunteered at least some time to help out, we discussed the shows in depth. That's when one friend mentioned that she still had a stack of quilt blocks from a contest that was held as part of the promotion for one of the shows. We looked at the blocks and they sure brought back memories! My niece Heather had made a block and she had received 3rd place in the contest, winning $25 as a prize.
All the blocks were supposed to have been put together into a raffle quilt, but it hadn't happened. I think it was because the blocks were so different. They have the theme in common, but the fabrics and colors are so varied that it would have been a real challenge to make a pretty quilt out of them. What am I going to do with the blocks? Well, I'm going to take them to the Thursday quilt group this week and see what the quilters think. It's a larger group, so there will be more opinions to choose from. If I can find a volunteer, then I may pass the blocks along. We'll see... In the meantime, I'll photograph and document them for my records.
I finally took my wedding video into Costco to have it copied onto DVD. That VHS tape I wanted to have done professionally since it's so precious. I got the dvds back last week and we watched one of the dvds to see how well the video had transferred. It looks okay, but when we watch the video on our old VHS player, it still looks better. Oh well, if that's the best that can be done, at least I have it in a form that will last longer. I was getting concerned that the VHS tape would go bad at some point.
Several trips down memory lane and all of them very good memories. I'm working away on my new projects and getting plenty done, but there's still lots to do. I have a two day class coming up this week and I'm looking forward to teaching at that as well. Back to work I go!
August 22, 2013
World building and quilt designing
I've been world building, working on the descriptions of the characters that make up my new Celtic design series. Wow, it's been incredible to go through this process and unexpectedly learn about them myself!
The preprinted block for Caer is finished and she's #3 in my Legend of Merlin series, meant for embroidery. I wrote up a description of her that I've already posted on Facebook, but I'll share it here as well.
"Caer, Harbinger of Dreams.... An ally of Merlin, she is a powerful shapechanger and when seen in her swan form, which wears a golden necklace, any dreams should be heeded for they contain information that may greatly affect the future of the dreamers!"
I've chosen several colors to print Caer in, but one particular coloring I'm calling Destiny Revealed, which is a white background with Pure Soul and Hidden Treasures colors. I'm embroidering the other blocks, Aine and Danu, also with matching white backgrounds, for a very unique quilt. Can you guess who they are all pointing towards?
"Danu, Mother of the Elves... Legend says she wields the power of healing through transformation, with her ability to change Mages into Elves, a people fiercely loyal to her and who see her as their mother."
Chosen Path of Danu is made up of the colors of Regal Born, Pure Soul, Hidden Treasures and Secret Desires printed on a white background.
Aine, Queen of the Fairies, Wielder of Fairy Dust..... Her Life's Promise coloring is made up of Regal Born, Pure Soul and Hidden Treasures printed on a white background.
I used the twilling stitch to hand embroider this beautiful version of Aine with Weeks Dye Works pearl cotton thread in Whiskey, Ultraviolet and Caribbean.
While working away on these characters, something very serendipitous occurred!
I can't reveal it yet, but it has made my plans for Ireland all the more exciting and something that I think will catch the imaginations of the quilters who attend the Quilt Festival. At least, I hope so!
Other projects have moved ahead, some smoothly and others somewhat bumpily, but I'm juggling so many things at once.... By choice, of course, but sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into. Now I'm off to stitch with quilting friends for a Thursday afternoon break.
The preprinted block for Caer is finished and she's #3 in my Legend of Merlin series, meant for embroidery. I wrote up a description of her that I've already posted on Facebook, but I'll share it here as well.
"Caer, Harbinger of Dreams.... An ally of Merlin, she is a powerful shapechanger and when seen in her swan form, which wears a golden necklace, any dreams should be heeded for they contain information that may greatly affect the future of the dreamers!"
I've chosen several colors to print Caer in, but one particular coloring I'm calling Destiny Revealed, which is a white background with Pure Soul and Hidden Treasures colors. I'm embroidering the other blocks, Aine and Danu, also with matching white backgrounds, for a very unique quilt. Can you guess who they are all pointing towards?
"Danu, Mother of the Elves... Legend says she wields the power of healing through transformation, with her ability to change Mages into Elves, a people fiercely loyal to her and who see her as their mother."
Chosen Path of Danu is made up of the colors of Regal Born, Pure Soul, Hidden Treasures and Secret Desires printed on a white background.
Aine, Queen of the Fairies, Wielder of Fairy Dust..... Her Life's Promise coloring is made up of Regal Born, Pure Soul and Hidden Treasures printed on a white background.
I used the twilling stitch to hand embroider this beautiful version of Aine with Weeks Dye Works pearl cotton thread in Whiskey, Ultraviolet and Caribbean.
While working away on these characters, something very serendipitous occurred!
I can't reveal it yet, but it has made my plans for Ireland all the more exciting and something that I think will catch the imaginations of the quilters who attend the Quilt Festival. At least, I hope so!
Other projects have moved ahead, some smoothly and others somewhat bumpily, but I'm juggling so many things at once.... By choice, of course, but sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into. Now I'm off to stitch with quilting friends for a Thursday afternoon break.
Scarlett Rose's Celtic & More
I'm a Celtic knotwork designer, quilt artist, author, quilt teacher and quilt judge. My website is www.ScarlettRose.com
My favorite genres are fantasy,science fiction, paranormal and mystery books. I a ...more
My favorite genres are fantasy,science fiction, paranormal and mystery books. I a ...more
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