KarenWorksArt

Sew Creative is 6 months old!

Karen Bates — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 00:33:10 +0000

I haven’t posted in a very long time because my life got side tracked in a very good way. I opened a quilt store in downtown Ashland with my friend Terry Tobey on the first of July and we have been running non-stop ever since. You can check out our website at http://www.sewcreativeashland.com or visit us on Main Street in Ashland.

Not only do we have Aboriginal fabrics, batiks and hand dyed fabrics but we have luscious hand dyed wools and I am hooked. I just finished hand appliqueing the wool down the center of this quilt. I am calling it Folkloric and there is a pattern available. The wools are so easy to work with and the colors are yummy.

Folkloric pattern

We have loads of new classes, clubs and Block of the Month programs. Can you tell that I am excited?? Come visit soon.

My frog was stolen

Karen Bates — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 04:28:12 +0000

Remember this guy? Well, he was on display in the lobby of a residential center here in Ashland along with a bunch of other quilts that I created and someone walked off with him. I have always worried about my quilts being stolen and now it has happened. I am just thankful that I took good photos of him and that the center took all of the other quilts down before any others went missing.

This will not stop me from sharing my art with others but I will have to be more careful about where it hangs in the future. The residents were so excited when I put the show up. I am just sorry that one person’s actions have ruined the enjoyment that others could have had.

Balance challenge

Karen Bates — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:33:25 +0000

The Friday art quilt group chose the word “Balance” to do as a 12″ x 12″. Here are a few of the results:

Karen Bates

Elaine Turcke

Debra Wolfson

Tina Somerset

The next word is Emergence!

Meet Sydney

Karen Bates — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:58:09 +0000

I had the wonderful opportunity to teach Sydney quilting this summer. She is the most amazing 7 year old that I have ever known ( save my own kids at 7 years old!). We made quilts for her stuffed penguins of which there are many…all with names, of course. Some of the penguins observed us at work and two lucky penguins were tucked into her socks so that they could help her push the pedal on the sewing machine.
We made this quilt using a package of Bali Pops. I sewed the short ends to the wrong side of a yard of fabric being sure to switch between purple and green fabric strips. Then Sydney wove fabric strips across repeating the mantra: over the color it is, under the color it isn’t. We pinned the strips to the backing fabric and sewed across them with curvy lines to hold them all in place. Then we trimmed the excess around the edges and sewed all four sides down. As you can see, she and the penguins are very proud of their accomplishment. It makes me so sad that she is back in school again. Where did the summer go?

A wedding and flowers

Karen Bates — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:18:04 +0000

I know that I disappeared for a few weeks but I was very involved in my friend, Jayne’s wedding. You can see me here as the maid of honor helping the 3 year old flower girl down the aisle! It was a lovely occasion despite the fact that unbeknownst to me, I was battling strep throat!

In the meantime I have been trying to finish up projects including these flowers. I began them as part of my Spring/Crop Circle series but they wanted to be more Spring than Crop Circles so I let them have their way. I have entered this quilt in the Bits and Pieces Show as well as the earlier one. This time I used the silk chiffon to create flowers and I love the airy feel of the fabric.

Here is a close up of the quilting:

Tagged: bits and pieces, collaged, hand dyed silk chiffon, heavily quilted, pieced, Poppies

Guys and Dolls…or luck be a lady tonight!

Karen Bates — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:41:05 +0000

I have created a 12 x 12 quilt for the SAQA online auction by playing with my fabric. I collaged a bunch of great fabrics together and then pulled some of them apart and inserted hand dyed silk. After quilting like crazy, I asked Marni what she thought that I should call it.
She thought the green piece looked like an abstract of a man on his knees ready to roll the dice and since the number 7 is about the only legible thing left from the collage, it seemed appropriate to think gambling. Hence the name.
My favorite part was doing the hand quilting across the green area. I just love doing that hand stitching.

Tagged: batik, collage, hand stitching, machine quilting, SAQA

Already July?

Karen Bates — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:25:03 +0000

I am having a hard time believing that half of the year is already gone! In honor of summer I thought I would post a small quilt that I did a few years back with the help of my friend, Jayne Wangen. She drew the design and I made the piece. It is available as a pattern or I am selling the whole quilt on Etsy at Karenworksart. Check it out…and enjoy these sunny days.

And if you are in the vicinity of Ashland….don’t miss the Rogue Art Quilters’ Purple line show at US Bank. It is wonderful.

Bits and Pieces: Spring

Karen Bates — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:51:43 +0000

This quilt was begun as one of my crop circle quilts and it languished for a long time. I finally was re-inspired by a call for entries entitled “Bits and Pieces”.

I had already collaged the background with batiks so all I had to do was quilt it! What a laugh….it took many hours of intense machine quilting to hold everything down.

Then I added the circles which are made out of silk chiffon that I dyed. I am very pleased with it.

Tagged: batiks, bits and pieces, circles, heavy quilting, leaves, silk chiffon

Appliqued Sweater and a new show

Karen Bates — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:47:15 +0000

I recently took a class from Sue Spargo and had a wonderful time playing with felted wool. I picked up this sweater for $8.00 from Deja Vu and went to town on it. I love the way the thread called Seagrass highlights my pieces.

My Friday Critique group…that doesn’t have a real name although we have been meeting for two years…just put up a show at US Bank in Ashland. Every couple of months we come up with a word and everyone does a 12″ x 12″ piece to depict the word. Sadly I can’t seem to upload pictures so you will have to check out the show yourself before the end of the month.

Tagged: appliqued sweater, felted wool, seagrass, Sue Spargo, US Bank show

A different kind of Spring

Karen Bates — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:36:31 +0000

Spring!

When the latest “12 connected” word was announced I had just completed a Spring Quilt with bugs and flowers and I couldn’t go there again. So I decided to use a different meaning and thought of a spring bouncing around. I had purchased lightweight aluminum circles at a scrap book store a few years ago and they seemed like the perfect thing to use on this piece.
I have been doing a lot of fabric dyeing lately and I always throw some “Color Catcher” sheets into the washer when I am rinsing the fabric. They come out in beautiful colors and since I just can’t throw them away, I have quite the collection. I decided to use them in this piece too. I collaged the color catchers and some textured paper onto black felt and sewed them all down. Then I hand appliqued the circles on top. Does it look like it is springy???

Tagged: 12connected, aluminum circles, collage, color catchers, Spring